Planner Thoughts

 

Property of Stormberry

Imagine we are back to these questions. Again. Not that I mind, but after several years of bullet journaling - a system that has worked for me, and which I like and in which I can find my way in - I decided I would like to go back to the regular planner inserts.

In this planner of mine, I have only once used regular inserts. When I first got it - in the end of 2016, so I used it fot 2017 - I ordered the planner with a Month on two Pages extra insert, and I replaced the vertical Week on two Pages it came with with a horizontal Week on two Pages from Saturnus, a brand of planners I found in Budapest, in one of the bookstores I visit (when I'm there). The vertical W2P it came with I gave to my friend Tina, who was the one who convinced me to get myself an A5 Malden.

Since that first time, I did bullet journaling, passing from one type of paper to another, and working on the way I wanted to lay all my spreads out. Going on and on and on, truth is that I ended up drawing all the month in a way that's exactly like a Month on two Pages refill. The daily part does change in size, as some days I have more tasks and others I have less. But then again, sometimes it happens that I have the same tasks, but some days I detail the parts and others I don't. Then it happens that sometimes I feel really like I don't want to do a thing, and so that day doesn't get written in. And then it has happened that I regret it, because later on I need to refer to that day (and I don't journal daily) and so I can't find anything for it.

The thing, though, that has been bugging me the most is the hability to plan ahead and to be able to build on my future plans. Let me explain you how this works for me. In some cases I have tasks and deliverables I know of ahead of time, like tests and papers for my studies. In some cases these can be complex or involve a lot of details. So, for me what I have done in the past was that I wrote the task or delieverable for the due date. That time (or a bit after) I completed my notes with more details. Then, as I've got inspired of heard some tips - or maybe the details of the task changed, I went to the date and added more notes. I didn't have to take care of it every day, I just did it on the days it came to my mind or when I felt like it. And I wouldn't worry, because they day I needed it to pop up, it would, with all the details. That I haven't been able to do with the bullet journal.

For instance, in a regular system, I would write into each day the papers and chapters I need to read for each class. With the bullet journal, I created a segment in my planner for the readings, and I couldn't even write down the papers in the whole detail. I did manage to check each time, and strike them out as I completed them, but it was bothersome. I had to fashion a sort of calendar just for the Uni because it didn't fit in the M2P I keep, and I had no dailies or weeklies in advance for that. It did work mind you, but I keep thinking that I made a whole new section just for this, when I could have had it in my daily or weekly set up, and work it much better.

And so, I've decided to step away from the bullet journal and join back the ranks of the Filofax refills... and all similar refills.

I do have thought of the Day per Page refills, but as reviewed my planner, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to slim my notes and inserts down to zero in order to make it work (specially because I do need my M2P and I need a couple of yearly calendars), so I think I'll go back to the Week on two Pages. The question now is, shall I splurge and buy myself a pretty, pear green A5 Malden or shall I just stay in my old one? And if I stay in the old one, shall I give the vertical W2P a try or shall I go with the good and trusty horizontal?

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Thoughts About Bullet Journaling

Source: property of Stormberry

I'm slowly reaching the point where I've been bullet journaling for some two or three years in a row, and the time has come to evaluate how to I feel with this system. Like everything, it has had its ups and its downs, and I've been adapting to its many twists and turns. It has been funny and I've liked some of it's features. So let's see how the system fares for me:

Pros

1. I get lots and lots of space for notes and random jots.

2. It's fairly adaptable, so I don't have to commit to a single format of spread or tracker for the rest of the year.

3. I can use a notebook or a filofax planner. It works either way.

Cons

1. I have to write down every single day the date and the appointments. It doesn't really let me plan some tasks - tasks, not appointments - in a way that when I get to THAT day I don't have to write it down.

2. I have to prepare every single spread each time I need it. Every month I have to make a monthly and a tracker.

3. It all ended up just as bulky as the filofax was, so there is no improvement there.

4. I've found it hard to create sections, which I've got used to with the filofax, and which I love, but then it kind of takes away from the idea of the bullet journal.

Then there are these things that I have noticed about myself:

1. I don't really use the index. I have used it, but it's very seldom.

2. Though I know I can fix a lot of things that bother me with post its, I don't use nearly that many post its. I have found it bothers me when post its pile on top of post its for tasks or appointments. It also bothers me when a post it has been moved around a lot and they curl up, get dirty or  stop being sticky enough.

In general, I would really, really like to be a one-notebook kind of person, specially if I manage to get into the Masters program I'm aiming for next year. I often carry books and notebooks with me, and a leaner planner would be a real life saver - specially since I don't really like having my stuff on my phone or my laptop. However, I'm sort of a paper hoarder, and I like to keep printed out lists and programs in my calendar for reference.

The filofax gave me a place to park all of that, and it did grew thick in no time. I know some of my friends liked to look at it and page through it because it gets so juicy, so nice and fat, but I didn't like it all that much because that added bulk and weight to my already big, heavy bag. I would have thought the notebook my friend Arjen gave me would be the answer to my prayers, but I ended up having made a cover to be able to carry it all in one piece. The notebook is currently as fat as my filofax was last year.

So, with enough time to plan ahead, I'm thinking about going back to my filofax (notebooks will be reserved to be used as personal journals, as it should), and start working on a crossover between both systems. I'm thinking about designing and printing out a series of monthly calendar spreads and yearly trackers. With the monthly calendars already printed out, there would be no need for a future log, as I could keep the monthlies on the back and intersperse the pages for the daily activity as it is needed.

