Bullet Journal

[spotty_dog]

Anyone heard of this? Doing it?

http://bulletjournal.com/

Back in the early 00s, there was a whole movement I was following, surrounding a return to analog planners, hacking Moleskine notebooks, using these paper tools to enact the ideas from David Allen's Getting Things Done, etc. I was deeply enamored of these, but it took until the end of 2008, when I was facing the birth of my second baby and obtaining our first mortgage and closing on our first house and moving across country with a toddler and infant, that I finally indulged and got a Moleskine. I used it for to-do lists and notes and reminders and basically capturing everything so I'd only have one place to look for stuff. And it was totally invaluable for a scatter-brained disorganized crazy person like myself. We survived the home purchase, the baby, the end of residency, and the move! What more to say!

I used this system, patchily, after the big move as well. I have notebooks that more-or-less span the years since then. But in April 2014, someone on another board mentioned Bullet Journal, and I watched the original video and was hooked. I bought a new grid-lined Moleskine (and my first fountain pen!) and started it immediately.

It's still been a little patchy but I've basically used it ever since. I make a to-do list almost every single day with my chores and other activities, to help keep me on-task with this structureless SAHM lifestyle. It was especially helpful when I had the preschool treasurer duties and had to stay on top of all those tasks and reports and things. I got a Leuchtturm1917 for my second BuJo, and that's been going since this June. I just this week joined a Facebook group for Bullet Journalers (where I got the abbreviation BuJo, I guess the bullet journal community doesn't embrace the acronym BJ!) and I'm all fired up to make mine better than ever for 2016!

So. If anyone else is also a secret Luddite with a paper-and-pencil obsession, then join me?

[scrub-jay]

Bullet Journal

I tried bullet journal in 2014, but never kept it up. My issue was with my kids so young, I never had a moment to sit down and write in it. I'll pick it up again, but not when I have a newborn. Currently my to-do list is added using Siri. I LOVED bullet-journaling (you're right, you really shouldn't slip in "BJ-ing" here), it's a slick system.

ETA: I have some really NICE fountain pens and a not-so-small obsession.

[ladymoreta]

I love the idea of using a notebook, but I've never been able to pull it off. I use a combination of apps on my phone - Cozi for calendar (needs to be shareable with DH), SeizeTheDay for my To Do List, Grocery IQ for shopping lists, and Notes for things to remember (like books I want to read).

[spotty_dog]

I've tried a few ways to make electronic tools work for me, but I always find myself being more productive when there's a physical list for me to check off. (I am not a natural list-maker, BTW. Adopting this habit has taken years of work!) I use iCal for recurring tasks and future "ticklers", but once they are actionable, I copy it all down onto my journal as I start my day. That way I can access the list without being sucked into the internet, and I have motivation to complete stuff (not only the pleasure of checking the box, but also trying not to have to re-copy it to a new day!), and I can add little notes to indicate what's urgent or whatever. Stuff like Thanksgiving plans, notes about paint colors, and a brief travel journal any time we're on vacation, all goes in there.

What I'm learning on the FB group is that some people get very, very artistic on their pages. Mine is pretty utilitarian, and I think that is a strength (no feeling anxious about marring the pretty pages), but I'm kind of doodling more and liking it, as well as applying a little bit of decorative tape for practical and aesthetic purposes, so we'll see where that goes. Any excuse for more pens!

[GrayMatterWife]

WOW!! I LOVE THIS! I have really been struggling to improve my system, and I actually came up with something sorta similar, not realizing that this was out there.

You have made my day. I am going to implement this. I am extremely good with using personal agendas/calendars, so I am sure that this will not go to waste.

Thanks for sharing!!

(I am stuck in some kind of time-warp. I cannot use electronic day minders. Just can't. If I don't write it down, I don't remember it.)

[spotty_dog]

Yay! With all the balls you juggle, I know you must already have some solid organizational systems. But hopefully something as flexible as this can work with those.

Speaking of which, how are you?!

[medpedspouse]

OMGeeee
I have been doing this without knowing it was a "thing" all.my.life.

I actually feel bad about discarding my books from previous years because I found that I liked looking back...FYI on the StrengthsFinder "Context" is one of my top 5 strengths.

I now realize that is like journaling except that I hate journaling - hate it enough to accepting a B in a grad class that required us to keep a journal.

ETA - I also luuuurve me some pens. All colors, etc. However, I prefer to doodle and make my lists/notes in pencil.

[spotty_dog]

I now realize that is like journaling except that I hate journaling - hate it enough to accepting a B in a grad class that required us to keep a journal.

