Can You Bullet Journal Wrong? 📙 S01E03
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- čas přidán 11. 03. 2024
- Is there a right way to bullet journal? Join Jess and Mark as they explore how you might be bullet journaling wrong and what actually makes something a bullet journal.
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Hey planner pals! 🧡 Let us know if you’ve fallen victim to any of the bullet journal “foes” we talked about 👀 Those things that either make our planners misaligned with their purpose, or make using our journals less enjoyable 👏
Ryder himself has adjusted his use of the method to fit his "developed" or "evolved" self, so why would it be wrong to adjust the method to fit our personal lifestyles? That is the absolute BEST thing about bullet journaling...it's fluid and customizable for every individual!😊❤
Heck yeah for adapting it to fit us 💪 in any stage of life! 👏
I'm only 7 months into bullet journaling and have changed it up 7 times. As I learn and understand the method more I am using the things I originally didn't think I needed (but clearly do). This conversation is so helpful!
Love that process of updating as you go! It's very much a journey of discovery when it comes to figuring out what works for us 😝 - Jess
I’ve been bullet journaling for 3+ years and I’m still changing up my system and trying things. It’s literally always evolving!
I struggle with actually doing the tasks I write down because of ADHD. It impacts my executive functioning in so many ways which makes me feel like I'm doing everything wrong. I find that experimenting with different methods of planning and journaling help me to improve my executive function skills. Its been a long process of finding what works for me. Loved this episode!
Heck yeah for experimentation and figuring out what works for us 💪 can totally understand the struggle of needing to do something, but telling ourselves "just do it" not helping 😅 - Jess
There is a right way - the one that helps you and only you
For me I think of the “right” way having two main criteria: your purpose is aligned with how you’re using it, and you’re actually using it 😝 - Jess
People commenting that someone must not have a life because they put a sticker on their journal always sends me because they somehow have the time to sit there and watch someone else do it?? Lol
I know right!? 😂 Like they’re going to nitpick someone taking time to decorate…but then spend time nitpicking? 🤦♀️ - Jess
I think that Matt D'Avella's video where he tried bullet journaling for 30 days is a prime example of Bullet Journaling Wrong...... for you.
Haha we both have to agree 😅 When Matt's video first came out, we were both like 👀 "...is someone gonna tell him?"
@@PlannerPalsPodcast I know; as Merlginbergofficial has mentioned Mark’s reaction video. I was hoping that reaction would go viral and Matt would make a second attempt more minimal and in a way that would work for him. Cause (and I think Mark mentioned in his video) I was worried, wondering, not sure of the right word, how many people saw that video and decided Bullet Journal wasn’t for them because he had a bad first experience with it himself.
I’m one of the ones that bullet journals in a printed calendar. It drives me nuts to make the calendars and have to make the days. I use a Hobonichi Cousin. It has all the flexibility I need and I can get creative on the daily pages.
It’d be cool to see more examples of people doing pre-printed journal bullet journals 😄 cool to see how people customise the layouts to fit them 💪
Same here.. though it drives me nuts when I have to put the dates instead of page numbers on my index 😆
@@kangyeogI thought the cousin had page numbers? Maybe I’m thinking of the wonderland 222 unstacked. One of them has page numbers
@@Cordelia0704p nope, only quotes at the bottom
I think it comes down to whether it's helping you or hurting you. As for whether I've fallen for any of these traps: absolutely. I've always struggled with perfectionism and wanting it to be perfect and untainted. I started bullet journaling back in 2016 and at first it was super helpful. My perfectionism got worse and worse until I started and discarded like five journals and then dropped off of bullet journaling for two years or so, only getting back into it this past summer. It was at its worse around 2020-2022 and that probably wasn't unrelated.
I’m obviously not a mental health professional here, but I can totally see why perfectionistic tendencies would get worse during that period 😅 hopefully your bullet journaling now isn’t as afflicted by it. I always find that having mistake fixes to fall back on helps 💜 - Jess
I've been struggling with the perfectionism aspect myself, and while it's difficult figuring out what supplies works with the 5$ bujos I have, it's also a great learning experience so I can make plenty of mistakes. However.. I've probably purchased about 25 of these things since October, as I still get so frustrated I want to chuck them (I threw one at the wall, but that had added stressor lol). I have found that even though I "give up" on a journal, I keep it for scraps, ink testing, stamp testing and even plan out spreads in them. They're already messed up and "unusable" so it makes it easier. Not sure if it helps, but I had to find a way or I'd be going bonkers. ALSO! I just found out today, that at least in the case if these cheapo journals, taking out a few pages or so at the beginning helps them lay flat >.> so ive tried justifying tearing out pages and then just.. moving the other side it's connected to. I even pulled out and just glued in the whole page onto another. Sorry for the rant
🙃🤨😑
Super lost after this.... I follow Jess and soon to be following you Mark. The legalism is killing me. I thought dot grids are bullet journals.
I just searched and found your "Wrong way to bullet journal." I will watch this next.
YAY
I’m glad we have someone watching who thought that dot grid journals are bullet journals! That’s become a common thing, and like we talked about in the episode, it’s probably not helped by companies outside of The Bullet Journal company labelling their dog grid notebooks as bullet journals 😝 totally see why people would get confused on that 👏 hope that other video is useful!