My plans currently don't fix all the cons I've noticed with the bullet journal, but I think I'll get there in time. Maybe I'll end up back in the folds of the filofax, and using my trusty Chronodex again. 

We shall see how things progress in time, and you can be sure I'll be keeping you posted.

Pretense or Facts

Image is an important component of today's world. Many organizations and people devote a lot of time and resources to perfect their image and project with it the type of message to the world that they believe works better for their goals. It's kind of funny, when you think that the actions of whatever you want to be recognize, and the fruits of your effort should be the ones naturally creating that image. You want to reflect a certain attitude-likeability-level of success, you want to look like you have achieved something important. However, it happens today that everything needs to be aggrandized, hyped and exaggerated in order to get the message through and make it look worthy. Modest achievement - no matter the level of effort behind it - is not attention worthy.

If you look at influencers, they seem to have these ever-moving milestones that soon balloon into insane statistics and challenges and accumulation of whatevers that... can be faked. Amount of subscriptors can be faked, views can be faked, tricks can be used to get unaware or curious audience pulled to watch something that's not what it claims to be, and content can also be produced to take advantage of trends and build an image of being trendy.

Source: Property of
Stormberry

The thing that drives me to the keyboard today is bullet journaling. I hope I don't need to explain what bullet journaling is, but just in case, it's using a regular notebook as a planner/notebook, where you write down for yourself, in whatever shape and form it fits you, all your to dos, appointments, ideas and such. It's an all in one, and you make it as you need it. Kind of like a no-rules kind of planner.

Bullet journaling has become trendy and has dripped out of the planner communities and soon was in the messenger bag of any influencer that whishes to look independent, enterpreneuring, creative and what-not. Yes, it can be a great tool for just about anyone, but it's not for all. And it's great when you see more and more people showing the idea - specially one that, for once, actually doesn't cost much - but then there are risks too.

A bullet journal is supposed to keep you organized, to remain on top of your priorities. The bullet journal, as a thing of trend, is a tool used for enhancing your social network image. It's beautified or perched up in this or that way to reflect the type of lifestyle you want your audience to imagine. Instead of a tool for organization, it becomed a bulleting board of art and a display of a particular kind of life. Does it work as a tool of organization? Well, I can't be the judge of that. I would certainly miss my tasks amid the collage of barista coffee pictures, tea tabs and washi tape displays. That's me, though. I like tight and cramped (and colorful, so I can spot by color the topics amid the tight blocks of text). Surely, minds are different and some might like putting together foreplanning with notes of the day. A sort of planner+journal, which surely makes the bujo they keep a better record of their lives. But then again, often what we see is a notebook carefully curated to be IG-postable.

Is that wrong? Not at all, as long as people looking at it know it is an artistic rendering. See, the problem with the augmented images of today is precisely that: the audience loses touch with reality, and fall into an empty image, place their trust and their believe into something that's not real. I have known of influencers who recommend twenty books and have read none. People who advise others on this or that life practice that they themselves do not follow. The most recent: people who go big on bullet journals, recommed the system up and down, and yet do not keep their appointments, make promises they don't deliver on, rope others into projects that never go past the proposal, are constantly late or rescheduling (often because they reschedule an appointment that has been agreed on in advance, but they prefer to take a meeting that just came up), and use the bullet journal and the task lists in it to justify (excuse) how busy they are.

This thing I recently knew of about someone, made me realize that this is also something a lot of people do. There are people who like to create the image of success or efficiency or cosmopolitan life that does not really fit with who they are and how they live. They are always troubled with something, but constantly tell others how blessed they are, and whenever they have to actually answer for the image their have created - show those amazing skills at organizing a trip, pull those contacts to create an event, put together the plan for that class in that topic they are the best at - there's always something that alas, keeps them from showing their greatness.

The dangers of this is the effect of the disappointment. The system of believes of the audience take a blow, and suddenly cloaks in the light of fakery other people that might actually be doing things honestly. The effect of the disappointment can even taint the system, the book, the skill sets and anything related to the offered or promoted image, making people walk away from something that might actually be good for them. Specially in the cases of novelties, where the amount of third hand experience might be limited.

With so many aggrandized images of everything bombarding us, where there is a strong perception gap created between "regular people" and known people, between audience and infuencers, these hyped constructions set a large peopulation in the road for disappointment. Here, as a witch, I advise everybody to take everything with a grain of salt, think things through, don't believe all you hear and wait to have as much information as you can gather before you pass judgment on some topics.

Life and The Social Question

Property of Stormberry

Remember that year when I was doubting the bullet journal method, but in the middle of it got excited about it and decided to try it, only to try it and decide that it wasn't for me? No? Doesn't ring a bell? Well, it doesn't matter, since I decided since then to give it another go and I've been working with it for... well, I guess I'm entering my second year this year. So far I like it, yes, thanks for asking.

Since then I've been doing my thing and posting pictures of my haphazard spreads in my Instagram account and what-not. :-) I decided to do so not only because I like my pages, but also because the net is full of perfect and artistic #bujo pictures, and thought that it needed a bit of a balance. It's like when you want to check on videos and pictures of other people's journals and most of them look so elaborated, so full of arts and crafts that your plain written-in notebook looks like... well... not even like a passable draft. Are you familiar with that sentiment?

