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Besides being the founder of Unfold Today, a nutritionist, and a mental health expert, Claudiu Pop is a productivity geek and a skilled journalist. He is always on the lookout for ways to make life easier in all areas of life, including the financial dimension.
SUMMARY: learn what is a bullet journal weekly spread, how to design one that increases your productivity, and get layout ideas from 29 expert bujo artists.
In addition, you can opt-in for a free printable weekly spread template.
Creating a weekly spread in a bullet journal is a productive way to deal with tasks and errands, similar to keeping a to-do list, but the lack of inspiration when trying to come up with design ideas makes anyone waste precious time.
Fortunately, there are ways to avoid this creative block and save time during future planning sessions:
Essentially, in a bullet journal, a weekly spread lists out the days of the week, from Monday to Sunday, and, below them, the activities a person wants to do each day.
People who write in a bullet journal use weekly spreads, in addition to their daily and monthly ones, to have an overview of every coming week, so that they can easily complete all their tasks and duties.
Depending on the preferred design, a weekly spread can have one page or more and can be minimalist or extremely aesthetic.
A weekly spread is fundamentally a 7-day planning system, so you should write down everything you want to accomplish during a given week.
For example, in his bestselling book The 5 AM Club, elite performance expert Robin Sharma describes a Weekly Design System that he had shared with his famous clients.
Some of his best tips for weekly planning include:
A bullet journal usually consists of daily, weekly, monthly, and also custom logs, like a food diary, fitness tracker, or any other habit tracker.
See our list of 130 habit tracker ideas for inspiration on what to track in your bullet journal.
Furthermore, in each of these logs, bullet journal users should use different kinds of bullets to mark tasks, events, and notes, according to Ryder Carrol, the creator of the Bullet Journal method.
Also, it’s best practice to number pages and add an index at the front of the journal. This way, bujo fans know where they can find certain information.
When creating a weekly spread in a bullet journal, there are two options: either imagine your own layout or get inspiration from a bujo designer.
Bonus tips for triggering your creative side: look at art or watch animated movies.
However, research shows that people engage in mindful reflective thinking through design practices and self-reflective strategies.
So, even if you get inspiration from other designers instead of coming up with your own ideas, getting involved when doing the layout should make for a better planning experience.
To make things easier for bullet journal enthusiasts, we approached some of the most popular and talented weekly spread designers on Instagram in 2021, asking them to share their creations with us.
Therefore, anybody can find inspiration for their own weekly spreads from the following 29 layout ideas.
This minimalist one-page weekly spread is easy to replicate, doesn't take too much space, and was designed by bullet journal artist Keila from All in a Bujo. She described this layout as her "favorite weekly spread from June" 2021.
This slightly different one-page weekly spread is more colorful but still features a minimalist layout. It was designed by the same Keila from All in a Bujo, who likes this spread template because it saves extra space.
This is a simple black-themed weekly spread template that will only occupy one page of your bullet journal. Norwegian bujo artist Astri Rosvik came up with the layout above. She described it as "a simple weekly for my simple life."
Even if you don't like colorful templates, there's a weekly spread layout for you, just like this one-page black and white design created by Laura using ink. She got inspiration from two illustrators, one is Norwegian and the other, French.
This two-page-long minimalist template is a creative weekly spread idea to use in your bujo. Celina, a Hawaii-based student, is the designer of this simple bullet journal layout, which she used to deal with an overwhelming week.
This bullet journal weekly spread is perfect for anybody looking to schedule their weeks in a minimalist way. The designer, Carla Law, kept it simple by using just a pen, a Tombow marker, and a few stickers to achieve this look.
For those who love to decorate, this weekly spread layout makes for a great piece of inspiration. The author of this weekly spread template is Electa, a decorative planner and a mom of two.
Perfect for planning summer weeks, this vertical-lined weekly spread brings a fresh vibe, especially with all those stickers around. This weekly spread's creative author is, again, Electa.
This two-page weekly spread is a good idea for anime-lovers who use bullet journals to plan their lives.
