It’s funny how something this powerful can be so simple. A bullet journal is a single book you use to plan, brainstorm, record useful/fun/interesting information, introspect, and more. Think of it as the one place you pour your entire life into. Instead of spreading my day’s ‘data’ over many apps, it all goes into my BuJo.
So, how is a BuJo different from a regular journal? It’s the minimalist system of coding your journal entries. You’ll be using simple bullet points that transform into other ‘signifiers.’ Ryder Carrol (its creator) explains it all in his 3-minute video overview of bullet journalling: Search YouTube for ‘Ryder Carroll Bullet Journal. (Note: Fans have modified the method, creating stunning, artistic BuJos. Don’t be intimidated by all that. Carrol’s method is simple enough for any of us to do.)
More than any of this technical stuff, though, it’s the spirit of BuJo that has me smitten. It forces me to be ‘still’. First off, it’s the one place that I record EVERYTHING — so my mind isn’t scrambling to figure out where to put what. Then, having to write things out (instead of typing) is a built-in speed bump. The permanence of ink on paper (as opposed to deletable electronic text) makes me more deliberate about what I write. The limit of a single page (versus the infinitely expandable page on an app) reminds me that my time and energy for the day are limited too — I can’t do everything! And the succinct bullet-points (and their variations) gently nudge me towards recording the simplest version of whatever I’m thinking.
Finally, there’s the holiness of the BuJo artefacts I’ve cobbled together. The rich, high-quality paper. The well-crafted fountain pen. The solid, thick-glass inkwell. And my evening BuJo routine (much more meditative than my highly-practical daytime BuJo-ing) — a relaxing jazz playlist, an ancient desk lamp, and a tiny bit of dark chocolate with a glass of full-cream milk. With me and my constantly evolving experiments, I wonder how long my BuJo-ing will last, though. I think I’ll go journal about that for a bit.