Bullet Journaling

[Bram]

This is a productivity tool created by a guy with ADD.

Basically you take a standard journal/notebook, organize it around a few basic principles and maybe it helps you out.

There are some beautiful ones created by artistic types....but you can make them super simple. I watched a video and followed the following links and set one up in about an hour (including following the links).

Main article I used:

http://www.thelazygeniuscollective.com/ ... et-journal

Slightly less useful, but gave me a few ideas:



Video I watched (helpful):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuaaotSpifM

There's a huge rabbit hole you can go down with this, but the first link I shared stresses the importance of keeping it basic and not reading too much about it. Thought that was good advice.

[Fat Cat]

For those of us with kids, can you tell me in a sentence or two what "bullet journaling" is?

[Bram]

A paper journal to help you handle your tasks.

[Fat Cat]

How is it different than a to-do list? I use those constantly.

[Bram]

Think of it as a way to organize multiple levels of "to-do" shit.

An Index (what page number things are on)

Goals for the year

Monthly Calendar

Weekly or Daily Calendar

Then another section called collections: this could be books to read, whatever.

That's almost 100% of it, plus a couple small details.

The idea I think is to get stuff out of your head and on to paper. Having it in a single place omits having "to-do" lists floating around. One of the websites I linked to said that certain things (like house chores) worked better outside of this system for her. I've been spending 2-3 minutes on it daily since I set it up, not a very time intense thing.

[Fat Cat]

k will look at lazy genius link tonight.

[Bram]

Let me know what you think....I am in a place where I was ready for a new idea on being more responsible and less stressed.

[ccrow]

OK I can pass along some thoughts. I like hearing about different systems people use to organize their junk. I use a system that's remarkably similar to what you outlined, it's just what developed over time for me. The main difference is I don't use a bound pads, because it's easier to scan, shuffle, and file. I use engineering pads (light green grid ruled, easy to keep neat and easy on the eyes.)

I am not anti digital medium, but I am pro analog medium. I have had digital calendar and contacts since the days of the Palm Pilot :) But, I could (and sometimes do) go on about it but I really don't believe digital media should replace analog, there are advantages to both.

I am solidly in the analog camp for general notes (for planning, short checklists, sketches, memo of a conversation, just recording work performed so I can refer back to it). I can type faster than I can write, but I can draw arrows, boxes, sidebars, etc. etc. a lot easier with pen or pencil and paper.

To me, clicking "B" or ctrl-B, continuing, clicking "B" again when you're done, and continuing again, is inferior to just pressing harder on your pencil for BOLD. That's really it in a nutshell.

But like everything else, to each his own. The main thing is get something together that works whatever the medium. To me it's the deluge of details that amplifies the stress in life. You get a good system like this to work for you, it declutters your mind. Until you record them, you're juggling all these bits and pieces in your head. The more you have going on the more it drives you bats.

[Mickey O'neil]

I'm obsessed with it and plan on setting up my journal tomorrow after going through other people's setups. I bought a Bullet Keeper journal to use. I'm hoping it will replace my 10,000 sticky notes.

[Boris]

I've been recommending Google Keep for a few months now. It's made a huge difference and it's a free, easy to use, app.

I still keep a physical notebook and use Google Calendar, but organization and limitations inherent in those platforms made adding Keep a no-brainer for me.

[JimZipCode]

I've been recommending Google Keep for a few months now. It's made a huge difference and it's a free, easy to use, app.

I still keep a physical notebook and use Google Calendar, but organization and limitations inherent in those platforms made adding Keep a no-brainer for me.

Google Keep is flippin awesome. If you have a gmail id, you already have access to it: go to keep.google.com.

What makes it next-level useful is there's an app too. So for example, I can be browsing this shithole, and my stepdaughter tells me she's out of shampoo. I click my Keep bookmark, open the "Running Grocery List" which I keep pinned to the top of the notes, and add shampoo. Next day I'm at the grocery store, and I whip out my phone and open up the Keep app, and lo there's shampoo on my shopping list. I click the checkbox when I get it, and that item disappears, crossed-off. That night I'm playing Splendor on my tablet in bed while my wife watches her stories, and I remember we need garbage bags. I open up the Keep app on my tablet and add it. I shared the Running Grocery List with her, so next day she's at the store, and if she opens Keep on her phone she can see that we need them, and she can get it.

Honestly, the shopping-list stuff alone makes the app worth using. But it can do a whole lot more.

Lifehacker:

We’re big fans of Google Keep because it sits in a middle ground between complex notes apps like OneNote or Evernote, and simple apps like Simplenote.