Well, as things go, the creator of the bullet journal, Ryder Carroll wrote recently a blogpost titled "Back to Basics" (yes, the link is in the title, go read it), in which he explains his experience with users - or "practitioners", as he calls them, which makes me smile because it sounds like we are doing witchcraft or alchemy, which in a way it is like it, if you think of witches as people who raise up to be independent, guided by their own vision and willing to be enchanted by the magic that daily surround them - who had lost their mojo. He makes reference to a case where the shared images of a bullet journal "not attracting enough likes" was the cause for the practitioner to drop out of the Coven. Sounds shallow? Well, I advise you to hold your horses before you go on judging.

Though from the outside the decision to drop something because of what others think or the lack of attention it gets, might sound shallow (well, put this way doesn't sound so shallow, right?), this is actually we often do. You see, though we live and move arround things (and situations and social constructions) that seem to have a given use or purpose, we as humans often give things multiple uses or purposes. For instance: a shirt isn't just something we put on to keep away the cold or the sunrays from burning our skin, but also to comply with the social remand that we do not walk around naked. We also give that shirt other uses and purposes, like a symbol of status or pertenence, a way to enhance our appearance or communicate a message to others. Just like so, we give everything multiple uses and purposes. Think, for instance about your breakfast. I'm sure there are things in that breakfast that do more than serve the purpose of feeding you. Something as simple as your coffee could not only be the difference between you being amicable or murderous, but it could also have a statement about you. Maybe the decision on brand or brewing talks about your political, economical, ecological believes.

In that sense, when we take on something that has come to us through social media - or if we take on something that has been hyped up by social media - we might also charge that thing with a social media value, use and purpose. Mr. Carroll doesn't refute that, but also brings to us a point that got me thinking and spinning: when the item - whatever it is - starts failing to fulfill the social media purpose or decreases in value (or becomes a burden), shall we outcast the item entirely? He recommends the practitioners of the bullet journal, that when they bump into an obstacle that takes the joy out of the system, to strip it down and go back to thee barebones and work from there.

Now, I do agree with that idea, but I was thinking about projecting it further, to other parts of life. For instance, if you have a relationship or a family and you've packed up everything about it with a lifestyle, activities and whatnots that crush you, well, you can't actually go back to the bare bones. Just think for a minute: you can't just sell your mortgage crushing house, or give back your kids, and it might not be reasonable to divorce your spouse because... whatever. Not that I wouldn't do that and go for it as the first option (just see my track record), BUT... most people are not like me. (No, I haven't had kids which I had given back... wherever kids are given back to.) However, a good option is to scale back. Just because a part of something has stopped working for you, it doesn't mean the rest have. So how about you cut back on the part that has become troublesome?

Though giving multiple uses, purposes and values to things is natural to us - actually, marketing preys exactly on this to make you buy stuff you don't need - it is also possible that some of those values wear off quicker than others attached to the same item. That's ok, let it. Make the mental exercise of telling that part off, check if other purposes and uses also need to go and, hey, maybe you could find new values! Maybe you could find it that trips with your partner every weekend for some Insta photo-op has stopped being fun and it starts being time and budget consuming as you feel the pressure to find new and fancier locations. Well, no need to leave your partner over that! Instead, find a new subject for your Instagram (coffee, books and cats tend to be the hoot), and find the value of cozy, lazy weekends with your partner (or partners, really), munching cereal, wearing pajamas and crunching through Netflix series.

No need to be unrealistic and ask people to drop social media and the pressure it puts on them. I might be ok with it, but I assume asking people that is like asking me to stop reading: it ensures a hurtful witch cackle-laugher followed by a sardonic "no". However, we can keep things around shifting and accomodating, recognizing that things around us serve many-many purposes. So even if one use or purpose stops being served, all others may still be happily fulfilled. :-)

Journals Waiting

Property of Stormberry

Yesterday I had a chat (via WhatsApp, mind you), with my dear and Best Friend Arjen about all things related to post, paper and how much we totally and absolutely love each other, and how we make each other's lives so much better. Well, for sure Arjen makes my life a million times happier and brighter. Do you have any friends like that? You know, the kind of friend with whom you feel so well, share tastes, someone with a like mind, and with whom suddenly you have the absolutely best ideas in the planet? Well, that is Arjen for me.

So, Arjen and I were talking about how long it takes for a parcel or a letter to fly between Costa Rica and Belgium, mostly because both of us sent out our letters pretty much at the same time. Let me explain this quickly for you: I actually wrote to Arjen sometime in Spring. She got the letter and was sending me her reply. However, life has happened and with all the things in my life (thesis, friends gone, friends found, etc.), I HAD to talk to her. Sure, I could have sent an e-mail or chat her up on WhatsApp as we often do, but these things needed the long winding quality only handwritten letters can provide. On the light of this, I sent her what we call now "Letter Volume II: The Second Installment". I can't wait for her to get the letter! I even sent it with the courier service because: 1. it is faster, 2. it wasn't that much more expensive than the normal version, and 3. it comes in an uglyu plastic bag that will at least save the letter from water damage.

Source:  Fendrihan Canada

She showed me then a notebook she's going to use for a Bullet Journal Workshop she's taking. Oh my! I was so envious! :-) Can't wait to see the end result of it. That brought me to remember the A5 dotted, copper Leuchturm 1917 notebooks we've bought last year in Budapest. I remember that day with such joy! It was December 2017, and the both of us went to the 11th district looking for a paper store called "Fiók". It seemed like we would not find it in time, but then we did, and when we went into it, there they were, the beautiful Leuchturm 1917, hardcover notebooks! By then I had been on the hunt of A5 blank, lined or grid copper notebooks, but never found one. I didn't even think much, just grabbed the notebook.

