The Get Your Sh*t Together Kit
As with all endeavors, let's start at the beginning. That means with the guy who started the whole Bullet Journal trend, Ryder Carroll, and his Bullet Journal website. There's a lot to browse through on the site but here are two videos that I've found particularly useful for getting started.
The WHY of the Bullet Journal is so important. It's not (just) about making pretty pictures and using all the markers. Bullet Journals are about getting that stuff swirling inside your head onto a piece of paper so you can start to really get some traction on your creative life. Like a Pensieve for non-wizards.
The basic structure of a Bullet Journal. You've got to start somewhere. Your journal, like you, will change as you start to see what works and what doesn't work. And like you, it will be like no one else's journal. So start somewhere and see where you end up.
The show and tell section of the Bullet Journal blog is really helpful for seeing how many practical and fantastically unique situations can be served by journaling within a structure.
THE INTERNET IS AMAZING.
There are enough Bullet Journal How-to's and Don't-do's out there in video and blog form to make you lose your mind or at the very least, several hours of your life. Watching them can be helpful to see how other people have approached their journal structure and what components might be useful to you as you start your own, but the line between learning and procrastination is oh-so-very-fine.
For me, the Bullet Journal has been incredibly useful for grasping all those slippery, partially formed creative ideas and crystallizing them into full thoughts and sometimes, plans.
Here's what has been working for me so far:
1.
A MONTHLY VISUALIZATION AND CHECK-IN
What does my perfect day look and feel like? What am I eating / wearing / drinking / touching? Where am I going and who is with me? This all goes into the journal and then I go back and pull out all the different pieces that make up this ideal day. What can I make happen for myself now and what do I need to start thinking about to make the rest of this day a reality? I'm often surprised by how much I can make my own dreams come true. =)
2.
A DAILY TO DO LIST / BRAIN DUMP
All the things I wake up thinking about, thrown on the page in one jumbled list. Sometimes the list just hangs out as is. I find it helpful just to have out, rather than just swirling around on repeat inside my head. Other times, more often than not these days, I figure out what do with each of the items on my list. Do now, maybe later, delegate or break out into smaller more manageable pieces. It's also a really helpful way for me to see if I've overcomplicated something for myself. That happens a lot.
3.
A DAILY BACKPAT
Acknowledging things that go poorly comes very naturally to me...maybe you know about this too? What doesn't, or at least what I don't spend enough time doing, is acknowledging all the very good things I've come across during my day. So this is my good job, way to go, good for you, yay moment - I feel like I'm retraining my brain.
4.
A DAILY LIST OF FEARS
Fears can be paralyzing, the kryponite to all creative endeavors. The more you shove them away or pretend they don't exist, the bigger and scarier they can start to seem. This is my version of looking in the closet or underneath the bed. What's in there? Like really in there. Sometimes this section of my journal is just the list - like a "hey, i SEE you" moment. I think it helps to keep them from growing larger and shape shifting. Other times, I'll go through and address each one. Which ones are just ridiculous, which ones can I address directly and which ones can I transform?