Kick Off 2023 By Starting A Bullet Journal

 

Bullet journaling. What is it and is it right for you?

Bullet journaling is a term made popular by a guy named Ryder Carroll in a 2017 TEDx talk.

Diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder at a young age, he started working on the Bullet Journal system in the 1990s and ended up creating a way of note taking that helped him focus better. It’s a system he designed to track the past, organize the present and plan for the future.

When he shared his method, thousands of people saw ways that it could help them and adapted his method to fit their needs.

In this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm15cmYU0IM&t=0s  Ryder explains his bullet journal method.

Ryder says you don’t have to do it the way he teaches, just do it the way that works best for you.

Since he introduced his system, the bullet journal method has exploded. People have posted many YouTube videos showing ways of setting up journals and what they include in theirs. Some are quite simple, while others are extremely artsy and busy.

Here is a link to an article by Derek Sivers on journaling you might find helpful.

Benefits of a daily diary and topic journals | Derek Sivers

My journal adventures.

I try to keep my journal as simple as possible.  Other people seem to get as much enjoyment out of decorating their journal and making eye catching drawings as they do the journaling.

I started journaling in 2017, using a plain notebook and a BIC ink pen. This seemed like a great way to help retain the memories that I did not want to lose, and it helped me keep up with my to-do list, projects I was working on and books I read or wanted to read.

I added a calendar to tract events, birthdays, and appointments.  I had sections for my goals, quotes I liked, and the rest of the journal was for my daily log, where I wrote about daily things that were going on, things that I wanted to remember, things I needed to do, and reminders of special memories.

Each year I add or take away what I include in my journal, and I have gone from a plain notebook to a nice hard cover journal book with thick pages and now I use an app, Notion, on my computer.

This year I have a section for hot news stories, a daily quote, the daily weather report, my daily log, and a section titled, good things that happened to me today. I added a section for birthdays and appointments that I transfer from my Outlook calendar each morning as a quick reminder.

This is what’s working best for me right now. But it's December now and I will soon go back over this year’s journal entries. I may make a change or two before January. It just depends on what I want in my journal next year.

Is Journaling right for you?

My advice, start a journal, play with the set-up until it becomes a tool that can help you and try it for a few months.  All you might lose is a couple dollar notebook and a cheap pen or pencil.  You also, might just find something you need in your life.