Though normally I prefer blank pages for my journal, somehow I wanted this book to be more of a bullet journal (ain't gonna happen), and for that I wanted dotted pages. Arjen decided she wanted one too, and she also got the A5, dotted copper notebook. After that we were taken by the copper love and grabbed copper metallic Sharpies and other coppery washi tape.

Source: Pen Heaven

By the begining of the year she was already bullet-journaling in her copper notebook, while I was pondering what should I do with mine. I mean, I bullet-journal, but I do so in my A5 Malden filofax. In other words, my prized copper Leuchturm was an impulsive purchase I had acquired for the visual pleasure of its supple aesthetics. Then it went into my trunk, which is being currently heavily guarded by all the books I've bought since June... that no longer have a place in my bookshelf. (This is the reason why I'm posting pictures from google rather than pictures of my own blank notebooks). For my regular journaling, I've been using lately books from BomoArt. These books have blank pages and the paper is thick enough to handle fountain pens, which is what I use for... anything that has to do with handwriting.

In this same trip I was refering previously, Arjen and I went to Bomo Art in Budapest, in the Régi Posta utca, close to Váci utca, and I've bought that would have been my next journal. 

Property of Stormberry

Would have been? Yes. I had planned to use the latest Bomo Art book as my next journal, but after yesterday, we decided to return to our A5 coppers. You see, while talking about the paper world, Arjen mentioned that she had abandoned her copper Leuchturm. I'm myself on the last pages of my current journal, so the next logical idea came to mind: we should retake our copper Leuchturms at the same time! Isn't that the most fabulous and totally Super Best Friend thing in the world?

Since the journal is copper colored, and I have some copper washi, I thought it would be cool to use it with copper ink. Yeah, it would be cool... if there were copper ink. Now Arjen and I are on hot pursuit of cooper ink. The closest we've found is a Diamine Caramel Sparkle she has spotted. The closest I currently have is a Pelikan 4001 brilliant brown.

I know, who would have thought that the world of pen and paper could be so complicated?

A Plan to Get Back on Track

Picture by Stormberry. Still on the Bullet Journal Project.

The last period of the year at the University starts and I've managed to enroll in two classes, one of which is the last subject I need to pass to complete my studies for the Finance diploma. I'm so close!! I'm excited and full of energy and hope, but at the same time I remember the hard lessons learned during the past period, where here and there I sometimes lost sight of my schedule and then got lots of work to do. My schedule was quite packed, I must admit, and there were days where I worked myself close to an aneurism (so to say), with so much I studied and how hard I did my summaries and readings. This meant also that some things had to give and me left behind, neglected, and the ones that got the worse of my lack of time were my penpals.

Picture by Stormberry. My post bag :-)

This time around, I decided to make time and give some priority to my lovely penpals, and all the people that had been writing to me, for over the last year and start replying to them. I wasn't going to feel guilty again when opening my P.O.Box and finding a letter in it. So, since my studies had not really started yet, I decided to use the time and get back on track with my penpals and start replying to them. My pile has been going thinner and thinner as I reply to my friends, managing already to send out four letters, and then this very weekend finding the time and the energy to reply to seven friends! Wow, that's quite a feat for someone like me, who usually takes a couple of days to reply to one letter. :-) I normally write the very way I speak: I just don't shut up. Really. But this time I tried to practice some restriction and gathered my thoughts better for the benefit of my friends. :-)

However, I have many penpals and it's not fair to either of them for me to reply to them only once a year or so, just because I'm studying. Of course, my penpals are the best penpals in the planet: all of them beautiful, sweet and understanding girls, but still, they are important to me, and I should show how much they matter to me by carving out time to be with them. This is how an idea occured to me: I'll have a "Letter Writing" day every week. And since now I don't have German on Mondays, what better than make myself a "Letter Writing Monday"?

Picture by Stormberry. Starbucks' coffee and letter

Last week I decided to go after work to a Starbucks' coffeeshop that's close to my office, basically to decide it the place could work for me for some studying. I've been thinking about spicing up my study time by once a week taking myself to a different place, close to work, so I could get to study without having been drained first by the traffic jams one always finds at that time of the day. This Starbucks is quite loud, so it would hardly be ideal for studying, not to mention that it tends to be quite packed, but as I sat there writing my letters with a cup of Latin American blend of Espresso Roast, I realized that the place was perfect for this. And that became a seed of an idea that slowly took roots in my head until the decision of a "Letter Writing Monday" was born.

On Tumblr I follow a lot of blogs that have to do with studying, and lot of them show pictures of notes, summaries, mind maps, neat desks and notes covering tables with a laptop here and there, and a trademark Starbucks cup. Not many of these talk to you about programmed down time, and down time is needed. So, I need to reply to my friends, and I need to plan in a break in my schedule, make time for classes, studies, readings, and yes, me-time with letter writing, friend-meeting and movie nights.

I still haven't thought about installing a particular date for meeting with my friends, whom I haven't seen in quite a few weeks now, but to begin with the new period, I'm setting my letter-days and my initial study days. :-) All the rest will come around.

Oh, BTW, on the matter of the Bullet Journal, I'm about to finish my notebook, which will complete my project. I have been thinking about making a video about it, my first, because it might be too much for photographing and then writing a post about it. Who knows. As it is, there are nice parts of it, and parts I didn't like so much. My planning system with have a little variation for next year - and not only the new binder I'm planning on getting. But we shall see about that.

