Analogue Planning (2)

Whist attending an FEU training day recently I was introduced to the Bullet Journal by a fellow attendee. Like the BestSelf journal it is a planning tool but more than that; “It’s best described as a mindfulness practice disguised as a productivity system.” says its founder Ryder Carroll.  

The Bullet Journal is diary, daily planner, to do list, long term planner and more. The journal starts with a Future log to help you plan long term goals/plans/diary dates.  From there you can then break down to a Monthly Logs to plan your month and Weekly/Daily logs to plan weeks and days.  If this sounds too overwhelming then starting with a basic Monthly log may well be the best way in. Best of all you can adapt, modify or ignore elements which don’t work for you or to keep things simple as you start out.  You can add habit trackers to start/stop habits and add lists such as film to see / books to read.  Doodling, drawings, general scribbling is not just allowed as encouraged along with using multiple colours/types of pens or not if you have no wish to do so. 

There is an official Bullet Journal notebook which is dotted/d numbered.  Many other stationery suppliers have produced their own versions; but any notebook and a pen/pencil will do.  The Bullet Journal website has plenty of information to get you started plus their YouTube channel has a number of useful tutorial videos.  There is a book on the Bullet Journal but I actually found the videos more helpful.  Additional internet research led me to Little Coffee Fox website which was another useful resource.  

So the Bullet Journal sounds very similar to the current habit I have and as you can see from the picture above I have made a start with a blank notebook and some of my pen sets.  I am starting with just a Monthly Log, using that to break down weekly plans and see how that goes. 

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