queerplant: What Deepened My Bullet Journaling Practice This Year

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This year I went back to the Bullet Journal after a few years away.I used Bullet Journal for the first time in 2015—generation 1, when the system still used the little boxes instead of dots for tasks. I used it for most of the year, but at some point it stopped being useful to me.And then last year, around this time, I read The Bullet Journal Method and realized that I've been doing some things wrong. Namely, I was just keeping my task list in there and I kept rewriting tasks from the previous day. So this year, I've been doing it again, applying the things mentioned in the book and figuring out some things on my own.[READ-MORE]Keep things simpleI started out the year with using two colors. I find it difficult to read stuff—well, textbooks, notes, and task lists—when they're all the same color, so I thought that I would write the day of the week in color and I used a line to divide the days.That was the first thing that I realized, had to go. I need to keep my Daily Log as simple as possible. For me, that means no spreads, it means using just the one color when I write things down, it means not using any tool other than a pen.Anything more complicated and I start procrastinating on even starting that list.Highlighting rocksSo I solved the problem of starting on the list, but I still had a problem where I found it difficult to keep track of the things that I wrote down. It was a bit difficult to notice the tasks that I'd done and that still needed doing.To get around that, I started highlighting the task that I had done that day. Usually at the end of the day, but sometimes, if I had a hard time keeping track of where I am with the tasks, I'd do it sooner.For that purpose, I use a highlighter and a pen in different color. The beauty of setting it up like that is that if I don't have time or inclination, I don't have to use it.Add space and batch your bulletsThis was a more recent realization and is also meant to improve the readability of the Daily Log.Adding bullets just one under the other meant that I felt like any bullet other than the task bullet didn't have a space in my Bullet Journal. And it's precisely when I start adding other bullets that I started treasuring my Bullet Journal as more than a running task list.Writing things down with a blank line between batched tasks does require a bit more forethought that when you just write things in an unbroken list, but I found it helpful for ease of reading and having a rough estimate of the day's schedule as well. I sit down in the morning and I go through categories of work I intend to do that day: work around the house (chores and errands), knitting, studying.I try to think of everything for the category before I move on to the next, but it's no big deal if I don't. If something comes up during the day, I just skip a line and add the task there.Leaving a blank line also made me feel more free to use different bullets, note bullet and event bullet.Use all types of bulletsI've hinted at it in previous sections, but try to use all the bullets. This is what made the Bullet Journal really valuable to me.I schedule all my appointments and (social) events into a calendar, but then when I come home, I sit down and reflect on it, or just note that this is indeed something that I went to.I use the note bullet mainly to reflect on my day. Perhaps something particularly frustrating has happen to me that day and then I'll note that down briefly just to get it out of my head.Personally, I use a middle-position dot (⋅) for tasks and it gets exed out (×) when completed, turned into angle brackets with the direction depending on if I'm migrating forward (&gt;) or scheduling it into the Future Log (&lt;). I also use a dash (—) for notes and a star (*) for priority/important signifier.I think that the Bullet Journal site also lists the exclamation mark (!) for ideas signifier, but I never used that one.What to put into the Monthly Log task listSometimes I have projects that can't be done in a day but there are too few tasks assigned to it when broken down to it's building blocks that it seems wasteful to take up a whole page. I stick that kind of project into the Monthly Log task list.If I started the project near the end of the month, I'll mark completed the tasks that I finished and migrate the rest into the next month's task list.That list also contains tasks that need to be done on a certain date or that are especially important, but I won't put my chores there, for example.If you want to start Bullet JournalingIgnore all the different Instagram posts and videos. Don't start with that. It might be something that you discover brings you joy and is effective for you, but in the beginning, just follow the most basic instructions that are available on the Bullet Journal website.Use a half-filled notebook to try out the method and see what might work for you before you spend money on a more expensive notebook that will stand up to your handling it for a year. I actually did this for both times that I started using Bullet Journal.Check your local library for Ryder Carroll's book on Bullet Journaling and read Parts I and II for more ideas on how to use the basic Bullet Journal. (☠️)For illustration of a simple Bullet Journal, I'm including a photo of my 2015 Bullet Journal (on the bottom) and 2019 Bullet Journal (on the top). (I blurred the text a little because I feel shy about sharing my actual tasks).[/READ-MORE]Things mentioned:1st generation Bullet Journal: video and the original website.2nd generation Bullet Journal: video and the website.The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll.Crossposted from Dreamwidth.