Great Looking Organizing Method: Bullet Journal

[MattD]

I've been using this system for almost a month now, since I saw it here, and it is working pretty well for me. I like it better than my Franklin Planner, because a single day can take as little or as much space as you need. The "brain dumping" of status for various projects that someone else mentioned has also been really useful for me, and is something that isn't really easy to do in the Franklin Planner either. Bullet Journal seems to fit me better than that system did.

 

I'm kind of cheap, so I picked up this notebook from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1441311335/ to start in. It has nice, heavy pages that do well with my fountain pen (Pelikan M200 Fine). No show through at all, though it takes the ink a few seconds to dry (Waterman Serenity Blue right now). About on par with the Red and Black notebooks I use in that respect, maybe a little faster to dry. It has a band that holds it closed nicely in my backpack, and a ribbon that marks the current page. Plus, it lies nicely flat, unlike a lot of ones I looked at in Staples.

 

The paper in the Staples Arc notebooks also seems really nice, and I like the idea of being able to add pages, arrange them, and move things around. I have an "important dates" page that I'd like to move from year to year, for instance, and some other things like that. Project pages for unfinished projects when you start a new notebook, as another example. Has anyone tried out the grid paper you can get for the Arc system? There was none in the display in the store, and it is special order only at my store. Prime is more convenient, so I started with the notebook above. Would be willing to entertain the Arc system if it works well though. 2014 starts in just a couple of months!

[poxy51]

I do about the same thing in my Day Timer and it looks tidier, but I do have to use a ball pen and that is a big downside. The Fountain pen bleeds through. The pluses are I get a lot of room for one day and can make notes that do not require a notation key to figure out what I wrote.

[Moshe ben David]

Much of this -- especially the monthly catch-up of what has happened and the indexing to enable tracking back to what has happened -- reminds me of a multitude of books and articles I saw years ago for making good use of DayTimer, Franklin - Covey, Filofax, and the like. The very first book on the subject I ever read -- which prompted me to use these sort of planners for many years was a book titled Time Power by Charles R. Hobbs, published in 1987. (Disclaimer: this book was obviously sponsored by Day Timer; but the base principles translate across brands.) He even advocated setting up index card files to enable looking back into archived volumes for various events, etc.

 

I long ago turned to electronic media for actual appointments etc., but a journal (be it paper or electronic) is a great way to capture thoughts, actual events, and to reflect on how life is going.

 

The bullet approach is practical as long as you avoid too complicated a system/hierarchy of bullets!

 

Moshe ben David

[caric]

I’ve been enjoying a subset of the Bullet Journal system for utilizing a paper notebook. The idea of using one whole “spread” of two pages for a specific topic is particularly appealing. I also like the index idea.

 

 

All the items I want to record in a notebook are of the notes variety. The other main entities of the bullet system (events and tasks) are well-covered by my digital tools (namely, iCloud calender and Omnifocus). The Bullet Journal system keeps my paper notes organized and accessible.

 

 

A digital alternative to my notes would be Evernote; I've used Evernote a lot, but I've abandoned it. My lack of desire for evernote informs me how other people probably feel about digital calendars and computer task managers!

 

 

the notes I put on paper are ready-references, separate from, but right next to, whatever digital system I'm working on at the time; the notes are enhancements.

[Blue_Moon]

Great system.

[da vinci]

I have started to use the system this year properly and it is good, save the monthly planning at the start of each month.

 

I am using an A5 notebook and writing the working days across 2 pages just doesnt give me enough room to neatly record all the things I need too. Still a small blip to an otherwise good system.

[Cryptos]

I started down the 'productivity' rabbit hole a couple of years ago and explored an absolute plethora of systems and methods. What I found was that none of the systems were particularly good in and of themselves, except perhaps for their inventor/developer. Then I realised that I could mix and match and whole new world of possibilities opened up for me. Now I have my own system - it is loosely based around the bullet journal idea with some bits from other systems melded to it, and is simple and effective for me. I would like to believe that most enthusiasts in this arena end up doing something similar for themselves. As mentioned the spine of mine is bullet. The add-ons come from GTD, Chronodex and mind-mapping. I use it for project management, and nobody else needs to see or understand my notebook. For daily housekeeping tasks the bullet approach works well for me.

 

It's funny. Our school admin organised an official GTD workshop recently. People make money out of offering these workshops. I think in some ways they are right up there with the Andy Robbins and Robert Kiyosakis of our little world. Make of that opinion what you will, but I was not too impressed.