This Bullet Journal Thing

So how am I faring with this project? Not so swimmingly, I must say. Should I, perhaps, post about this less often? Like once a month or something? Not enough time going on between update and update (this is only the third post, and granted, my last three post have been about the bullet journal, but isn't that too early to complain?)? Who knows. I'm determined to stick to this project until the end of the notebook I'm using - as I said previously, in some other post - or the end of the year... whatever I feel like it. I'm still watching videos of people bullet journaling and how they set it up, but then, the more I look at it - and now that I'm using the system - the more I realize that this isn't cut for my style. Hey, you have to face the music, don't you? So here are a couple of my latest spreads.

Daily Spread

First of, the notations started all to flow into each other, so I had to break out my coloring pencils and put up some color into the bullet journal, shading the boxes (or banners) for the days so I could more easily make those out from the general flow of scribling. That's nice if you have time and the inclination to do so, BUT not so much fun when you are not filling up your "Today" the night before on the place you normally do and where you keep your colors. And that's where some of my issues with the system start.

I know that to make a habit you have to stick to it and keep doing it for a while and yadda-yadda-yadda, BUT there are things I know about myself and I know that they would requiere quite an amount of effort and time that do not compensate the expected benefits. (Sorry, economist here, I do analyze things like this on a Cost-Benefit basis. Everybody should, I think, but then, that's just me.) Normally I'm not very productive at night, save if I'm studying, but even for that, I can't just jump into the book at 9 pm and study all the way until 1 am or so. No, I don't work that way. I have a process for studying at night, which is pointless to detail now, but the thing is that I don't relate to studying as a "routine" thing I do. My mind sees studying as a different type of activity, specially because I don't study at night always. I study in "time pockets", which is not the same as to say when I have free time, but in carved little moments when I can make time for it, and these pockets are flexible, movable, from one point to the next. A habit would require a fixed time, and my fixed times are better settled during the early hours of the day, which is why I rather wake up earlier to do my exercise routine, than wait to do it at night.

I normally wake up really early, so by night I'm normally quite tired. If I have to study, I know I can muster some time before my brain teflons-up and nothing stick to it anymore, but to think that I still have to plan the next day out? Yeah, not gonna happen. Hell, sometimes even cooking up the easiest meal, or making a sandwich is a HUGE effort! Planning? Out of the question.

I've been planning for a whole week now with the bullet journal system, and if I have planned out my day the day before twice, that's been a lot. Copying down lists every day, trying to figure out good ways to put in my movable tasks - which in my filofax I just write up one day, and they remain there, maybe copied over for the next week, or written in the "this week" box... - and using post-its and fearing that I might end up losing my tasks because of way too many post-its crowding the place... Is it a mechanism to make me work though the list faster? I don't know, but I definitively don't appreciate the pressure.

As you can see in the picture above, I started using the "coding" suggested in the original bullet journal system, with the dots, circles and dashes. Don't really do it for me either. It's simpler that the boxes I was using - which I use in my filofax - but I'm still not there yet. What's my problem with them? Basically that they "disappear" from my sight. They become a listing and I don't see at one glance what's a note, an appointment or a task. I'm kind of using my filofax system by notating appointments at the left and tasks at the right, and now decided to import more from my FF by adding color coding into it as well. We shall see how that works in the future.

I did add other spreads, like a new spread for tracking my university subjects, and I like it, but then again, that's something I can easily do and refer to in my filofax, using a segment in one of my sections.

Subject Track for University

The thing I'm taking from the bullet journal so far is that it's a system that present definitively some challenges for proper future planning, doesn't quite give you (or at least me) enough peace of mind to make sure all your important tasks and appointments were dutifully recorded in the right dates (particularly for those of us who actually fix appointments or dates months in advance), and basically requires more time spent on planning than traditional systems.

Personally, I think the filofax system fills my needs about time planning much better. I don't have to worry about noting down every time I have class, or a test or so, per month, per day, per week. I don't have to fret I'm too tired and forget to file in something important, because a lot of important things were noted down the day I knew about them, so I don't have to deal with them now. In this first week of the project, though I used the system, I've been leaning heavily on my filofax to get things done and keep myself on task.

Wonder if with a little more of time, I'll change my mind about this.

Bullet Journal: First Days into the Experiment

It's kind of late for me to be at the office, and I'm already feeling a bit tired, though that might also be because I'm on the Second Day of the period and all that chunky blood loss does make me a bit zombie-ish. It's still quite a nice day, though, except that I was a tad late today and didn't get a parking spot at the closest parking lot at the office, but had to go to the one further away, AND on the way I realized I had plate restriction (I blame that bout of forgetfulness on the blood loss due to the period, because, really, the period should be good for something, other than tell you that you are not pregnant), thus I decided to wait until 7 p.m. before leaving. I'm not chancing a ticket.

The extra time I used wisely by actually studying for one of my University subjects: Service Costs. Nice, huh? And now, in the last few minutes - as my mind desperately races thinking of the lunches I have to make for tomorrow and Friday (I'll do zuccini, it's the easiest, and I love zuccini) - and the German homework I have for tomorrow - I decided to let you know how the Bullet Journal Project is going.