Yes!! I've kept diaries in the past but they are always either stilted or whiny. I had an online journal for a while, and I found it so valuable to be able to look back and see what I was doing on a certain day in the past (or to dig up my kids' milestones), but my interest in that petered out. When I started keeping all my lists and scribbles in notebooks, I was capturing a lot of day-to-day, but nothing was dated, so all I can say is, "Sometime between Christmas 2012 (scribbled a list of gifts received) and Christmas 2013 (same), yadda yadda happened." The Bullet Journal concept brings it all together, because I date my daily to-do lists which gives way more context to the lists and observations that are scribbled intermittently along with them. I love having my notebooks to refer back to! And I don't put any emotionally-laden entries any more, so I'm not ashamed to have it fall into someone else's hands or for my kids to see it 20 years from now and see what life was like.

My to-do lists are in pencil, my project notes and things are in blue fountain pen, and my doodles are in fine-tipped felt pen. I am going to start adding color as well, I think...

[PrincessFiona]

I do this too. Also a fountain pen user.

Kris


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[scrub-jay]

[MENTION=985]spotty_dog[/MENTION] How's the BuJo going? I'm picking it up again, I need more structure in this sahm gig. My biggest challenge currently is making/finding time to sit down and write in it.

[poky]

Did I never post in here? Thank you again, [MENTION=985]spotty_dog[/MENTION], for introducing me to this concept. I LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE my Bullet Journal. SO MUCH, you guys! As things come up, that's where they go, as I think of things, I add them; I take notes in work meetings in it (this has saved my ass several times already), I have a monthly habit tracker I check things off on every day, I spend about 5 minutes once a day cleaning up the current day's entry and starting the next day's entry with tasks and appointments for that day, and about half an hour on the last day of the month printing out the new monthly calendar and habit tracker and setting up the 'sometime this month' task list. It's seriously offloaded a TON of mental energy trying to keep up and keep track of things, and "where did I write that down", etc. And it fits in my purse, so I never have to be without it. It's not pretty (I don't spend time on lettering or doodles or color-coding things or anything; it's all just cheap ball-point), but it is SO FUNCTIONAL. I got the notebook just a few days after new year's, so it starts right at the first of the year, and I'm currently on page 43. I do not plan to ever be without one ever again. Absolutely a perfect fit for me.

[spotty_dog]

Hooray [MENTION=1049]poky[/MENTION]! I feel the same way, it's so simple but SO EFFECTIVE.

[MENTION=985]spotty_dog[/MENTION] How's the BuJo going? I'm picking it up again, I need more structure in this sahm gig. My biggest challenge currently is making/finding time to sit down and write in it.

SJ, the enthusiasm I had when I started this thread has made my journal and my productivity so much better than ever before. I seriously find myself searching around for new projects to add to my list because I know I can accomplish them.

One of the things I adopted for January was to make it an unshakeable part of my routine. The rule has always been that you don't bother momma before she's done with the first cup of coffee. Well, the new rule is that during that mandatory quiet ~10 minutes, I always, always sit down and make my daily entry so I can start planning for what to accomplish in the day.

I shared this blog entry with poky but I should drop it in here too. It beautifully and humorously lays out everything I have learned from nearly two years of using this system. http://thelazygeniuscollective.com/b...bullet-journal

[poky]

What saves me a ton of time each month is that I actually print out my google calendar monthly view and put it in my journal (I trim it, fold it in half, and attach one side to one page of the journal; it effectively makes another page flap in the journal with the other half of the calendar printout - I put my habit tracker on the back of that flap, and my monthly to-do list on the facing journal page; that way all my monthly stuff is all together). It means I don't have to draw a calendar or write all the dates and days of the week in, and I don't have to transfer all my appointments into the journal, or figure out how to keep track of a bunch of upcoming stuff for particular days. If an appointment comes up for sometime beyond the current month, I just add it to my google calendar, and I know it'll magically be in my journal when that month comes up. If one comes up for later THIS month, I write it on the right day on the printout, and add it to the google calendar (this doesn't happen all that often for me, so it's not much extra work).
The feeling of satisfaction from being SO ON TOP OF THINGS, and knowing that everything you need to remember is in one place, and generally pretty findable, because it's all chronological, is just amazing. Sorry to keep gushing, but it's been truly life-altering for me.

[Phoebe]

I need this. How do I start?


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[civilspouse]

I started one after I saw this thread. I love it. I usually review the day and plan out the followimg day after I get the kids to bed.