This is such a needful thing in the community...getting a discussion going about our similarities and differences and what has been helpful in our journey. The point is the only thing that works is what you will use. I've been "in the weeds" dozens of times, but have always come back to the basics and regained my footing. I love that you mentioned that even Ryder has adapted the method to his life as needed. Finally, you two, I just love how each episode is better than the last. Thanks for all of the work you put into this series. Looking forward to the next one. Fountain pens.... somebody help me out of this rabbit hole. Oh wait, I like it here!
Haha certainly excited to talk fountain pens, and glad you've been enjoying the podcast so far! 😄
I love this. Weird, but I use the bullet journal basics within my rings planner! Daily pages, weekly pages, migration, and future logs - all SO SO helpful. The structure is game changing and I also personally love the reflection process.
Heck yeah for using a “notebook” that works for you 💪 (do you tend to call it a planner rather than a notebook, or…?)
Me too, @elemamfit!
Definitely fallen victim to a few of these “wrong” ways myself, especially perfectionism and performative journaling. For me, it wasn’t performative because I was posting it anywhere, but rather because I saw someone else using this tracker or that spread, thought it was a good idea, set it up, and then kept going with it despite it clearly not working for me. Took me way too long to actually use my journal for me!
Also, very much agree that if you’re going to use a method and call what you’re doing by that method’s name, you absolutely should at least learn it as set up/intended, understand it, and then start to adjust it once you actually know it. I love playing around with recipes, but I always follow a recipe as written the first time I make it so I understand it and how it is supposed to taste/turn out before I then start tweaking it. It drives me crazy when I read a recipe online and then see reviews/comments underneath by people who made it for the first time, had a whole list of changes, and then criticized the recipe. It’s fine if you don’t want to follow the method or make the recipe, but it’s not quite fair to criticize the original system/recipe when that’s not even close to what you did. However, totally fair to try it, realize it didn’t work for you, and then adjust from there and talk, with knowledge, about how and why you made the changes you did.
Omg the recipe people 😂 “I used half an orange instead of a cup of flour and this turned out like sh*t! I rate it 0 stars” 😝
I'm one of those people who have tried to start a bullet journal 5 times, done it for couple of days and instantly fallen out of it because perfectionism.
One reason why I aren't planning on trying again is because I don't think (or have seen) bujo working with journaling well. I love doing long form journaling in the same book as my planner, and can't smush that into a bujo effectively.
Still I love watching bujo videos and have really enjoyed this podcast so far ♥️
Glad you’ve been enjoying the podcast! I don’t personally do a lot of long-form journaling, but Ryder has talked about how it can be integrated into the system 🤔 really it would just become another collection: “long form journaling about [topic]”
Shame that perfectionism has had such a hold-back effect on you 😔!
There’s a lot of people who combine their long form journaling into the same notebook. Some people just do a little bit of space on the page and then write whatever and then some space and back to the rapid logging, and then others also do it on the facing page to where they are rapidly logging. In addition to the other things that are posted here.
I actually had to stop myself and process how I need a planner AND a journal, not both in one. They are two different things that take up two different amounts of space. I use a Sterling Ink Common Planner for planning and collections and a separate notebook as my processing/journaling space. I can long form journal like crazy and actually need to when trying to process things. But then I can take my crazy all over the place processing and put what I need to in my planner/collections. It’s clunkier than I dreamed, but it’s working for me… right now. 😊
I'm actually doing both in one notebook. At first I used the back for long form journaling and the front for planning. However I shifted to long form journaling directly after each daily log. I think it complements each other well because it gives me a holistic view of what I did and felt that day. One thing to note is that my long form journaling isn't that long. Sometimes just a sentence, sometimes a page or two at most and very rarely. Usually it takes up around a third to half a page.
Well I definitely learned that I don’t Bullet Journal and I’m good with that. I just journal and reflect and learn about who I am. I do use so much of what I learn from you to grow and be a better person. And it’s all good. It doesn’t change how grateful I am to incorporate the things you share into my journaling practice.
I first got into “bullet journaling” during the lockdown as a creative outlet because of what I was seeing on social media. It wasn’t until much later that I realized bullet journaling was an actual method, and I had created an art journal and a place to reflect on the craziness of the world at the time. But you two have inspired me to read Ryder’s book.
A lot of people picked it up in that time of need. So glad that you found a way into Bullet Journaling
Hey Mark and Jess, thanks for another great ep! I love how you two are settling into your format and having some great discussions. Keep up the good work! 🤩
Thanks! 😄 glad you’ve been enjoying the podcast 🥳
I freakin love this podcast. (Bullet) journaling is such a special interest to me, as well as art in general and personal growth, having this on is just like scratching that scratch of wanting to be speaking about it and thinking about it in more depth. It's great. 😊❤
Edit:
I keep forgetting to like things on youtube because it doesn't feel like such a platform, like instagram is based on likes basicly. CZcams feels more like a community-building-comment-section platform.
So glad you are enjoying it. We are having a ton of fun making the podcast and talking about journal and stationery fun. - Mark
I _refuse to use_ future log, index and migration of tasks.