If you recall, in my last post I talked about the Bullet Journal, how it wasn't for me and what I have found as criticism on the Internet while I was researching the matter. Then, by the end of the post, I was actually considering the possibility of keeping an experimental bullet journal, just to see if it really was for me or not. And so the Experiment was born.

I started by fishing out an old blank notebook a friend had given me a long while ago, and which I actually couldn't really put to proper use.

Bullet Journal Project: Starting Page

This notebook is a spiral bond, blank page notebook with plastic covers. I had started using it in the past as a Book of Shadows until I moved into a larger book - also blank paged - with hard covers. so what better than this, right?

For the project I checked once again Ryder's site and introductory video making all the necessary notes for it, and then started making an Index page, a Yearly Spread - which in my case was a seven-month spread, and the first Monthly Spread, which was for June.

Here's the Index

The "Yearly Spread"

Monthly Spread

First off, the paper turned out not to be so good for this sort of experiment, as it bleeds through quite a lot. I tried first a fountain pen, but it went right through it. So the pilot pens. And the highlighters. It doesn't really bother me so much, but I put a limit at the point where the bleeding ink renders unreadable the other page.

Up blank, the pages look nice, but when on use, they look a bit... cramped.

This yearly spread can't take more... sadly.

Getting packed...

At one point I started using post-its to supply for the lack of space, but really, it didn't really do the job. Of course, this could simply mean that I would need to make my yearly spread in more pages, like a spread per quarter or per each four months... or try and make my handwriting smaller, but as it is, with just my University MAIN appointments it got all filled out. No space for my German classes, or my other notations.

I did created a spread for tracking birthdays and important gifting/card-sending holidays, which is currently only Halloween and Christmas, and indexed it, but then I thought of all the tracking lists and systems I already cram in my filofax, and the idea of transfering them by hand into my project was beyond daunting. Yes, I could print out a template and glue it into the bullet journal if I decide to keep the system, but not now.

For the journaling part itself, the idea of checking every night your day and plan the next day is lovely and nearly romantic, but very inconvenient when you get home late or tired. I really don't want to journal and write down stuff when all I want to do is curl up in bed and read a little of whatever I'm reading (currently a book on the Salem witch trials, because, really, I'm still obssessed with the topic and the city). I also developped a system for my tasks, where I use a post-it with a sort of on-going task list with things I need to get done but still don't need to be done a given day. This is easier for me than to copy every day the tasks I didn't finish, even though I just wrote them down to keep them in mind, not to have them finished that day.

filofax and bullet journal side by side.

So far, though I do enjoy the novelty and the space and the flexibility of the bullet journal, the system that still makes it the best for me is the filofax. Yes, I love the space of the bullet journal, but I love the structure of the filofax, and so far I feel like that's a lifesaver for me.

But I'll continue, at least until I fill this notebook, or get to the end of the year - whatever happens first. And you, Dear Anonymous Reader, will be able to keep track of the developing of this project, if you desire so, by the post I'll keep making on the subject.

Bullet Journaling and Planning

:: HELLO, IT'S BEEN A WHILE AND I'M SORRY, THIS POST CAME OUT WAAAY TOO LONG::

Recently I finished my second intensive course of German, earning myself the completition of the A1 level, which amounts to something like "Survival Language Skills", which is UNDER the "Beginners' Level" (which would be the A2 level). Before we go any further... I did tell you I was learning German, right? I think I did. If I didn't, yes, I started learning German (for real this time) in... was it February? I think it was in February. I'm learning with the Goethe Zentrum, and they have six levels (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2), and each level is divided in three or four courses. If you do all the thing on regular lessons (once a week), you finish in six years... or more. If you do the intensive (twice a week), you can finish in about three years.

I started with my sister-in-law, Yul, and we both finished the first course, but in the second she didn't pass. This made her - understandably - very sad. I did pass - as expected - but felt so very bad because she didn't. We did met to study a couple of times, but we don't go at it the same way. Basically because I just don't study when it comes to languages - for some reason I don't need it, I'm good at it - so I was doing homework at top speed, while she was slowly struggling, trying to organize herself while attending the demands of her kids. When the last test was do - with was one of those oral tests, where you actually HAVE to reply to questions by SPEAKING the language you are learning - we practiced. Our teacher told us before hand the topics we would have to talk about, so we prepared a monologue and a dialogue. Before the test Yul was quite good, and we wrote out a sound dialogue for all the possible choices we had. Yul was actually being too ambitious, composing long sentences, which I cut to smaller ones so we would remember them easier. However, at the test itself it was like her whole brain blanked out, and she couldn't say a single properly worded sentence.

Concerned about that, and looking to help her, I started thinking on ways I could be of assistance. I haven't offered her anything for sure yet, as I'm waiting to see whether she will retake the class or not, but for once, I thought about helping her once a week with the kids, so she can have a few hours for herself to study. That brought me to thinking about sharing with her study tips, so I researched a little about Test Anxiety, about which I found a couple of quite good articles. One of them is "Freezing on Exams - 5 Tips", by oxfordlearning.com. This took me to start checking on studying skills and packing up my tumblr, my youtube channel and just about everything with this topic. After all, I'm a college student too, and while I'm very good at learning languages, I really need to put some serious elbow grease into Finance, so why not see what good tips the world has to offer? And THIS brought be back to the world of planning. Now, this isn't a post on my learning techniques - I might do one of those later on, but not now - but it must be said that effective learning, like effective working, can't be done without planning, and planning requires a planning system that works with you.

taken from bulletjournal.com

If you are on tumblr or youtube - and probably many other social networks - you may have noticed the fashion in the studying communities and planner communities about the Bullet Journal.

