Writer’s Life | Boost Your Productivity and Mindfulness with Bullet Journaling

Put up your hand if you’ve heard of Bullet Journaling.

I know, right? It’s not a brand new idea. It’s been around for years now. If you go to Pinterest, you’ll find oodles of articles on gorgeous layouts for calendar pages, stickers, and ways to colour code your Bullet Journal.

Pinterest

I resisted the siren call of BuJo, as it’s known for short, for a long time. I lived out of the daily planner you buy with pre-coloured pages that came with their own stickers for various appointments, and motivational quotes.

I made sure I had the new year’s planner by October at the latest so I could put all my writing goals for the following year in it. No way was I going to waste valuable writing/planning time on colour-coding pages or fancy “BuJo’ing”.

My sister-in-law made a passing comment about how much her own Bullet Journal had changed her life on our summer visit. She told me she did the “bare bones” and how much it freed up her time and, – her mind–when she got things out of her mind and down on paper.

So, I headed over to https://bulletjournal.com and bought the official 2022 Bullet Journal. Yes, you can use any A5-sized journal with dotted grid paper, or lined paper, if you prefer that, and it would be cheaper. (Mine cost $32.00 Canadian plus shipping)

The instructions said to give it a three-month trial before giving up on the system, so I started in October, 2022.

The “system” is explained in this book:

I waited on the library list to take it out because I’m thrifty that way. I took notes on everything, but you can also buy the book on Amazon.

I’m going to share some personal pages out of my own BuJo.

Here’s the basic “system”:

• You have four pages at the front called INTENTIONS. Those are your GOAL pages. Use them for whatever goals you want: long, medium, short, and however many years you want to plan them.
• The next four pages are called INDEX. This is your “Table of Contents”. You put the subject of each item and its page number, one per line on these pages.

• The next four pages are called FUTURE LOG. These are for putting down your upcoming months and lining them off in thirds on the page. (photo) You’ll put any future events for those months in these spaces. (photo)

• If you *wanted* to make a fancy (or not fancy) calendar spread, you could do it on the next two pages. I chose not to and used the gold month stickers provided with my Journal. (photo) Here’s my first month, October 2022. I wrote what I wanted to remember on the left-hand page. On the right-hand page, I transferred the major things that I needed to remember for that month.

• On the next page, you record daily activities and whatever you want to remember about the day. You can write every day, skip weekends, or only when you have something important to remember.
• Continue this way until the end of the month. Then you’ll do two pages for the following month.
• The beauty of the Bullet Journal “system” is in it’s “Collections”. This is where getting things out of your mind and down on paper is so productive. A Collection can be anything. It can be “Garden Plans” where you begin a section and write everything you want to record for the spring. You can draw a layout for the new garden, keep a record of seeds on hand, etc.
• When you start a Collection, be sure to write it on your Index page with the page numbers (a real Bullet Journal has numbered pages already) beside it so you can find it quickly.

Here are some ideas on what I’ve got as Collections:

Sermon Notes

Medical Appointment Records for each member of the family

Quarterly/Monthly Writing Goals

User Names & Passwords

Vacation Planner

Mom’s Move

Books Read in 2023

Movies/TV Shows Watched in 2023

Master Prescription List for Family

Master Grocery List

Freezer Inventory

Prisoner Fellowship Canada Training Modules

I’m writing two books at the same time, so I have pages recording my word counts daily.

The benefits of doing Bullet Journaling:

An A5-sized journal/notebook can go in your purse and go everywhere with you. You can have a section for “Ideas” for writing.

It’s relaxing to look over your day and see what you’ve accomplished without having to-do lists scattered across your desk and kitchen.

Your productivity will increase when you’re jotting down your word counts and you add them up at the end of the week!

They recommend starting a brand new BuJo in January even if you have pages left in the one you’re working on. I’m way too thrifty (that’s Greek for cheap!) to do that, so I’m still going on my 2022 one. But I bought two A5-sized, grid paper notebooks at 50% off the New Year’s sales so I’m ready for when I’ve used this one up.

If you haven’t tried it, I recommend it. And if you already have a 2023 Planner, I highly recommend it for keeping up with your WIPs and your devotions/sermon notes. You’ll always have them with you on a gloomy day.

`If you use a Bullet Journal, tell us about it in the comments. I’d love to know what “Collections” you use in your own BuJo!