There you have it, bullet journal police!
Please get me a good lawyer. 🤣 I will need that lawyer for a long time. 😅
🚨uh oh! 🚨
😂 but seriously, we’re not the bujo police, we’ll harbour Bujo Rebels 😝
@@merleginsbergofficial I have ADHD, and my bullet journal is in chronological order.
@@merleginsbergofficial And thank you for replying to my comment. 👍
The future log was the main collection I didn't "get" for years. I didn't know what to fill it with, except the odd birthday, and I stopped using it. Then last year, I returned to bujo and went very back to basics, but decided to try a future log with the Alastair method. One of my major reasons for bullet journaling is general life maintenance- remembering bill dates is a huge struggle- so that's what I populated my future log with. Major game changer for me. I migrate those due dates into my monthly log every month & have a set time every week where I pay my bills for that week. Haven't gotten even close to missing a due date ever since, and that "did I forget to pay a bill" feeling no longer lives rent-free in the back of my mind.
Oh that’s awesome! Yeah, it can take a while to see how the pieces fit for us specifically and the information/parts of life we’re trying to organise 👏
Great show, y'all! I have fallen into the perfection rabbit hole over the years, which was counterproductive to the whole reason I started keeping a BuJo in the first place. Once I accepted that my process contains perfect imperfections, it became what it was intended to be--a way to be productive and stress free at the same time.
Jess I am so grateful for your example layout videos where you have shared a bunch of different set-ups, but I'm glad you don't try to use them all yourself. :p Separate example layout/research book for the win!
Haha thanks! 😄 Yeah no way I'd be able to keep up with my journal if I used every 👏 single 👏 layout 👏 I set up 😝 - Jess
Everyone forgets that grid pages are a thing 😭
I *love grid paper every day* in this world.
Grid paper is my absolute favorite 😍😍😍
I’m actually quite fond of grid paper too 😝 - Jess
Grid paper for the win! Staology is a new fave for this reason.
Grid paper is great!
Thanks for the video 💐. I like watching you both. Kind regards from Germany from Melly ✨
Thanks Melly! Glad you liked it 😄
7:50 I actually got a sterling ink common planner last year with this exact intent in mind! The back half is just grid pages, but the front half is goals pages, monthly pages, weekly schedules--basically everything you'd get in a traditional planner. I just didn't use it bc I realized I am VERY MUCH a paper person, and the much thinner pages were just Not It for me. I couldn't even do a week, because I felt like I would rip the whole notebook at the drop of a hat.
The ghosting on certain journals is something you have to learn to love… or deal with, haha. 🤣 I feel you -Mark
Great episode Planner Pals!!
Thanks! 😄 glad you enjoyed it 💪
I have two journals. One I would call my bullet journal, big one, it's an A4 for things I'm doing, keeping track of the day etc. It fits a whole year, which is a big part of my love for it. I started in 2018 so I have a whole backlog of years that I've lived and experienced. (Tried out A5, used 2 for a year, but that didn't fit my planning style.)
My second kind is an A5 for Journaling, my thoughts, my feelings, figuring out why a certain feeling came up, self discovery.
Also a big plus for the A5...I CAN STICKER COLLAGE, provides more of a 'let's go!' mindset, which is amazing makes me feel relaxed and....i can use the thousands of stickers I have and will be... collecting.
I love both. I started the A5 journal for my mental health in november last year, stopped/lowered my use for a bit and now have picked it up again and I am loving it.
I am reading 'The Artist's Way' by Julia Cameron and 'Boundary Boss' by Terri Cole. Those two combined have fired up my excitement to pick up where I left off in getting to the person I want to be/am becoming.
Excitinggg.
Love having found the possibilities with making my own planner. Big support for knowing I am living and helping me live in a way too.
Edit add:
I post pictures to instagram of my empty A4 spreads.
Unless I've made a drawing I would like to share or a page I really like, and if it's not (too) personal, the A5 is for me, myself and I alone.
I love fitting a whole year into 1 journal. It’s great. - Mark
I really struggle with the reflection aspect. Part of it is that I like to show family the creative aspects of my journal but don’t want them reading my inner most thoughts. Just the fact that my journal is carried around in my purse that doesn’t feel secure. I did start a few lines a day journal this year which allows for some reflection and memory keeping that I keep private and that’s going better I expected.
Yeah when you're sharing your journal with others (whether it be those close to you or the wider world) it can feel a bit awkward or "unsafe" to have your soul-baring in there 😅 Glad you've found that few lines a day is working well so far!
I have zero interest in the reflection part. I know what I'm doing and why. I don't bother with sitting down and spending 5 hours doing a set up. My Bujo is a mess and I don't care. When I do art, I do art. I know a ton of people who can't take advantage of the system because any time they try to get guidance on setting up a bujo, all they find is obsessive-compulsive nutbars making High Art out of every page. They don't have time for all this expensive pretty nonsense. I don't feel like Ryder anticipated all this BS. It's supposed to be a bloody planner not an IG art project.
@@FunkyLittlePoptartMight be worth doing *a little* reflection, because this comment came off as unnecessarily rude. If your intention is to encourage people to try your way (which is the actual original method), you could be friendly and inviting. Instead you're calling people OCD and nuts.
