This month: I discover Bullet Journaling
Back in August, I began trying out the Bullet Journal system of planning and noting in what I call my "Day Book", which I have been using since 2014 to keep myself organised alongside the Evernote and Trello apps. I came across the Bullet Journal system thanks to a blog entry from Evernote, actually.
Not everyone finds a digital application suitable to their purposes, and there are still (many!) people in the world who prefer pen and paper for the inherent flexibility and customization that comes with a blank sheet of paper, as opposed to the structured architecture of the app. There are also people, like myself, who use digital applications for one purpose, but otherwise turn to pen and paper (or, in my case, pencil and paper, I prefer pencil) for another.
While I will plan a day of doing the bookkeeping for G's business in an Evernote notebook, or list the three things I must get done so I can feel accomplished on a specific day on a Trello board, I have always had an agenda/daily diary type book since I was 13 years old, if not every year, then most of those years, and rely on them for keeping appointments and scheduling work and personal occasions.
Previously, my Day Book just consisted of my goals for the month and any other tasks I wanted to especially accomplish (in 2014 I just did a list of my Resolutions under various subheadings). If you checked out the Bullet Journal (Bu-Jo to its fans) site, you will see it starts with calendar spreads for the month and the week, and then daily logging (rapid logging) in the form of tasks, events and notes with signifiers (symbols) that quickly identify what an item is.
So far, I am still tweaking the system to suit myself. I use a monthly calendar listing to see any events at a glance, a Tasks page for an ongoing list of anything that needs doing, a Due page for my bill payment schedule, and follow these pages with what I call my Daily Download, which is just a summary of each day's main events, completed tasks, activities and even random thoughts. I do not think I will add "Collections" in the form of say, books to read, not this year anyways. I also do not log daily activities such as meals or workouts in my Day Book, I use apps (LoseIt, Fitocracy, Fitbit) for all that already and am not minded to change that.
One thing that is quickly apparent about Bu-Jo users is how creative they are. I can't decorate anything to save my life, I have zero talent in the area of drawing, or art, or crafting. I feel like quite the impostor looking at the posts of the group on Facebook I joined to get ideas about tweaking the Bullet Journal system, my Day Book is relentlessly plain, just words on a page. To add just a touch of creativity, a friend sent me a box of rubber stamps designed for planners, with symbols you are likely to need in a planner. I spent a little time stamping each one into the last pages of my Day Book (I don't call it a Bu-Jo, even though I use the Bu-Jo system to organise it now) and labeling them so I know what each will be used for. Who knows, I might even spend some money and buy some washi tape, a very decorative tape originating in Japan, and give my Day Book some colour.
What else I got up to:
In September, I didn't save anything. I temporarily discontinued my RRSP contributions in July to allow for some additional income, because G's business slowed right down to very little. I re-started my contributions with my first pay in October.
I served as a volunteer at the local running of the Terry Fox Run on September 20. Terry Fox is very much a Canadian national hero, he ran on a prosthetic leg across Canada to raise awareness about cancer. 35 years later and counting, his inspirational spirit is still honoured with runs organised in communities large and small. It was my first year volunteering with this particular effort, but likely will not be my last.
For 29 of the 30 days in September, I wrote a short affirmation each morning after completing my Headspace meditation practice. I wrote for 3 minutes, as that was the most time I could add to my morning schedule without going completely off-track. The point of this was to both start the day with a positive frame of mind, and to use my handwriting, something I don't do much of anymore with all the digital tools I use.
Finally, I decided to not pull out the sweaters and scarves until it was at least mid- to late October. Summer ended on a beautiful note, but fall swept right in, with high temperatures going from an average of 21 *C to no more than 15 *C in less than a week. It's not winter yet, and I am not going to dress for it until I have to. After 3 years, I am interested to see just how adjusted I am.
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| Some of the stamps, labeled |
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| The rest of the stamps, labeled |
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| The stamps |
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| A single fall rose |
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| This month's cute pup picture |
