Janine and Shannon have talked quite a bit about electronic task management, but in this episode, we delve into bullet journaling, a hand-written task management system. Shannon’s been using this system for years and Janine is a starry-eyed novice.
Discussion topics include:
- How Bullet Journaling is one of a number of things that Janine has embraced after Shannon did it for a long time
- Shannon’s assertion that she benefits because Janine then tells her stuff she didn’t know about
- Janine’s shift from electronic to paper for task management
- What is a Bullet Journal? A bound, indexed journal in which you capture information quickly
- The Bullet Journal’s special sauce: Its index, which is brilliant in its simplicity
- The value of handwriting the weekly schedule and tasks for Shannon (even though she also captures them electronically)
- Shannon’s weekly approach to her Bullet Journal vs Janine’s monthly/daily approach
- Shannon’s notebook recommendations: hard cover, dot grid with pre-printed page numbers
- Pen recommendations: Shannon loves the Pilot Frixion pens and Janine loves the Pigma Micron 01 + Zebra Mildliner markers
- Fast-writing vs slow-writing pens
- The perils of watching Bullet Journal YouTube videos
- Our agreement that the fancy spreads shown off on YouTube don’t really represent what Bullet Journaling is all about
- Shannon’s advice to new Bullet Journalers: Read Ryder Carroll’s explanation and avoid YouTube
- Keeping Bullet Journals simple and sustainable
- The Bullet Journal Companion App
- How the ever-changing content of a Bullet Journal helps keep the system fresh
- How a good-enough attitude helps when you Bullet Journal
- Shannon’s weekly spread that she based on the Planner Pad
- Bullet Journal Collections + the Future Log
- Starting small with the Bullet Journal
Photos:
Here’s Shannon’s weekly spread from way back in 2017. It hasn’t changed!
Here’s Janine’s monthly log + habit tracker. She’s embracing good enough!
Links:
- The Bullet Journal four-minute video tutorial
- The Bullet Journal backstory
- The Bullet Journal Method book
- The notebook Shannon uses most for her Bullet Journal
- Janine’s next notebook (waiting in the wings after she finishes her current one)
- The Bullet Journal Companion App
Been using a BuJo for more than 5 years. Your advice is spot on. I wished I had known about it sooner than 6 week before I retired! My set up has some doodles on the monthly face page, (each month has weekly pages and then a Review page before the next month. ) In trying out many different journals, some had no page numbers so I used those plastic attachable index tabs for sections like Knitting, Gifts Given. I set up a month in the last week of the previous one, which keeps what’s coming in my mind. I love it.
Thanks so much for sharing how you use a BuJo, Janet! You have some terrific ideas.