Biting the Bullet (Journal) - Part Deux

Okay...let's try this again! To refresh, a Bullet Journal is an analog method of organizing one's life. Studies have shown that physically writing things down more firmly embeds them into our brains, improving memory and recall. It's a method that is easily personalized to one's own needs and can be as elaborate or as simple as one wants. Generally, the bullet journal combines calendaring, tasks, appointments, logs (called "collections"), and some element of "journaling" - capturing elements in our lives we want to remember or otherwise note. Again, if you Google "Bullet Journal", you will see all kinds of iterations, from really fancy and elaborate, to very simple. Mine is sort of half-way between. As you will recall from my previous post, I sort of stumbled at my first attempt to get set up. I bought a ruled notebook and pens that bled through badly. I realized that I would rather have a grid-format notebook, and found a Moleskine 5.5X8 notebook that was perfect. I also bought different pens that didn't bleed through. I decided to set up my journal as follows:

Index and Symbol Key

Year-at-a-Glance Calendar

Collections (I allocated a page to each, but can expand as I wish)

    Family and Friends Contact Information

    Household Service Company Info (Plumber, HVAC, etc)

    Birthdays

    Household Projects List

    Job Search Log

    Habits Log (Recording good habits!)

    Gift Ideas

    TV Shows I Want to Record/Watch

  ...and then several pages more for future logs!

Monthly Log (capturing events or important points to remember for the month

Weekly Log

    Tasks

    Appointments

    Notes about the day

    Things I want to remember

Once I had my supplies and how I wanted to organize it, I sat down a got it set up:

Moleskine Notebook:

I like the grids because it keeps my lines straight!


Index and Symbol Key


Year-At-A-Glance


One of my Collections - Household Projects!


Weekly Log Page:


As you can see, I haven't gotten too fancy yet -- I've picked up some stickers and other fun things, but I'm never going to be doing calligraphy!  I'm already seeing the benefits of it -- after this initial set-up, it's really only a few minutes each day to keep it updated. My goal is to set aside a few minutes in the evening to reflect on the day, capture any notes, see what's happening the following day, etc.

I'll let you know how it goes! Oh, and if this inspires you to start your own journal, keep me posted and let me know how yours is going!