Let’s start at the beginning… the Bullet Journal.
Background
Now this is where I started diving into the planner community. I had always had diaries and notebooks and writing things down but I had never heard of this system until one tired afternoon during a difficult period of time, through a link on Facebook. I was hooked.
For anyone who has not come across Bullet Journals or just wants a quick refresher then I would highly recommend this video by the brilliant Ryder Carroll. He came up with the system and from there it has developed into a creative outlet for many people.
Back to my bullet journal…
For me the biggest thing about the bullet journal system was the to do list or tasks. Actually going through the process of writing things down made a huge difference to my day to day life. I naturally threw myself into it and tried all aspects of the creative side but kept losing focus. So I bought a new journal and did it “properly”!
I wrote things down. I wrote down tasks, projects, ideas, lists. I wrote down the plans for the week. I wrote down everything. And I could function again.
I will say that at the point I discovered all of this, I was working out the last few weeks of my job (that I had lost), managing some depression and anxiety, writing reports, planning for a new class, and completing a minor additional qualification for work. I was not in a good way and getting up was a huge challenge never mind anything else. But this system helped me beyond belief. I suddenly found that I could get up and do things even if I was still struggling with my fuzzy head.
To this day, despite using multiple other planners, my bullet journal has remained constant. I always have a bullet journal on the go. I am now on number 15, the one after the disastrous incident.
What goes into it?
Now if you have taken the time to watch the Ryder Carroll video, then you will have some idea of the basics. If you have seen other videos, then you will have seen a lot more things go into a bullet journal. I think mine is somewhere between the two.
While essentially I use mine for task lists, notes and basic planning, I do use some trackers and I use it as a general notebook/journal. There are various videos on my channel that give you more of an in-depth look at what goes into my bullet journal. I don’t draw everything in pencil and then go over it all. I just go for it and plan. I don’t think of myself as artistic so I do use stickers for colour and decoration. I know to some this may deviate from the original point of a bullet journal but it’s my creative outlet.
Currently
I have no plans to change my planning system to exclude my bullet journal. It is the constant companion and is the place where things can be ‘real’ as well as pretty and beautiful. There’s nothing currently in there that I don’t use so clearly two years of refining has helped me refine it to what I need. And that is something that will continue to happen, but it will always be there.
My Life Planned Out 