Summer Update & Bullet Journals!

Still plugging away on draft three. I’m bumping the book launch to fall, but stay tuned to the blog for the title/blurb reveal, cover reveal, book trailer, and other pre-launch goodies!

In the meantime, I wanted to talk about something I’m really excited about lately: BULLET JOURNALING!

Before you quietly X out of this post, let me briefly explain…

Bullet Journaling:  What It Is and Why I Like It

If you’re a planner and a list keeper, you’ll probably like keeping a bullet journal, which is kind of a hybrid between a planner and a journal. What’s cool, though, is you can make it anything you want. The concept is super flexible, which is part of why I like it so much. Plus, it’s really fun to do, especially if you like getting creative with stuff.

If you have a few minutes, here’s an explanation of how it works by the guy who came up with it. In a nutshell, it’s a way of tracking all the lists, notes, and other items you tend to write down in your daily life.

Six Things That Surprised Me About Bullet Journaling

#1 – It can be whatever you want it to be!

Seriously, it’s so darned flexible, you can mold it to fit your needs. You can use it to keep track of all kinds of things: daily/monthly “to do” lists, project and event planning, trip planning and packing, travel itineraries, diet and exercise, cleaning, school and work schedules, books to read, movies and shows to watch, restaurants to try, recipes and meal planning, car maintenance–seriously, anything! Plus, you can use it to log weight loss, vacation memories, daily gratitude, writing exercises, packages you’re waiting on, daily habits, resolution progress–once again, anything!

#2 – You don’t need anything fancy to get started.

As you saw in the video, you can buy notebooks made for bullet journaling, but you can literally use any notebook you want. Even a fifty cent comp notebook or a stack of stapled computer paper if you so choose. Outside of that you just need a pen! If you already have a planner or journal that you love, you can incorporate bullet journaling into your existing system. I’ve incorporated it into both my Passion Planner and into the ARC planner I use to manage writing/book-related tasks.

#3 – Bullet journaling is really fun!

One of the biggest surprises for me has been how much fun it is to keep a bullet journal. Even if you’re just setting up your daily task list, if you have the creativity and spare minutes to embellish your page, you can do that and there is a ton of inspiration out there. Do a search for #bujo just about anywhere and you’ll see what I mean. There are entire blogs and web sites dedicated to sharing bullet journal inspiration. But if you’re not into the embellishment, you can certainly make nice undecorated pages.

#4 – It doesn’t have to be perfect, and it won’t be.

You’ll understand what I mean once you’ve perused the #bujo tag for a few minutes. There are some stunningly talented bullet journalers out there, so it can seem like a lot of pressure to decorate your pages just right–but your pages don’t have to be perfect and they don’t have to look like what others are doing. Just do your best and have fun with it. And, if you’re really bad at the creative part, you can jazz up your bullet journal with stickers, washi tape,colored pens, and any number of handy planner stickers available at craft stores, blogs, and Etsy.

#5 – There are a TON of resources out there for bullet journalers.

If you do a Google search for #bujo or bullet journaling, you’ll find a ton of web sites and blogs dedicated to helping people customize their journals/planners. Lots of blogs offer “printables” which are premade sheets you can print out and use in your journal. Some are stickers, others are worksheets or layouts. A lot of printables are free if you sign up for the blog’s e-mail list. Plus, if you walk into any craft or office supply store, you’ll find an endless assortment of planner stickers, tags, decorative elements, inserts, and other items you can incorporate into your bullet journal/planner.

#6 – Bullet journaling is helping me in ways I didn’t expect.

Before bullet journaling, my planner pages were a sad and disorganized mess of random tasks. Now everything looks better and makes sense. I’m utilizing features I left empty before because I found a purpose for them that works for me. Plus, I honestly feel more accomplished and fulfilled than I normally do, simply because I’m tracking all of my goals, projects, and gratitude in one place. Instead of having to pull up trackers on any number of apps to see how I’m faring, I can simply open up my planner, flip through a few pages, and get a quick overview of everything I’m doing.

Needless to say, I’m hooked!

Next week, I’m going to do a post about how I incorporated bullet journaling into my ARC and Passion Planner, so if you use either of those, stay tuned!