@@606Jelly Nope. It was exactly as rude as it was intended to be. I hate all you hijackers who took a perfectly brilliant system DESIGNED BY A GUY WITH ADHD FOR PEOPLE WITH ADHD and turned it into a nightmare for the exact people it was supposed to help. Call this arty shit journalling and leave the bullet journal for people using it as the creator effing intended.
Another great episode guys! You're really settling into a format that's fun and easy to digest. :)
For me it's been perfectionism paralysis. I can see the benifits (of course) but then the avalanche of 'buts', 'hows' and 'why's' crash over me and I just... don't. I do tend to spend a lot of time over analysing everything and thinking that I need to have all of the answers figured out before diving in. It is something I've been working on a lot though and you are both helping so than you.
Glad we’re proving helpful! 😄 the overanalysing leading to inaction is always such a killer 😅
Love this podcast ❤ I personally have bullet journaled intermittently since about 2017 my work and personal needs have changed multiple times over those years so did my planning style. Currently I'm in Planner Paralysis! Which is how I found Jess, then Mark. I had decided go back to bujo for 2024, but am not finding a consistent method. I was feeling so bad for not using the initial set ups because they were pretty and time consuming and felt as if I had wasted the time and supplies as well as "ruining" the book.
These first 3 vids have been immensely helpful for breaking my perfection mentality so thank you so much!!! 😊 Can't wait for the next one!
I love it was a long episod!! Listening/watching anf bujoing at the same time
Haha glad to keep you company! 😄
Oh lordy... I have to adjust for baking and cooking because of my elevation and climate. So I don't have any choice but experimentation. 😆 Same with journaling and mental elevation and climate. As I said on the IG short, I DON'T bullet journal, I just plan and journal with decorative details sprinkled around.
I could not handle having to change for elevation. I’m so curious, where do you live?? - Mark
@@PlannerPalsPodcast The BC Okanagan. It's similar to a desert mixed with wine country, but in the Rockies.
Hey Jess! I've been watching a lot of your videos as I try to get myself back to the organized me I was before I had kids. lol. It's going to be a journey for sure, but I'm looking forward to it. I wanted to let you know how to do a galaxy theme though, youll just have to temporarily tape or or cover with other paper the areas you don't want colored and then use a paint brush or tooth brush to get blacks blues, purples, and pinks all over the rest of it and when you take off the covered bits, you'll have a galaxy. Galaxies are just a bunch of stars grouped together. and stars are just tiny balls of different colored gases. You got this!!!!
I really love this series!!!!
Glad you like it! 😄
Oh for the pitfalls, making my journal a glorified to-do list instead of a reflection guide to make things better. Trying to slow down and ask whether tasks are really worth my time instead of checking the boxes and moving on.
I think that's true for a lot of people who might not even realise it, yeah!
Eeek thanks for sharing my answer.
This was another great episode🎧. I feel more and more drawn to try this base system of bullet journaling out. 📚🖋
Thanks for leaving an answer! 😄 Very appreciated 👏
Can’t wait for the next episode, I am a new convert to fountain pens and I have fallen down the rabbit hole. Love them!
Glad you're excited for it! 😄
I don't often use the index, all my months have a set order of things. I have the odd one out spreads that I add in the front, under in which month i set that spread up. All my months are tabbed so all things are easy to find. I know my system = )
Thank you so much for sharing. - Mark
I really like your podcasts. I enjoy the content. I have taken some of your tips and started using them. Thank you!❤️
Glad you like it and have found the tips helpful! 😄
This was awesome. Thank you!1
Glad you liked it! 😄
I've been struggling to make preprinted dairies or calenders work for me. I bought a hobinchi cousin this year but I feel I'm not using most if it. I use the monthly calendars as my future log. One line doesn't cut it for me for a future log I need a bit more space. I am using the weekly log sometimes. The daily section which I thought I would love doesn't give me the flexibility as some days I have lots to say 😂. So I'm leaning towards a dot grid planner where I create what I need that works for me next year. I'm determined to use the hobinchi one to use it up for the year. Really appreciate both of your insight to bujos.
Always a bummer when we aren't getting full use out of something we predicted was going to work well for us 😅 Hopefully throughout the year you'll be able to find ways to make it work best for you, but I'm 100% behind a DIY approach with a dot grid notebook (buuut I'm biased, haha)
I was faithful to Ryder's book for a month but missed a lot of tasks and appointments. I like to see my month as a layout, not a list, so I can see if something is coming up in week 2 or week 4. I also need to forward plan in detail down to the week or the day, i.e. if I have a court hearing in 6 months on a specific day, I know I need a report 15 days before that , so 1 week before the 15 day deadline, I have to send out reminders. I think that's one reason I haven't been able to use a bullet journal, I'd have to draw all those out. And I can't comingle work and personal tasks, it's too long and jumbled a list because there are too many work tasks. I have 50+ cases which have tasks, notes and strategies of their own. But I do think there's merit to including some of the keys in my Hobonichi. I'm also considering a Traveler's Notebook as a bullet journal to track everything else. Two books is down from the 4 or 5 I've been running with.