We found the above design, which was inspired by a video game called Genshin Impact, on Halo's Studygram, an Instagram page where a chemistry student shares different bujo designs.
Like this layout's designer, Hannah, describes it, this is a "half-weekly spread" that one can use if planning a whole week is too much to handle.
Also, Hannah feels that vertical layouts, such as the one in the picture above, make it easier to look at timelines.
The above weekly spread is a pretty addition to a minimalist bullet journal, but as its creator, Heemly, says, "you can absolutely skip the decoration part" if you would prefer a cleaner design.
This cloudy night theme makes for a colorful and friendly weekly spread template that can freshen up any bullet journal. The layout was created by bujo artist Jaiden, who really liked the "ombré lettering" used in the design.
This skinny two-page weekly spread provides an excellent overview of the week. The colorful design was created by Jana, a planning addict mom living in Germany.
Coming from the creative hands of the same Jana, this weekly spread has a more classical spin to it. This layout is a better choice for people who want to keep it simple.
Who says you need to plan your months in 7-day batches?
This 10-day weekly spread template will save space in your bullet journal and can prove itself useful especially for busy students who have all kinds of projects and deadlines. This design's creator is Shao from Journey in Bullets.
This vertical two-page and also minimalist weekly spread template features a clean design any bujo enthusiast can use successfully. The layout's creator, Julia from Juaesthetics, says this is her "all-time favorite layout."
This food-themed template is one of the most popular weekly spreads in this article. The design was created by Polish illustrator Julia Pezowicz, who named this layout "watermelon bear weekly."
This time, handmade stationery expert Julia Pezowicz got inspiration from her own working space to come up with this weekly spread template.
This weekly spread template is the second one on this list that has clouds as the main decorative element. The layout's creator is Leni, young lettering and bujo artist from Austria.
This colorful and full of stickers weekly spread template may look complicated to copy, but the layout's creator, Mariane Cresp, thinks that this is what makes it effective.
"It does take a bit more of my time, but carving out the time to plan and write things down helps keep my anxiety at bay and clears my head of things that I don’t need to think of all of the time because I can trust that I will be reminded of it when I look at my planners," says Mariane.
This weekly spread layout is perfect for visual planners because it's full of colorful stickers. The designer, Oklahoma-based Michelle, combined stickers from a "Botanical Gardens" collection and a "Black and White" sticker book.
This weekly spread template is inspired by the sky-sea connection and is perfect for people who want to keep their bullet journal minimalist.
The designer is Melodie from My Daily Bullet, who says that this weekly spread layout leaves place for her to write all her tasks.
This exotic weekly spread template is a great solution for a colorful and eye-catching journal. The creator is Sara Andrea Vera, a Chilean paper crafter.
Similar to the previous exotic template, this weekly spread featuring a summer theme is a good fit for vibrantly designed bullet journals. The creator of the layout is Sparkle Smith, a crafty mom and a die-hard planner user.
This two-page minimalist weekly spread features a clean design that is very well suited for planning your winter months but not only. The designer of this layout is Vero, a bujo artist in her twenties.
This poppie-inspired minimalist weekly spread will occupy just one page in a bullet journal. The layout was created by Venetian Viola Negri from Little Olive Bujo.
This is another weekly spread that is suited for the winter season, especially around Christmas time. This layout was designed by journal artist A Cuppa Sunshine.
This weekly spread is perfect for Halloween enthusiasts that really want to get in the spooky mood of the holiday. The layout was designed by anime journaling lover Amy from BTS Bujo.
This aesthetic princess-themed weekly spread template featuring Jasmine is ideal for Disney fans who use a bullet journal to plan their weeks. The layout was created by German planner designer Jana.
To conclude, now planning lovers can build weekly spreads by the book, design them by their liking or inspire from a broad number of bujo designs to get layout ideas, all of this to ultimately outline successful and productive weeks in their bullet journals.
Which one of the 29 weekly spread layout ideas would you use in your bullet journal? Tell us in the comments.
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