I first heard about bullet journals when I saw the high number of requests for the new book “The Bullet Journal Method” by Ryder Carroll. Using a notebook to get organized? Why was that a big deal? Then I looked it up on Pinterest.
Whoa.
I never would have thought of making a planner as a hobby- but some people make calendar pages look like works of art, come up with innovative ways to track health goals, and create beautiful to do lists. It hits the trifecta for me- office supplies, doodling and kaizen.
That’s not what Ryder started, but he’s cool with it. A website designer with ADD, he came up with methods to help him focus, to slow down enough to keep track of not just his tasks, but the direction he wanted to go in. Instead of having hundreds of sticky notes, apps, calendars and bits of paper, he put it all together in a notebook, making an index so he could find it again, creating a key for his symbols so he could distinguish between tasks, notes, events and reminders. The biggest part of his idea was that you customize a layout that works for the way you think, and change it to suit your needs.
I was intrigued, but skeptical. I tried it out on a regular notebook. Ok, it was fun to make a calendar, and the bullet lists made sense- it slows you down, you unplug, and that helps you to clear your head of all the noise. I liked the idea of it as an art form. The regular notebook paper wouldn’t cut it in that respect- note the bleeding here.
There are special fancy notebooks they recommend- ones with numbered pages, an index in the front, and dots instead of lines. I’ve never worked with dot paper, in fact I’ve avoided dotted paper and wondered why anyone would use it- until now. Those dots! It makes creating lines, boxes, designs so much easier. I also bought a stencil set, and I’ve had fun playing with making layouts for planning.
Will I keep using it? Yes, I think so. I will probably keep the other systems I use to store parts of my brain, like my family’s shared digital calendar, my book lists on Goodreads, my charts from Fitbit, but the idea of putting notes and calendar pages in one journal that could be used as a kind of diary is appealing. In his book Ryder talks about getting perspective- figuring out WHY you have a goal, figuring out what actions you can take that are in your control, and breaking them into manageable bits. Instead of mindlessly pursuing being “busy”, he talks about finding your own meaning and following your curiosity. Be willing to fail, experiment, fail again until you figure out what works for you.
“In an ‘all or nothing’ world, we tend to forget the power of something.” Ryder Carroll says. Take the time to write down your thoughts, perhaps on some pretty paper with some fancy pens.
