As someone who is meticulously tidy and possibly a little neurotic about my organizational and planning habits, I have a pretty minimalist attitude towards ‘things’. Aside from my vintage camera’s and a small collection of momentos from my grandmother that I have on display in my office, I’m not especially sentimental about anything other our family photographs.
When I read business or inspirational books I like to make notes: I love to jot down take-aways, ideas, and inspiration, and find that when I write my thoughts down I am more likely to take action and make changes in my life. Over the holidays I read several books and come to the realization that I have an unruly collection of both ideas and notebooks.
It’s no secret to my friends and clients that I’m organized. What I hadn’t realized is that over the course of the past several years my organizational systems have evolved into requiring their own organizational systems. When I gathered up all the tools I use to manage my business and personal life along with the notebooks I had scattered around the house I realized that I could run a small city with all the systems I’ve put in place.
I have Google calendar, the Todoist desktop and iPhone app, a planner pad, a desire map planner, a regular old fashioned day planner, several notes in my phone, and 7 notebooks. The 27 post it notes and scrap pieces of paper? Well let’s not talk about those.
Facebook and Instagram introduced me to the concept of bullet journaling. My initial response was: “one notebook, impossible”. But I slowly warmed to the idea especially after compiling all my organizational tools into one place and feeling overwhelmed by the duplication, repetition, and sheer number of them.
It wasn’t a resolution per se to simplify but it was a natural next step on January 1st when I started setting up my calendars and to do lists for 2017. I eliminated everything except Google calendar and ONE notebook. I started pursuing Instagram for ideas and quickly became overwhelmed by the complexity and artistry of how some people use their bullet journaling systems: ultimately I followed the steps on the Bullet journal website and have created the simplest possible journal for my needs. I am starting with a moleskin notebook, 10 coloured pens, and plan to write in pencil because I have a horrible habit of smudging ink.
Do you have a bullet journal? If you share it on Instagram I’d love to follow along: feel free to leave your link in the comments.
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