Yeah, it's all about finding a system that works for you, and bullet journaling certainly won't work for everyone. Sounds like you have a lot to manage! 👏
if you were to only look at my everyday journal, that I let other people see, then it would (in the words of Jess) just be a glorified task list. I have had to separate out the reflection and journaling aspect into a different journal, so the two are seperate entities. I had to do this for my own mental health and well being. I found that having the reflection right there, every time I went to check off a task/appointment/ whatever, meant that I was dwelling and stressing about "must do better, why can't I do XYZ, why am I always failing in these reflections, why did I write that, why why why..." and it sent me down an 18 month depressive cycle. so I now have my reflections intermingled with my long form journalling, which means that I can take more time exploring questions/options/solutions (especially since I use a variety of fountain pens for this, so I take more care with writing), rather than just getting it written down when I'm already frazzled from a week/ month etc.
All about people finding systems that work for them 👌
I think where a bullet journal is at risk of becoming a glorified task list is really in the "back end", or the mental stuff that goes on as we use our journals. If you look at mine from the point of view of the information I've captured there, it probably looks like a glorified task list too 😊 it's that not-so-seen thought process that goes alongside the tasks to ask myself "but does this ACTUALLY need doing?" 😝 - Jess
My current journal is a spiral notebook. The kind kids use for school. It was going to be thrown away because a couple pages had been used....... I am so in love with amount room it gives me lol
That’s how I started too!
My most recent "scribble book" is a spiral notebook, and I weirdly love it 😝 (weirdly because it's not my normal thing, haha) - Jess
Sometimes not your normal thing shakes things up enough
For new ideas to come out. Can't wait to see where it leads you
Wow, 175 comments by the time I got here! Catching up on the podcast after being a fan of both of you for quite a while -- Mark, I too am a "man who bullets" and I will see your "this is a field without many men in it" and raise you my most recent hobby: junk journaling, which is primarily a community of older women (who are WONDERFUL! Don't get me wrong. Treasure Books is fantastic!). But feeling a bit out of place, yeah, I get it.
BUT the reason I wanted to comment (late) is because I have a particular way that I bujo wrong: I keep switching books. I have a B5,I have an A4, I have the Baron Confidant version of an A6, I have so. Many. Fieldnotes. I have both Notability and Goodnotes and Freeform on my ipad mini and my ipad pro 12.9", and in those I have both an ADHD digital planner and the "Dash Planner" (which, in 2022 and most of 2023, worked great for me).
The problem is, I can't make up my mind as to which I want to use. The smaller ones are best for quick capture, but finding time to migrate it to my luxurious Archer & Olive B5 is hard. The digital one is convenient, makes things easy to find--until the inevitable moment I pick it up to make a note and the battery is dead.
And don't get me started on pens. Haven't listened to that episode yet.
But I guess that's a question: how do you pick a notebook and stick to it? Is the answer just to prioritize the migration, and use one or the other? I should add I am usually NOT at a desk all day, and I also have a side gig and am schooling in addition to full time work at a nonprofit, so...just having one thing open next to me all the time doesn't work.
Love the podcast, love your work -- keep it up!
I started out just taking the parts that made sense to me, and never all of it. So started with only the long-term collections, and have now also had a twicked version of the planner for a few years. I ''should'' probably have more reflection written down, and I don't rapid log every thought, but they never made sense to me.
I think one of the most important notions of the bullet journal method is to keep what works and let go of what doesn't work. Reflection is at the core of this and it's something that should extend to all life areas, not just your bujo. So yeah bullet journaling wrong is a practice that lacks reflection in my opinion.
Hey I just found out the podcast
I live in Israel and writing in Hebrew.
You talk about the index - I write the page where the month starts and the pages of the collections
RE: fountain pens. I don't use fountain pens because they're pretty or I like the way they write (even though they are pretty and I do like the way they write) but because I spend so much time writing by hand that buying disposable pens was starting to feel wasteful and frustrating. It's also what got me into buying pen refills instead of disposing of pen bodies, and it's just an added bonus that these tend to be nicer to write with than disposable pens.
So it's a little bit of an environmental thing and a little bit of "never run out of pens ever again". I'm Not going to make the argument that it's also more economical (even though one could make that argument) because this has also introduced me to the hobby of buying nice stationery which is not economical. You could also argue that because I'm consuming more stationery in general, it's less environmentally friendly but shhhhh I'm having fun
All about having fun 👌 You've got some great points here though, Echo! Gonna make to make sure we touch on them in the episode 😄 - Jess
I don’t have this kind of planner pals face to face, but you two videos really made my day and seemingly I am sharing the feeling about planner with you ❤️
Glad to have you as part of the Planner Pals 😄
I have multiple health issues, but I no longer panic in the afternoon "Did I take my medication this morning?" - because it's in my bullet journal! (Thanks, Jess, for introducing me to the idea of dot-markers!) So my bullet journal is more like an aide-memoire to keep me sane from day to day.
