Salut, moon jellies!
Take a moment to imagine life as a moon jelly. Floating through the open sea. Cute and round and amorphous. What a life.
I regret to inform you that I do not live the life of a moon jelly. I am a University student, and I thus require quite a bit more organization in my activities since I don't float casually in a kelp forest. In high school, I was a certain kind of student: I studied very seldom, succeeded very frequently. I was just that kid who managed to do pretty well despite the very little effort that I put in. The "do nothing until the night before" method actually treated me very well, somehow. I got to college and, after completing my freshman year, I learned that such a method is ridiculous, stupid, and that if I do it, it will kick me in my ass. Right in the ass. I suffered and did poorly. Since then, I have sought methods to get myself into gear.These last few months have brought me a brand new set of epiphanies in organization and academia. I have a tumblr dedicated to studying (a Studyblr, as I've found out that they're called), which you can view by clicking the link on the bottom of this post.
One of those epiphanies was my introduction of a method of journaling/planning called the Bullet Journal. This technique was created and propagated by Ryder Carrol, who has posted a very concise video and, conversely, a very in-depth explanation of the method on his website. You can view it at this link, here. I'm going to talk a little bit about why this method has really helped to center me and, truly, get me on the right track.
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| This is a spread that's really journal-heavy, as well as some notes taken from my torah study of Genesis. |
Key Features of a Typical Bullet Journal
I would assume, and greatly hope, that you've watched Ryder Carrol's video. If not, though, here are some highlights.
A bullet journal:
A bullet journal:
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| A dedicated list-spread for books I want to finish before the summer ends! |
- Has no pre-designated pages for your daily logging. It expands as you write more, leaving as much room as you want.
- Uses various designations of shapes and arrows to categorically organize your tasks, events, and ideas.
- Helps you easily migrate master tasks from month to month, as well as daily tasks throughout the week.
- Simplifies your daily task list into something concise and easy to follow.
- Indexes (like a table of contents) the pages that contain your months and the daily logs within them, as well as included pages dedicated to specific lists.
Alterations I've Made
I'm not one to break rules unless absolutely necessary. You know that nerd who waits at the cross walk for the "Go" even if there is no traffic for twenty miles because you never know, right? That is me. I am that nerd. I wasn't going to change a single thing about Ryder's method, initially. After using this method for a few months now, though, I am not viewing these alterations as rule-breaking, but rather enhancements. I still feel a little bad, though.
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| My handy dandy sticky-note index. |
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| My updated key. |
- Sticky Note Index: This particular journal, which I will have linked below, has 300 pages in it. It is quite enormous, and I couldn't foresee exactly how long I would be able to stretch it. A single page of index was definitely too little, and I was having difficulty portioning my pages. Instead, I decided to use sticky notes that I would later stack on top of one another as the months accumulate. This makes it so that I only need the one page, but never truly have to be without my index. Sweet, right? Look at me being dynamic and crafty.
- Updated Key: As you can see, I don't have the same little eyeball symbol for investigate, and I have replaced it with a question mark. This is simply because fitting an entire eyeball into a teeny tiny graph square stressed me out too much. I've also added a little heart to designate a quote.
- Personal Entries: There was never a rule that dictated that one could not truly journal in this journal (uh...), but I decided to do it any. Condensation of words, right? Why keep two journals? This thing has so many pages, it'll easily take me over a year to finish it anyway. Maybe two years. I figure I've got plenty of space.
- No Monthly Master Task List: I would probably have one of these if I was on a semester system, but my life is measured in quarters (10 week increments), so things don't quite balance out in a month-to-month kind of way. Maybe in the future I will integrate them, but not quite yet.
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| A quick snapshot of a typical monthly calendar and several daily logs, with most key features indicated. |
Why Bullet Journaling Suits My Lifestyle
As I began, I am a university student. I'm pursuing a Bachelors of Criminal Justice in Forensic Science with a minor in Psychology. Woah, big kid words. My typical credit load to a quarter is 16-18 credit hours, depending. That is, as one can assume, a ton of stuff. I have a lot of things to do within a day, and quite a bit of homework and research to do. I've tried using homework apps, to-do apps, sticky notes on my folders, etc.
My typical "bic-pen-notes-on-the-back-of-my-hand" that was loyal to me in high school simply wouldn't work here, unless I'm shooting for a half-sleeve. None of it helped me because I would put it in some obscure app and never look at it again, or I wouldn't put it in at all and end up totally screwed and clueless.
I am a visual learner, as well as a kinetic learner. Long story short, I remember things best when I can see them, and when I can physically interact with them myself. Keeping planners in the past was okay, but I always managed to run out of space. Six lines per day with 5 AP classes? I don't think so, pal. I love that I can take up as much space as I need, because the next day's task list starts when I want it to and where I have room for it. Some days, I have twenty things to do, two appointments, and a dozen ideas that I need to jot down. Some days, I lay in bed all day and eat frosted mini wheats and have nothing to log at all. That works: no space or paper wasted.
Since you have that spatial flexibility, I also like to also use my bullet journal as a personal journal. I have always hated the word diary (reminds me of milk and milk byproducts) but I suppose that's the best one to describe it. After I've completed everything that I have to do, it feels so good to babble on about my day. About anything. I even sketch in it, sometimes. Including little inspirational quotes in my daily logs has been a cute little pick-me-up, too.
I am always creating big, ever-expanding lists of things that do not need to be completed immediately. Investigating sulfur-related face masks? Make a list. Books to read by Christmas? Make a list. Apparently there are lots of different types of cephalopods! Neat! I should make a list! With bullet journaling, I can do that right within the same book, and with it indexed properly, I will be able to refer to it whenever I please. No more napkins haphazardly scrawled with the works of Murakami. No more old syllabi covered in lists of expensive perfumes I will never afford (I'm looking at you, Jo Malone Blackberry and Bay). It's all right there, catalogued as I have never catalogued before.
The Supplies
Time for brass tacks, kids.
Side note: I thought my entire life that it was brass tax. I had to look it up. Oops.
My journal of choice: Miquelrius Leather-Look journal. 300 Page, Black Graph.
My pen of choice: Pilot G-2 (0.38 ultrafine)
Get journaling, comrades. If you've made any alterations or you have discovered other methods that revolutionize this method, comment them. Share with me, I'd love to hear from you.
love, lex
love, lex
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