Bullet Journal

Have you heard about Bullet Journal?

Its creator, Ryder Carroll, calls it “an analog system for the digital age.”

I’ve been trying it for the past few weeks, and I like it pretty well. I had been trying to use a calendar on my phone, since that’s always with me but, like many other people, I got frustrated at not being able to see the calendar while I was talking on the phone. So now I’m back to paper.

I’m using a medium-sized Moleskine with grid ruling, like he shows in his video, but it feels a little too big – too tall and wide. I looked for one a little smaller but couldn’t find anything that still had the 31+ lines you need for the monthly list of days.

Comparing this to the way I used to use paper planners, the biggest difference I see is in my own attitude: if something doesn’t get done, as long as it was a “nice to have” or a “possible option,” I just leave it behind. I have waaaaay too many ideas to actually do them all. Perhaps this means I’m making peace with that in a new way. 🙂

I added Post-it tabs for two sections: Collections, and (unique to me) Scathingly Brilliant Ideas – I have five of the latter so far, some of which will appear on this blog in due course.

Another thing I did was to glue a traditional calendar into the back of the notebook. It just helps me to see the 7-day grid, especially when planning activities with friends … sets things in a context. I use that calendar to record events in future months, then add those to the Bullet Journal monthly list of days.

So far, so good. June will be my first full month with a Bullet Journal, so it will be a better test. I’ll let you know toward the end of the year how it’s going.

If you’re looking for a system, why not check it out?