I started bullet journaling in 2016 and, interestingly enough, the format I use hasn't changed all that much. What HAS changed is the amount of amount of money I spend on bullet journaling. 😅 When I first started, I got a Moleskin notebook from Target and a set of Sharpie highlighters to color code things. Now, I have Mildliners, Zig Dot markers, stickers, and washi tape... And all those things add up quickly! However, I'm looking at bullet journaling now more as a cross between productivity and a hobby. I use the bujo method to help with my productivity, but I use the extra stuff to make planning more fun and creative. Since I still use the bujo principles, I've never felt like I was doing it "wrong," but seeing all the ultra-artistic journaling makes me more confident in how I do things because I know it works *for me*.
Heck yeah for making it work for you, and double heck yeah for marrying the productivity with creativity 💪
I definitely have fallen victim to the bullet journal "mistakes", but when I saw Jess' video about bullet journaling wrong, I wrote them down on a long skinny piece of paper and stuck it to the side of my computer monitor. I glance past it sometimes, but just as often, I reread it.
Also, because I tend to forget those little notes and insights, I've actually just started a separate journal (I call it my Journey Journal) which gets a couple lines every month, and extra insights that I come across along the way. It's like the bigger version of the Future Log or Quarter / Month / Week, adding a Yearly/Quarterly/Monthly/Weekly version. It makes it easier to recall the insights that get lost otherwise. (My memory is awful.) This was spawned by reflections that amounted to "I already knew better, I learned this two months ago, what the heck".
Omg that relearning / I already knew this thing is such a vibe 😂 Maybe I need a Journey Journal 👀
I've fallen victim to buying things I didn't want or need for my journal as well as trying a spread I knew wouldn't benefit me. So now I embrace my cheap notebook from Michaels and pilot g2.
It can be easy to get sucked into that, yeah! The Pilot G2 is a great pen 💪
Habit tracking and thinking that was going to change anything 😅. But an intentional level 10 life review + setting actions worked effectively. So have to do things intentionally that’s the key
I feel you on this one 😂 - Jess
I don't use dot grid notebooks and for a long time I didn't think I bullet journaled I do the things just in graph or lined pages.
oooooo fountain pens!!! so excited lol
Glad you're looking forward to it! 😄
My biggest Bullet Journal boo boo is the rapid logging. I am more of a planner, I like to see my week so I can fit little tasks in here and there. Because of this I have a hard time with rapid logging my dailies. I am sure there is a way to do it that will work for me, I just haven't found it yet.
Getting that near-future view can be tricky with just the daily rapid logging, yeah 🤔 I think that's why so many people set up weekly layouts where they have that dedicated space for each day
I am not bullet journaling anymore, but it was interesting listening to you. Btw you could be grateful for “Vogel” if you are german - “Vogel” is the german word for bird. So when you own a pet bird… 😁
you should have a theme song! for the intro and outro, like an upbeat, boppy, fun thing.
That'd be fun! 😄
My planner/journal (sometimes combined, sometimes separate) get too edited to be useful, not because I share it, but because of a combination of perfectionism 😣 and the amount of people who will see me using it, exclaim over how small/neat my handwriting is, and start trying to read it 😓😡 which makes it hard to write anything remotely emotional/sensitive
Oh people LOOOOVE to read the writing. It’s wild to me - but i guess it could be interesting. - mark
Heyas! Love this series and definitely this topic! I have a question regarding a phrase you use, which is probably a common Australian term but I never heard it before (despite having some friends in Adelaide), "Chinese Whispers?" I presume it's equivalent to us in America saying "like telephone" (the kids game), based on the context you used it. I'm always an advocate for not having to change your language based on the bigger (and usually louder) audience from your own country's terminology, like how you decided to change from saying tickmarks to check (If I'm remembering correctly), cause contextually it was understood. But this one may be one to consider? Just a gentle observation.
Thank you again for another great podcast ep!
Yeah I said it and knew it probably wasn’t a term that’s as widely used today, but it’s been a hot minute since I played it or had people play it so didn’t know a better term 😅 it’s that game where one person whispers something to the next person, and they do it to the next, etc. so over time the meaning changes 😊 - Jess
(Went on a little research hunt because then I was curious: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_whispers )
@@PlannerPalsPodcast Ah yeah, then it is what we call Telephone~! I have no idea if kids these days still play that game haha.There's a variation party game that adults play offline called Telestrations (which is Pictionary version of Telephone), and then became an online game that a lot of Gaming CZcamsrs play called Gartic Phone, so it's kinda still around but in different ways. Thank you for the link!
I love using my lined notebooks
Heck yeah for the lined notebook love 💪
You guys should do a collab video on what you do with ALL OF YOUR STUFF!!! I've been bullet journaling since 2020 (more of a start to get back into art while looking for a perfect planner - but deciding to design my own), I have quite the collection started and now I am running out of ideas on where to store, and getting creative on storage options. I would love to see how you guys manage to store and organize your supplies ☺
Might be tricky to do in a podcast style (just as this is really only audio everywhere else we share) but could be a fun collab video, yeah! 😄
I have try to do bullet journal three times
First time was when Bullet journal was new and I was overwhelm and I found bad advice on how to do it and it make it to hard to keep up.
Second time what had me was ruling up a calendar and that felt bad that I couldn't draw to make it pretty like all the others that I was seeing.
