How My Bullet Journal Is Going To Help 2017 To Be My Best Year Yet

Everyone’s talking about the “Bullet Journal” at the moment, it’s the Big News in organisation, but where do you get one and how exactly is it better than anything else?  The answer is quite simple; you use any notebook you like, and it’s the ultimate diary because it’s so personal to you.  It’s a diary/to-do list hybrid, and I love it. 

Everything In One Place

I have a lot of hats to wear these days – mum to two young girls, working full time, writing, keeping house – and I’ll admit that at some points in the past, things have got on top of me and I’ve had so much going on in my head that I’ve forgotten things or let bits slip.  The Bullet Journal keeps absolutely everything in one place; all thoughts and ideas, notes from meetings, dates and things to remember, and it tracks my progress against goals. It’s A5 so it’s big enough to be sensible, but small enough that I’m still happy to take it places.  Any and all places.

Optional Colour

Make it as straightforward or creative as you like – it’s your book.  Mine has a lot of colour at the moment – I bought a bumper set of 60 gel pens before Christmas! – but I know the meeting notes will be jotted down in my old blobby biro when I get back to work again, but my daily planning will be colour coded, for sure.

I love it because:     

-         I used to have so many random bits of paper with things I needed to remember.  Writing things down helped, but I never had everything together

-          I do love a physical To-Do list! Although with a Bullet Journal you don’t get the satisfaction of crossing things through, there are big crosses involved.  The Bullet Journal would also work for those who keep a Not To-Do list

-          I’ve always been a sucker for a pretty notebook and nice stationery

-          It’s helping focus my mind on my goals and it’s somewhere I can track routines and habits

First Things First

Start with an Index page at the front – essentially your Contents – and update that as you go.  Add a number to the bottom of the page as you use it, and then log what’s covered on the page in your Index.  You’ll have a series of logs, including a Daily Log, which is essentially your To-Do list for the day, and then any thoughts or notes you take during the day, that are made with the symbols that pull everything together.

Logs

The Monthly Log is effectively your calendar for the month and holds all the key information that you need to remember but not necessarily today.  Finally, the Future Log helps you keep a track on things you want to get done but that aren’t time dependent.  They can be broken down into smaller chunks to put into the Monthly and Daily logs, and a Tracker page can show how you’re moving along at a glance.  Check out the description on http://bulletjournal.com/ to go through it more detail.

The Key

The bit that took the time was remembering the symbols in the logs, so I keep a key.  This is where the “bullet” comes in, as it is a list of bullet points, but the shape of the bullet indicates what you’re going to do about it.

·         Everything starts with a dot (.)

·         It it’s a thing that requires action, it is crossed through when it’s complete (x)

·         If you’re scheduling it, show that with a (<) and if you’ve moved it to another day, because it doesn’t need to be done today, use a (>) and write it on that Daily Log

·         If it’s a thought that doesn’t require action, or a small event, use (-) and turn the(.) into a (o) for a big event

Let’s face it, it doesn’t really matter what symbols you use, as long as you can tell what you need to do and when at a glance, without having to re-read it all.  I use (!) for really important stuff, and (*) and arrows for my really good ideas and things I want to think about more later on.  It’s committed to paper so I can ‘park it’ for the time being.

Once you have the hang of the symbols, your journal can record everything together, work and home, by starting a new page for each subject and allocating it a number so you can find it again.

Tracking

Use your journal to track anything you like.  I have a list of books I’d like to read (I often found people would tell me the name of a great book I should read, and as I had nowhere sensible to write it down, I’d promptly forget it – now I have somewhere!) there’s a page for everyone’s birthdays, a mood tracker, and, being January, there’s the obligatory attempt at weight loss and so a page to track that.  I’ve seen some lovely ideas on Pinterest, like a daily gratitude tracker, but the beauty is you can just start a new page as soon as you like.  It doesn’t need to be a new year or even a new month.  It’s up to you, and it’s up to you how much colour or prettiness you add to the pages.  They should reflect your personality.

I urge you to give it go though.  It’s not very time-consuming to set up, unless you want to overboard with the intricate designs.  Start now, and build as you go.  But start.  Go on . . . 

Good Manners Cost Nothing

I had a bittersweet Manners Moment this “Twixmas” out for a bike ride with the family.  We were on a cycle path near our home and my daughter, 6, is still a little unsteady on her wheels.  She moved to one side of the path and stopped to let pedestrians past, yet they did not even acknowledge her presence, let alone that she had made way for them.  This happened twice, each time an adult couple.

I was chuffed that she thought herself that pulling aside would be the right thing to do, then proud that she felt so aggrieved when she told me, twice, that “they didn’t say ‘thank you,’ and that’s really rude!”  I was also feeling a mixture of disappointment and frustration about their disregard for what are widely considered the most basic of common courtesy and good manners; the ‘magic words,’ and making eye contact when saying them.  For my part, I’ve spent six years trying to reinforce to my daughter how important it is to have nice manners, yet here were four grown adults showing the complete opposite to all my ‘respect’ conversations.