What is a Bullet Journal?

This is a planning and recording system that's rather flexible and is based on lists. It was developped by Ryder Carroll, who also made it free for anyone to use. The whole system relies on a notebook - any notebook, really - in which you will have an index page, a future log page, a yearly (or semestral spread), a monthly spread and then your daily logs. Each item is written down as a task, or a bullet list - you know them, you've seen them in Power Point presentations - with different markers to signal whether it's an appointment, a task, a task with a deadline, and so on.

You don't have to do all the parts of it, or you can add more, and you can put in your journal other stuff, like lists of whatever thing you need  lists for, notations, ideas... and then just reference them in the index. You can reference whatever you want to reference in your index. It works with You. It does what you want it to do.

taken from filofax.co.uk

For a moment I caught the fever - specially seeing all those cute pictures of working bullet journals - and so I gave it a thought. Just imagine NOT getting any inserts next year for my filofax, but go bullet journaling with a pack of graph paper! I'm a kinetic person, so yes, the idea of that was exciting. Except that the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the system wasn't really for me. Why? Because:

1. I do a lot of future planning, and a lot of my plans are very specific. This is mostly because of the University, where I have the whole period (three to four months) planned ahead with specific times for tests, classes, deadlines for projects and homework, and I tend to use a lot of space (if I can) writing down all I need to know about the given appointment, like chapters, tutors, location and so on. 

Normally, with my current planner, when I get my program, I spend a couple of days copying all in my planner, in the monthly and weekly calendars, and then in my witchy calendar, and now also in my U-calendar. Sometimes I even take the time to copy them down in my Google Calendar. Sometimes. Why so many? This is my system, so I always have these important appointments at sight and can prepare for them.

Before I go further, what's a U-calendar? Simple. I printed out a monthly calendar for the months of the period in a month-on-two-pages (MO2P) format, in letter-sized paper, punched it and put it in my notes binder, right at the begining. It holds ONLY my university appointments.

original picture

2. Though I do have quite some calendars, they all work in a given system: my main calendar is my Filofax. In it, my main reference is my weekly calendar, where all my tasks and appointments are noted down in as much detail as I can squeeze into them. 

I don't use the monthly so much, but it also has a function as to offer me a broader view of how my time is planned out. This allows me to better see how much time I have alotted for completing projects and homework, or how far am I from deadlines and tests. This is my panoramic view, and in which only the most important appointments are noted. 

taken from www.themagickalcat.com

The witch calendar includes notes on my tasks and activities that are not work related, so they give me a clear view of my personal life, and then the calendars, and wall planners offer a quick glance. I even have one of those Post-It undated weekly planner calendars mounted over my desk, so as I study I always can look at it. 

However, all of them put all of my days together, and I have the same space in each day slot. At once glance I see always the same amount of time: a week. As days go by, I usually have to fill in my weeks with notations for this day and that, appointments get crammed in, moved around... and my Chronodex stamp really works miracles for me there! With a bullet journal, how would I manage?

Getting a bullet journal and parceling it all down to equal slots, for a whole year, well, it would defeat the whole purpose of a bullet journal, wouldn't it? Not to mention that I really like the Chronodex, and on the days I don't want to use my stamp for whatever reason, I make my notations in a system I already use of appointments to the left and tasks to the right.

I still did some research, continued looking for it, and was trying to find a case of someone with needs similar to mine that could make their bullet journal work, but most of the cases I saw were those of people who only need to plan, maximum a month ahead. Then, through my research, I started finding a few people that didn't like the system, or who tried it and left it after a while. Those posts sounded interesting, so I checked them, but soon found out that often the case wasn't mine either. Two of the articles I found listed as cons situations that are very subjective or personal, and which shouldn't be a general reason to abandon the system. Those articles are "The Bullet Journal: why analog task management doesn't work", by Alina Vrabie, and "Bullet Journal Didn't Work for Me", by Josh Medeski.

Some of the things these articles mentioned were the following:

1. The Bullet Journal Isn't Flexible (Vrabie): while in my case it isn't flexible for the reasons afore mentioned, Vrabie means the physical nature of the bullet journal, since you only have the actual, physical space of the paper as the reason for the lack of flexibility.

This is quite curious because actually I prefer paper over digital because for me paper gives me more flexibility. In paper I can use as many colors as I want, highlight, stick stickers, post-its, draw, stamp, write in any language, add my icons... you name it. Some calendar apps give you that option, but not all of them.

2. Legibility (Medeski): this goes on the same line. Medeski here notes that his handwriting isn't very neat, so the bullet journal (or any other paper system, for that matter) doesn't work for him. My first thought here is, really, if his handwriting is so bad, why would he ever bother writing anything by hand at all? And, how come he even tried the system? He wasn't aware of how bad his handwriting was? My handwriting can be very bad in some cases, but then again, I don't usually write on a rush, so my filofax doesn't always see the bad side of my handwriting. Vrabie also mentions that, which makes you think about the future of hanwriting.

3. Future Log (Vrabie): this I can't argue with.  Vrabie mentions the difficulties that can arise when trying to log future appointments, when the daily part must be prepared... daily. I know that actually you can do this with the monthly spread, so each day at night you prepare next day's daily with the notes of the monthly spread, BUT then again, the monthly spread could not be as spacious as you need it. Not like - I'm suddenly thinking - you couldn't fix that with writing details in post-its...

