An Introduction to Bullet Journaling
I'm a recovering planner junkie. I've tried, investigated and invested in probably about 50 different systems including printables, bound planners, and web/phone apps. I only clicked with a handful of them. Primarily the Passion Planner fit my needs the best but it was still lacking in some major ways. Because of this, the Passion Planner along with so many of the other ones, seemed to get abandoned about 3-4 months in. I'd come back disappointed in myself and try again, just to fail another month or two later.
The key to success is found in prioritization, goal setting and productivity. It's been the cornerstone of all Fortune 500 companies and anyone making 6 figures or more. It truly is the system that leads to success. The failure always ends up in the execution. After all those attempts I was finally prepared to break the mold and create a system that worked for my needs along with the needs of other pet professionals. The problem with that being that needs changes, priorities vary, and we all range in creativity and simplicity. The project froze for about 8 months, till I fell upon the Bullet Journal system.
I believe the fateful day I was looking at pictures on Instagram and a gorgeous journal popped up. Of course I had to know everything about it... at 2am. I resisted the tantalizing Youtube videos until morning. My husband is grateful for my self control. But by breakfast I was watching Bullet Journal creator Ryder Carroll's intro video. I was hooked. My life long style of brain purging, list making, prioritizing, splitting, lumping, etc - IT HAD A SYSTEM!
Ryder Carroll's Bullet Journal site was a tantalizing taste of how simple the system could be. It could simply be lists with makers. It could be organized with Modules aka Collections. You can use it as a daily diary, appointment book, anything you needed. It could be as simple or as complicated as you wanted. But what was brilliant is that it fits you.
So I busted out an old journal and got started. I started playing with the various systems that I found on Instagram, Youtube, and various Bullet Journal (BUJO for short) blogger sites. Some were way more complicated than I needed. I continued to gravitate to the more original minimalistic style, but still stole some creativity where I was comfortable. The artistic BUJO enthusiasts inspired me to be playful and fearless of failure. The minimalist BUJO contributors helped me realize how much I try and overdo it. And the examples of people's days and weeks started making me realize I work way too hard and that I need to take time out and have fun. Even if it's just in my BUJO.
I've used the system for 2 months now. May and June 2016. My BUJO is in a handmade journal from the ETSY shop Citrus Book Bindery. It is on dotted paper as is recommended but dotted paper is not required. It just gives you more freedom on the page for artistic people and keeps things very clean for the minimalistic folks. I tried all sorts of artsy pens but I found at least for this journal that a Bic pen worked best. Weird with all the fancy suggestions out there, but what matters is what works for each of us.
See what's inside in my future posts!
I am just setting up my BUJO for July so stick around and in a day or so I'll show you guys what it looks like, how you can get started and I'm even having a launch contest! So stay tuned! In the meantime check out the links above and below and get thinking about how you might incorporate Bullet Journaling into your life.
Recommended Bullet Journaling Resources:
