Guest Post: Bullet Journal

Good morning Shannon, it’s Monday.

First off, thank you for giving me this opportunity to post on your blog. I don’t typically have much to say, but I have plenty to say on this particular topic.

For the rest of you, hi, I’m Jessica, one of Shannon’s really close friends and ideally a future neuroscientist. I usually have a lot on my plate when it comes to school, and like most other people I need to write things down in order to remember everything I have to do. Throughout my school career I’ve tried keeping track of using several different planners and random notebooks, but I’ve found that none of them really worked for me. I’d still find myself forgetting assignments, missing important meetings, and having to go searching through the four notebooks I always have on hand just to find one idea I wrote down earlier that day. Basically, I was a mess.

Then last summer, I discovered the Bullet Journal.

The Bullet Journal is, simply put, a journal full of lists. The original idea was developed by Ryder Carroll as an alternative to normal planners and journals, because it’s a system that the user creates themselves. Think of it as a DIY planner. All you need is a notebook!

Okay, you’re thinking, why is this any different than any other planner?

Well hypothetical questioner, it’s different because you can do literally whatever you want with it. You can go strictly by Ryder’s method (link here), or you can mix it around like many Bullet Journalists on the Internet do. It gives you the ability to use what you want and only what you want, unlike with store-bought planners.

For one thing, Bullet Journals typically have an index and a key at the beginning so you can keep track of what all the bullets and other markings mean as well as where all of your important pages are. It’s also an ever-changing thing; if you decide to tweak something, like add color or a tracker for developing habits, then you can do that at any time you like. There’s no pressure for you to use the same system for a year straight. You can even add extra stuff around your daily planning pages, like random grocery lists or sketches. 

Really, the Bullet Journal is more than just a DIY planner. It’s a companion for the whole year. You’ll carry it around all the time so that you can copy down assignments, cool sayings, book ideas, a new book for your to-read list – the possibilities are endless. And you’ll never have to worry about running out of space.

If you want to know more about the Bullet Journal system, check out Ryder Carrol’s website at http://bulletjournal.com/get-started/, and follow me on Tumblr at http://butterflywingsit.tumblr.com/. I highly recommend it if you’re tired of store-bought planners too. And Shannon, I’ll see you the next time you post.