The Third time, I when looking for videos to watch. Then I got a book from Kmart (Australia) and start I didn't make it pretty because I was the only one that would see it, over time I worked out what I need and what I didn't need. I am on my third year journal and I am happy with how it now working for me. I have been stick in a small calendar every month so I don't have to rule it up and write all my important dates under it and I now know that I can make it look pretty with out drawing. Now I am working on my reflect part on the bullet journal.
Awesome that you've found success with it 😄 Can certainly take a few trials to find what works 👌
BuJo customs officers!
I have been a member of the community for a while and had times of rapid logging (events, thoughts, and actions), but didn’t do much reflecting in the book itself. I did close loops and decided what was worth doing in the future or not a lot.
I also had a collection of the monthly log pages that were my future logs and then current month logs with their respective task logs. I still prefer that method because of having too many things to track per month to keep up with the smaller ones in a A5 notebook.
Unless I use a preprinted book, I still do not set up weekly spreads. It’s not my thing. But I do make a weekly list of things that are needed to keep track of, but it’s not always referred back to in the week.
Hence why I have been a member of the group for BuJo from RC. I wanted to make better use of the weekly updates, and it’s been helpful.
The part that always trips me up is how the weekly log is perceived by the community versus the style that Ryder developed 🤔 I think the hard thing there is that the weekly log wasn’t really part of the very original method when it first got big, so people who came from other planning styles kind of bought a version of weekly logs which ended up being different to the one that Ryder included in the method 😝
I don’t use Ryder’s weekly log style (or any weekly log at this point 😂) but it’s something I’m curious about 😄 - Jess
@@PlannerPalsPodcastthanks for identifying yourself with the name tag, it is helpful for me.
I hear what you are saying. It is interesting to see how the words and language have changed over time. I am sure that I am still learning about stuff everyday.
Take care, Jen
I didn't come to journaling through bullet journaling. What I do now is in many ways like bullet journaling but I have never read the book. I've been journaling for a solid 7,5 years and have come a long way. Maybe one day I'll read the book and use the method as it was intended for a while but for where I am in life right now I think I've found what works fo me. And I do call it bullet journaling at times anyways.
Awesome that you have a system that works for you 💪😄
Re cost of BuJo, I've an A5 notebook (£2 GBP) and a free pen from a bank!
If it works, it works. - Mark
Welp, I am one of those people who had no idea bullet journal was a brand or a method because I saw it being applied to so many things and didn't think about it. I definitely just told someone the other day I was going to start a "reading bullet journal." Ahem. I'm going to start a reading journal in a dot grid notebook.
Haha fair! I totally feel you on the calling things a "bullet journal" when I really just mean "in a dot grid notebook" 😅 - Jess
So...not a bujo person, really. I have washi tape on the edges (all the way around) of my monthly spread to color coordinate with the sticker theme I've got for that month. I do love using washi tape on the edges of the daily pages (since I don't use them as daily pages)...and I have a notebook for a course I am taking where the index literally is a piece of the washi I've put on the edges of the pages for that lesson... Also I love Jess' "future me problems" layout.
One thing to think about with regards to fountain pens / ballpoint pens: approximately 1.6 Billion ballpoint pens wind up in landfills every year whereas a well-maintained fountain pen can last for decades.
Yeah that’s one genuine benefit I could think of for them 🤔 eager to see what else Mark has to try and convince me 😂 - Jess
@@PlannerPalsPodcast Jess, if you’re even half as much as a stationery junkie as I guess (I’ve seen that notebook rainbow), you’ll have at least 1 fountain pen by winter. I’m not even a month into this new obsession and I have 7 pens and almost 40 inks. 😉🤪
Hi Planner Pals, I'm wondering if RingBound is worth getting into. I'm about a year into Bullet Journaling and I feel like I'd prefer to have my collections grouped together. Unfortunately, I'm finding it hard to find RingBound products in Australia. I know I can order them online. But I also like to see something in person first. I guess I'm a little tactile when it comes to things like this. Thanks for such a great podcast. There's a few out there but they don't seem to make it past episode 2.
Hello All! Your 3 episodes have been my new fav thing to listen to as I work. It feels like talking to friends. Now I wish I had my own Planner Pals to geek out with in person. Any suggestions for starting a BuJo Buddies group?
I started by converting my existing friends 😂 I’ve found Facebook groups about planners that are based in your city/country to be a good place to float the idea of meet ups and such 😄
30:35 I somewhat agree with this that prioritization is one of the many factors to consider when deciding what matters! I think I've fallen to the copying other's spreads because I don't know what to personalize. But after a year of journaling, I like tweaking it after 3 months so that I know what works or not.
Always a good idea to take that iterative approach 😄
The Hobonichi Day-free would lend itself well to bullet journaling. It has monthly calendars in front, and the rest of the book is empty grid pages. I don't have that one, because I didn't know about it earlier. Instead, I bought a small cheap calendar and taped those pages to the blank journal pages. I am NOT going to draw out twelve monthlies - Hell no!
Haha fair enough! 😝 Working smarter, not harder 💪
I hadn't read the book so I wasn't doing the reflection part and recently it's really made my journaling better ever since I read the book. And I want to know what fountain pens you love. I'm in love with demonstrators and love my twsbi eco, and my moon man tiny pen.