• 2013 – Not Just Another Notes App: Why You Should Use Google Keep
• 2014 – Category Tabs for Google Keep Makes Organizing Your Notes Easy
• 2015 – Google Keep Adds Labels and Recurring Reminders
• 2016 – Google Keep Gets a New Clipping Extension, Labels, and More
• 2017 – Google Opens Up Keep to G Suite Users and Adds Docs Integration

I have a bunch of notes and lists in Keep. I've got a "Gym" note pinned to the top, for complex workouts I want to do (excersises/sets/reps). My wife wrote up a points system for ways our son could earn his way to us buying a PS4 game he wanted: she shared it with me in Keep and pinned it. Below the three "pinned" notes (grocery list, points for The Boy, gym), I have a bunch of random ones saved. Christmas gift ideas as they occur to me thruout the year; books I want to read; music to add to my player; projects for the house; the clipper settings for my & The Boy's hair at the haircut place; stuff my mom asks for; stuff I think my stepdaughter needs; etc. I also have some old notes archived: stuff for the contractor who did our kitchen a year or so ago; details about some pianos I looked at in San Jose and might think about buying someday; the address for karate camp + a list of items to pack for it; stuff I was interested in at Ikea along with pics of them; a recipe for a ramen-&-pork-loin soup dish.

Oh yeah, I also have a Work note.

To me the "messiness" of Keep is charming. It's like a big pile of sticky-notes: but you can actually find them!

Google Keep would probably be perfect for Bullet Journaling. Can't say for sure as I barely know what that is.

But if you're looking for a way to "tech up" Bullet Journaling just slightly – by being able to use computer text-editing instead of hand-writing (and crossing out or erasing) + having your journal backed-up in the cloud + accessing the journal from multiple devices (computer, phone, tablet) – then Keep is probably perfect. If the table of contents is a crucial part of Bullet Journaling, it would be easy to pin one "table of contents" note at the top of Keep, and then have a zillion random "pages" or notes below that. Their titles could be numbers, or the table-of-contents could refer to a keyword in the note title, or whatever. Lots of ways to approach it.

You'd miss the tactile feel of putting your pen to paper, and maybe that's important. But there are benefits too.

Anyway, Keep is great and worth adding to your arsenal whether it's in conjunction with Bullet Journaling or not.

[Boris]

I have a bunch of notes and lists in Keep. I've got a "Gym" note pinned to the top, for complex workouts I want to do (excersises/sets/reps). My wife wrote up a points system for ways our son could earn his way to us buying a PS4 game he wanted: she shared it with me in Keep and pinned it. Below the three "pinned" notes (grocery list, points for The Boy, gym), I have a bunch of random ones saved. Christmas gift ideas as they occur to me thruout the year; books I want to read; music to add to my player; projects for the house; the clipper settings for my & The Boy's hair at the haircut place; stuff my mom asks for; stuff I think my stepdaughter needs; etc. I also have some old notes archived: stuff for the contractor who did our kitchen a year or so ago; details about some pianos I looked at in San Jose and might think about buying someday; the address for karate camp + a list of items to pack for it; stuff I was interested in at Ikea along with pics of them; a recipe for a ramen-&-pork-loin soup dish.

Oh yeah, I also have a Work note.

To me the "messiness" of Keep is charming. It's like a big pile of sticky-notes: but you can actually find them!

Google Keep would probably be perfect for Bullet Journaling. Can't say for sure as I barely know what that is.

But if you're looking for a way to "tech up" Bullet Journaling just slightly – by being able to use computer text-editing instead of hand-writing (and crossing out or erasing) + having your journal backed-up in the cloud + accessing the journal from multiple devices (computer, phone, tablet) – then Keep is probably perfect. If the table of contents is a crucial part of Bullet Journaling, it would be easy to pin one "table of contents" note at the top of Keep, and then have a zillion random "pages" or notes below that. Their titles could be numbers, or the table-of-contents could refer to a keyword in the note title, or whatever. Lots of ways to approach it.

You'd miss the tactile feel of putting your pen to paper, and maybe that's important. But there are benefits too.

Anyway, Keep is great and worth adding to your arsenal whether it's in conjunction with Bullet Journaling or not.

I think that's a great idea - an index for your physical notebook on Keep.

I've been using Keep since the first of the year for training entries as well. Although I really do enjoy/prefer having a physical training log, I haven't been able to keep one up for over a decade, so Keep will be a nice platform somewhere between a physical notebook and a forum thread.

[Croatoa]

I've been recommending Google Keep for a few months now. It's made a huge difference and it's a free, easy to use, app.

I still keep a physical notebook and use Google Calendar, but organization and limitations inherent in those platforms made adding Keep a no-brainer for me.

I think that’s the app my buddy at work uses all the time. He’s got a Samsung Note 8 and is constantly jotting down to do stuff using a stylus on the phone.

[Bram]

Thought I'd give an update after a bit more use of this...

1) Super easy to maintain, about 2-3 minutes a day
2) Become a great redundancy for me with work appointments - I usually use my phone to schedule individual meetings, but I use the planner to record who I actually met with vs. who was scheduled.
3) I added birthday lists for my family, friends and clients at work - I could have done this years ago, but never have. Already picked up my first birthday present that I would have not known about otherwise.