I know a lot of us journal. Its a way to document, purge, process, and reflect; a form of therapy. The same personality type who is dedicated enough to journal, is often someone who is also obsessed with organization. This person probably prefers that a calendar keep them on track to make it to that guest instructed gym class or successfully remember the avocado during their trip to the grocery store.
In this world of technology, there is an app for everything. I'm sure you could find an app that would manage you managing your calendar. One thing that I have discovered about many of these apps is that no matter how great they are, they are limited. One app is all about making lists. The purpose of another app is to track your goals. While yet another app is calendar based. Also, I type a lot at work and handcraft and package tons of products per month. My hands need all the breaks they can get from keyboards.
I needed some serious organization and management of my life. I work what I call a "beyond full time" job in the military in addition to being the founder and CEO of handcarfted bath and body company, MawAhh LLC. My work tasks are crazy enough but when I started to feel like I'd lost grasp of the management of my home and two doggies, my sister recommend a quick fix solution.
What if you had one system that managed EVERYTHING??? Bullet journaling is an easy way to combine anything that could possibly ever cross your schedule or mind into one area. You can track all of you goals, to do list and thoughts, as well as doodle and anything else your heart desires.
Selection of your journal is important for this project. My sister purchased three before finding her perfect match. You can really use any type of notebook or journal depending on your desires. Just be sure that its durable. You should like the look and feel of both the outside and the interior pages. I choose a simple lined page journal with a cover that personally encourages greatness for me. It has an internal pocket in the back that I use to store receipts for business purposes before they are scanned. So let's discuss what goes into the journal.
Page 1: Key
Page one will serve as the key for your journal. This is a place where you can use your creativity to easily distinguish your entires. Some I use are:
Task // -Note//* Urgent task //?Research
Feel free to customize these as you choose for your needs.
Page 2: Index
Page two should be your index. This section will tell you what pages to locate items for future reference as you build your journal. I used pages two & three in my current journal as the index. After creating my index pages, I numbered the remaining journal pages. Well... I numbered 40 of the pages.
Section One:
I used the next section of my journal for a four month outlook that actually expands two pages. This is the section where I annotate important upcoming due dates for tasks, goals, meetings ect. It's nice because it allows you to look ahead semi-long term with a one glance view. Two month outlooks as pictured or three month outlooks are also options. Craft this to meet your needs.
Section Two:
This section serves as you monthly view. On the left side of the page are all the days of the month with the first letter of the coinciding day of the week. Plan out your month according to dates using this page. The right side of the page are all of you deliverable items for the month (goals, upcoming events, etc).
Section Three:
This is where I began my daily notes, tasks, ideas, ect. I date the top of each entry with the month, date, and day of the week. Go crazy! Write whatever you want; however you want. Plan your summer vacation. Remind yourself to call the cable company and inquire about new deals you may qualify for. Add a task to check your sons homework since you know he'll rush through it to play video games. Write, draw, and plan until your heart is content!
Go wild! Hang Loose! All in the name of organization & sanity!
These pages can easily hold your doodles, a list of your favorite restaurants or ones that you'd like to try, and any other thoughts or ideas you may have. Just don't forget to go back and annotate important pages in the index. Next month, start it all over again. Do what you will! If there is something about the journal setup that did not work for you, every month is a new opportunity to change it.
My journal is very bare bones. Any artistic talents I may have go to my bath and body products as you can tell by my attempts at header script. I am in my second month but will update you all in a few months as I get deeper into the grooves of what is and is not working for me. Please comment below to share you bullet journaling successes or struggles. Happy journaling!