Can’t wait to talk about this more in our next episode. But I love Twsbis so much! And you can always trust a Lamy also. - Mark
❤❤ hey 👋 just wondering what’s the difference between a bullet journal and a dot grid notebook? I’m confused 🫤
Hey there. A dot grid notebook is the notebook itself. It becomes a Bullet Journal when you implement the Bullet Journal Method in it. You can Bullet Journal in any notebook or planner. - Mark
I don’t necessarily think my reading journal qualifies as a bullet journal. I could be wrong. I use planners and journals for just about everything except work. Work is just an overwhelming running to do list - but I use the signifiers (am I spelling that correctly?) to mark the progress on the tasks. That’s not a bullet journal, but proof the “method” for capturing to do list data at a glance works outside bullet journals. Jess and ink bottles…hmm…Vogel, clean up in aisle 7! 😂 (I keep getting them as gifts and my sub box comes tomorrow. I’m thinking about getting sheet plastic from the hardware store to cover my desk and floor lol)
Haha yeah I’d be so worried about spilling ink in my office 😝 I think it’d suck some of the fun out of fountain pens, but we’ll see if Mark can convince me 😂 - Jess
@@PlannerPalsPodcast they are this week’s experiment for me because yet another one is coming in my sub box today. At least you have nice handwriting so theoretically the only issue is messy ink :) I have bad handwriting, I make a mess of everything and I’m clumsy so I’m expecting disaster lol
I feel like it's not the bullet journals fault for things getting expensive, I've noticed many people, get extravagant with stationary, because they have interest in the other aspects of journal writing. I came to it, because I wanted more ways to use my fountain pens. And then the love of stamps that I had as a teen came back in force xD I started getting stamps before pens that really worked on my cheapo journals (I finally do have pens but the brush is rather stiff). Since I have yet to get my hands on a good journal, my focus has been on stamps (while I take a break from fountain pen ink >.> ). OMG YES - GET JESS INTO FOUNTAIN PENS!
Oh for sure, not the bullet journal’s fault but just something that has maybe either grown along side, or some in from other styles of planning. Not mad about it though, we love stationery! 😝
I go back and forth on if I keep a “bullet journal” or an “art journal”. I wish there was a term for something inbetween. I don’t really use a bullet journal method, but mine is more of an art+doodle+organization+reflection sort of thing. I don’t think the terminology has adequately evolved with process+hobby of it all
Artistic bujo? I also use my bullet journal as a creative outlet with lots of painting and art. I still do lists and trackers, monthlies and weeklies so I just call it a bujo 🤷♀️ in my head and art journal is JUST the art pieces. But can be a little subjective
I sometimes call mine a DIY journal 😝 certainly helps when I’m trying to explain to people who don’t know about the system what I do 😄 - Jess
Maybe just journal?
Did you guys intentionally coordinate your glow lights in the background? Or are those just y'alls favorite colors? I got a kick out if it either way 😂
Haha purely coincidental! 😛
What do you think about people who design bullet journal for someone else?
44:15 Mark, I understand your points about finding things quickly, however I still disagree about the index (altho this is def for personal preference still) - personally I put my beginning pages in the same order every journal so it is easier for me to know where the spread is by flipping to a random spread in the first pages and knowing where to go from there. I feel like, also, putting in page numbers is time consuming for something I’m not going to pay attention to. But again, this is just the way my bujo works for me ☺️
nvm this is exactly what jess said lol 48:03
Haha glad we're on the same page, Olympia 😄 - Jess
Also.. sometimes you called yours as bullet journal out of the respect for the method. So even though it already evolved or adjusted to your personal needs, you still want to acknowledge Ryder as the one who came up with it.
I use hobonichi planner this year.. still use the bullet journal method at all time in the planner.. after a few years, the essence kinda embedded to you
That’s a good point! A “ giving credit where credit is due” type thing 😄
I seriously don’t care what anyone thinks. It’s my book. If I want a sticker or cross out words or bullet journal perfectly or make a mess or don’t write in it for days, it doesn’t matter. I don’t really call mine a bullet journal. I call it my book. It just seems like this is such a non-issue.
Glad that you're very much on the train of "I'ma do me" 💪 I like to think there's room for all styles of journaling in the boat 😊
Recently, not sure why CZcams tossed one of #jashiicorrin vids in my home page. I have become frustrated with my current daily planner, and I am trying to figure out what I want in/out of a planner. It was the one where she was showing a beautiful black and red setup she had done. I was intrigued by her, and decided to check out more of her videos. I check out 3 videos, before I subscribe to someone's channel. One of the three was where she talked about the future me problems / task list. I was hooked from that moment on. (I do plan on using that title for some of my lists. It is just too perfect.) Thank you for doing this podcast. It is fun and educational. I have never really Bullet Journaled. I was under the false assumption that bullet journaling was anything you drew yourself on a dot grid or grid paper. I have subscribed to @bulletjournal channel due to you mentioning the book in the last podcast. Likewise, I am hoping this will help me get things figured out. Thank you again for all you are doing and for broadening my horizons. Christina 🦝
Thanks Christina! 😄 Glad the CZcams algorithm lead you this way 💪 Future me problems is a great name, and I'm glad you like it! 🥳 - Jess