All I could do was agree that yes, these are two great examples of rudeness, and we talked instead about how it made her feel that she was on the wrong end of bad manners, and how easy it would have been for any one of them to smile and say, ‘thank you.’  I hope she will remember that day going forwards and take her own manners forwards because she wants to.  Because she realises how important it is.  Because she understands how it makes people feel, and hopefully, with her next few encounters with strangers, that people show her the same respect in return.

I am a firm believer that teaching children good manners from the outset lines them up for better success as an adult, knowing how to act and how to treat others with respect.

It starts with all of us with the ‘magic words;’ as soon as we can talk, we’re taught to say ‘please,’ and ‘thank you,’ and we learn very quickly that our success rates in getting what we want are greatly enhanced through using them.  They are really important to me, and I think are the foundation of good manners.  It’s just a shame that more people don’t hold common courtesy in such regard.  I wonder if the roles had been reversed how quickly it would have been noticed that a young pedestrian did not thank an adult cyclist for letting her past.  Manners show respect, and for me that should be shown to everyone, whatever age.  It’s not hard, and as I often say to the girls, it really does cost nothing.

Beating Back To Work Blues

I love holidays.  I love going away and I love staying home.  The big problem with them as far as I can see is that they have to come to an end.

Perhaps that’s ultimately part of their allure; they’re a break from reality, a chance to do something different with your favourite people, an opportunity for escapism, and that means they have to finish sometime.

I love not having to rush all the time.  No need to set an alarm, although my youngest will still wake me long before I would come round on my own, and nowhere to be at any particular time.  I think that’s the best bit. 

My working week is planned to the minute from the moment I wake on Monday morning to the minute I leave the office on Friday afternoon, so it’s great to have nothing planned and just see where the day takes us.

I write tonight with the evening sun on my face, just enjoying the moment, but knowing that in just a matter of hours, I’ll be sitting back at my desk, logging on to hundreds of emails, hearing about everything that’s happened over the last couple of weeks.  I don’t doubt that by 10 o’clock it’ll feel like I was never away.

I’m determined not to get the dreaded “back to work blues,” though, and this is how I plan to dodge it:

Be Selfish

It’s going to be a busy week, I know that, but I’m absolutely going to make sure to have some ‘me’ time.  Holidays are usually about compromise so that everyone gets a chance to do something they want to do, but as a mum, I probably don’t get as much say in the activities as the girls do. That’s fine. But this week, I’m going to read lots, maybe even go to the cinema, and generally do even just a couple of things I want to.  Just as soon as I’ve done all the laundry.

Get Organised

Those of you who know me will know that this is always a major life mission! I am constantly in the quest of tidiness and organisation.  I know it’ll make things easier, I know it’ll save me time.  I just never quite manage to keep on top of it.  So this week, tomorrow, I’m going to clear up my inbox and my desktop, and start as I mean to go on.  I don’t want to get rid of everything, but it is about making space for the things that are important to me, and being able to find things when I need them.

Keep Up The Good Bits

I have relaxed, a bit, and I’ve certainly been eating well while I’ve been off - lots of fish and fresh fruit and veg – and I’m going to keep that up. I’m also going to try and spend as much time outside as possible. 

I’ve lived in the garden over the last couple of weeks, and it does help that it’s been warm and sunny, but I know there’s lots of research stating the benefits of spending time outside, so even as the days get darker and colder, I’m going to try and get out for a bit. 

I’ve stored pictures in my head of the glorious colours, sounds and smells of this summer to help me through wet power-walks on grey pavements.  Reliving the memory will keep it alive, I’m sure.

A Change Is As Good As A Rest

Try something new.  Every day. Break the routine and do something to get out of a rut. It needn’t be ground-breaking – try a new flavour sandwich, take a different route to work – something to avoid a constant drudge.

Book Your Next Holiday

It’s an oldie but a goodie – book your next time off and give yourself something to look forward to.  Even a day mid-week, or an extended weekend, if you can’t commit yet to a big holiday. You’ll know then that you can really throw yourself back into work.

Get Ready

I’ll admit I’ve checked my emails – I don’t like surprises, unless they’re gift-wrapped – so I know roughly what’s happened while I’ve been gone, and when I get back tomorrow, I’ll leave my out-of-office on for a day or so, just to give me a bit of breathing space. 

Like New Year’s Resolutions, a return from holiday is a great time to take stock and set some new goals, so I’ll be taking some time out away from my computer to think about what’s frustrated me recently and how I can make a difference to that, what are my priorities for the coming term, and to really embed the positive attitude.  I’ll write them down and keep them in my eye-line at work.  As the saying goes, if your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough!