My first Bujo

[vampiresincowboyboots]

I've recently stumbled across bullet journalling on youtube and I'm gearing up to start my first notebook. I'm literally just using a pukka pad I had lying around the house and a black biro, nothing fancy until I know if the system is going to work for me.

I've got plenty of ideas spinning around my head over what I think I want to include and how I think I'm going to use it.

What would you say are your essentials for your bullet journal? What's worked best for you? What's not worked? And... what did you wish you knew before you started?

thank you in advance! :)

Comments

[biodamped]

I started mine on an A4 piece of paper, folded in half with a printed calendar on one side and space for notes/tasks on the other. :P For exactly the same reasons you are - I didn't want to waste time unless I knew it would work for me.

Having spent a good 18 months using the system (I upgraded to proper Leuchtterm journals about November 2016), I've found that my essentials are:

1. A monthly log
2. A habit tracker (which I often forget to fill in, but I'm trying to make THAT a habit as well). I do mine as a month, not a week, and set it up exactly the same way as my monthly log, with a vertical column of dates, and then each habit in a column to check off as I go.
3. A very simple key. I use the traditional dot for tasks, crossed through for completed or X'd for cancelled, along with a dash (for notes), a heart (for memories), a circled plus and/or minus sign (for good/bad things throughout the day) and a $ for bill reminders. So far, that's all I've needed, but I did leave space in my key in case I need to add more.
4. Colour coding. That's a thing I've done throughout my life, because I find visual navigation easier to track with colour.

I also always have a list for books read/movies watched, since I like to keep track of those. Things that DIDN'T work for me were:

1. Goal pages - these just filled me with guilt when I didn't complete them or they took 'too long'
2. Weekly spread - too much effort for too short a time
3. Yearly spread - too much time for me to conceive of as a whole
4. Extensive decorating - more guilt at not doing "enough" and frustration when it didn't turn out how I wanted. I keep my colours to underlines, slightly decorative header text, and marking off my habits.
5. Using it for shopping lists
6. Using it for work tasks - I keep these in an app instead.

In terms of journals to use, I am 1000% behind the dotted Leuchtterm. I've never liked line ruled pages in my notebooks, so always had blank ones, but I find the dots help keep the neatness I want and can't always achieve without a guiding line to write on. ;)

Good luck experimenting! I love this system, and once I found what clicked with me, it definitely helped me be not only more productive but also more mindful.