Look, probably there is a way if you look at it, and think for a while on a solution that works for you, BUT, in here I agree with Vrabie, that some people don't really want to be bothered with taking 20 minutes of their time every day to fix up the next day's agenda.

original picture

However, the bullet journal would combine daily logs and notes and lists... sort of like the way my current notebook (a notebook I carry around to jot down stuff), and though that might be good and liberating for a notebook where all thoughts collide and things don't get revisited much, it might not work the same for a planner. Yes, you do have an index, but maybe for some people that's not the feel they are looking for. Not like you couldn't do your notes and lists from the back forwards, though then again... how do you make sure you can plan all the way to the end of the year? And what if the second half of the year has to go in another notebook? How much do you copy? How do you keep notes and lists? (See why I prefer filofaxes?)

4. No Prioritizing (Vrabie): this I didn't really get. Vrabie argues that priorities change through the day, and bullet journaling don't help you prioritize unless you know your priorities BEFORE HAND, not to mention that the markers used might means something else to you entirely. Yeah, I just... blink stupidly here. I mean, I KNOW that studying for my tests has priority over stuff I can do other days or take less time to complete. Deadlines have priority. And the markers aren't set in stone! They are suggestions! For instance, if I were to bullet journal, I wouldn't put a star or an asterisc (*) next to the given appointment or task, I would highlighted. I really doubt the Bullet Journal Police would come searching for me for it. And if your priorities change... do your bullet journal in pencil, or with frixion pens. There are frixion highlighters also, so there you go, your priorities can change.

I really tried to understand that, I really did, but I couldn't.

5. Lack of Speed (Vrabie and Medeski): both said that the bullet journal isn't as fast as typing. This is very, very personal. Recently I switched to a Microsoft Lumia, and the touch pad, the intuitive keyboard and all that are killing me. I'm better at typing on my laptop than on a phone. Specially when it tries to change all my English and Spanish words to Hungarian. Not funny. I'm however, good at handwriting, so I'm faster with a pen than with the phone.

Also, they mention (or one of them), that it's so complicated to pull a notebook out of your bag and a pen and write with something that needs both hands rather than flipping out your phone and doing the logging with one hand. One: this is a matter of skill, which not everybody has, and Two: maybe not where they live, but where I live I won't expose myself to being robbed for flashing out a notepad and a pencil, while flashing out a phone might.

Then, this isn't a problem of the bullet journaling, it's an issue they have with any paper system. I mean, if I weren't worried about betting robbed, and I'm travelling in a packed train, I could pull out my phone, and make a note with the voice recorder. THEN get home, listen to it and nicely log it in my bullet journal, and maybe even DEVELOP the idea further more.

Both Vrabie and Medeski also note that the whole writing and re-writing takes time, diminishing the speed of the journal. It does. Now, compared with a digital system where you log ONCE and the you have all the views - daily, weekly, monthly, yearly - updated, it does take time to copy over and over all the tasks. And what if you miss a task or an appointment? Technically, your system works for you, so unless you slack at it, you are not supposed to miss it. I mean, if you do it DAILY, how hard can it be to copy the tasks left from the day before, and those previously jotted down in your yearly and monthly spreads? Here's a trick - which works better if you are right handed:

1. Place a finger of each of your non-dominant hand (left, in my case), on each spread or page where you have tasks and appointments to migrate.

2. Use your dominant hand to write (right, in my case).

3. The fingers of your non-dominant hand will be like bookmarkers.

4. Using ONLY the fingers of your non-dominant hand, flip through the spreads and the current page where you are doing your daily log.

5. Remore the fingers FROM BETWEEN THE PAGES, NOT FROM THE HAND! when you have copied what needed to be copied or "migrated".

I'll be happy to provide a video of this trick, if required.

All other problems and cons listed were really a matter of not liking paper systems, or clearly prefering digital systems, or a particular system. Stuff like being deep into GTD (Getting Things Done), or not being able to colaborate, or the search system not being good enough (old school people like me, actually are faster with paper indexes and paper dictionaries than with digital search options), or requiring too much discipline... are personal stuff, personal issues, not a flaw of the system itself regarding it working for one type of planning or the other.

taken from
http://scription.typepad.com/

Vrabie does mention - without developping - how your notes and tasks can end up lost in the bullet journal, never read again. I can't argue with that, honestly, specially considering the case I made before about the moment when you switch notebooks. However, systems like the Midori could help there if you keep one notebook (indexed, for instance) for notes and lists (or one for notes and one for lists) and then another for the daily logging and calendars. There are ways in which you could do it, and then again, it's all about what you really need. Are you really looking for and reading to-do lists from two years ago? Do you need little scraps of ideas jotted down a year ago?

The thing is that the digital solutions can be messy too, and they also clutter up. Paper solutions make clutter evident and force you to clean and neat up, and depending on your skills, might even be easier. I do find it easier to order my paper files and pictures than my digital ones, for once. But that's me.

I think it's important to get both sides of the situation and consider first and foremost what YOU need and what YOU want, and what works for you. Hardly any system will work for you at once, all of them need a time to adjust and need to be adjusted to your needs. And before you spend any money on them, THINK whether it will really is what you need. Don't move from something that workd for you just for the fashion of it.

Through writing this post, I became more curious about the system, so I decided to make a pilot - draft up a bullet journal along my regular planner, in one of my many unused notebooks, see how it goes. If I do, I'll probably tell you about the experience. :-D