Do you need a bullet journal or will your current system work?

Last week when I wrote about the bullet journal, I wrote about some reasons why you would possibly want to try one.

I believe in simplicity though, so I want to challenge your thinking a little today.

Bullet journal | www.OrganisingQueen.com

Should you even bother to change your system?

The quick answer is if what you’re doing is working for you, don’t change a thing.

If it’s not working or you don’t even have a system, or you feel like you could do with something to enhance things a bit, then I’d suggest trying out a bullet journal for a while to see how you like it.

Nothing is permanent; if you don’t like it, you just stop.

Bullet Journal | www.OrganisingQueen.com

My system works well but….

  • my weekly view takes up both pages, so I have to draw a line down the middle of each page. The left-hand side is for appointments and the right side is for my to-do list – there is thus the schlep factor of drawing a line which is not a big deal but still…
  • there is no space to catch those special lists, which is why I use the separate notebook, or if I need to discuss a few things with someone at an appointment, I put a post-it note on the page with my questions, or I use a Project Life card and washi tape.

So, it would be nice to have all of that in one place.

You know what would be perfect?

If the Legami people could put about 50 sheets of paper at the back of their 12-month diaries so I could have the exact style of diary that works for me. Then I’d carry one notebook for the entire year and be very happy.

Bullet journal | www.OrganisingQueen.com

1. Ask yourself what you need to plan your life effectively

I need a schedule, a to-do list and a master to-do list. A few other lists are nice to haves, and these are the things I typically keep in the other notebook, like blog ideas, photos to take (for blogs), projects, etc.

2. Ideas for what to put in your bullet journal

  1. monthly logs
  2. weekly logs
  3. daily logs
  4. monthly goals
  5. master to do lists
  6. checklists
  7. shopping lists
  8. workout stats
  9. books to read
  10. meals I’ve tried at restaurants

Additional resource: 3 must-use lists to manage your time

Bullet journal | www.OrganisingQueen.com

3. Ask yourself if the bullet journal might fulfil some of your other needs too

If you prefer a very specific diary outline that you’ve never seen in traditional diaries, you might want to draw those yourself in a bullet journal.

See this wonderful post with many different weekly layouts. Number 5 of the 32 layouts shown is my favourite.

The wonderful thing about a bullet journal is that if you try a layout a couple of times and find it doesn’t work for you, you can just change it.

Of course you can’t do this with a standard diary.

What do you think?

Next time – I’ll show you all the different types of pages I use my bullet journal for (obviously not for weekly layouts) and what I think of the whole thing now that I’ve been using it for just over a month.

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Comments

  1. A week into it and loving it. I am however going to change the way I do the notes/weekly things and maybe combine them in one page. As you say – flexibility is the key and best of it. And I have added tabs

    • Marcia Francois says

      Yay for you! I would love you to show me some pages (nothing personal) just outlines, etc. Post and tag @organisingqueen please if you decide to post.

  2. The more I read about this, the more excited I get. Am going to have to go and buy a special pen this weekend!

Trackbacks

  1. […] yes. I try to think about it first. I usually offer to send out an invite so I can check my diary/ bullet journal first before committing to plans.  The three-month calendar also helps. A practical suggestion is […]

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