The Bullet Journal and Me - My Story and 7 Steps to Start a Bullet Journal

Even though I just found the Bullet Journal Method, I feel as if I have been toying with some of its features my whole life, as if I was Bullet Journaling but the incomplete, wrong way, here is why: I possess 23 agendas and planners, all of which are filled with schedules, lists of to-do's, goals, bucket lists... and some of these were all but forgotten in the pages of time.

In March 2017 I was watching Roberta Ranieri's painting videos when she uploaded a Bullet Journal tutorial. I had heard of it before and was curious, but as soon as she started setting her key I lost interest, I don't even know why. A year passed and in 2018, as I was using my planner I remembered her key and thought it would be useful, so I wrote it down but didn't use it much, if not at all. In 2019 I finally added it to my agenda to use it, somehow (I was not doing it according to the bullets of the method), and kinda liked it.

On october 2019 I fell sick and was idly watching YouTube videos when a bullet journal one came across my recommendations, and that's where the binge watching started. As I watched more and more, I realized this was for me, especially while watching the Doodle Queen Amanda Rach Lee, her set ups got me hypnotized, I saw myself sketching beautiful themes and putting them to use.

That's where I knew I had to read the book by the creator, every bullet journaler spoke of it. So I started reading a sample in iBooks and after 3 pages I was totally into it, I bought it and finished reading it in three days (as I was laying in bed because I was so ill). And that's where my new found passion started (I could write a whole essay on how this book opened my eyes. Do you remember that scene in "Amelie", where she describes the whole street to a blind guy and he is left in like a heavenly light, glimmering all over the place? that sums it up pretty accurately).

Anyways, "this could be life changing!" was an affirmation that stuck in my head after reading the book. Long story short, I work at home (designing and manufacturing my own fabric accessories), so I don't have a boss, a time to check in, a lunch hour, stressing deadlines or workmates to carry the load with. So THIS could be life changing for me! (and for those with an office job as well, of course, actually, it's for everybody). I could see how the method is infallible in achieving your goals if you do it right, and the best part is that it takes just a few minutes a day and it is indeed simple. Once you read that book and understand the basics, it is oh so simple! In a nutshell, success is within everybody's grasp with the Bullet Journal Method. But I won't explain how it works, you really, really must read the book if you want to get into it.

Apart form the huge advantage of fulfilling my goals, along comes one of my all time passions: Arts and crafts...

*Important information: before I go all crazy with my arts and supplies story, it has to be said that to bullet journal you just need two things: a notebook and a pen. That's it. Contrary to what many think (because of what they see on social media), the bullet journal was created, not as a creative outlet, but as a productivity tool. For those of us who enjoy art and all creative things, it is an added canvas for our imagination to run wild. It makes the ride all the more so enjoyable and it helps us practice and develop our style.

Back to my story, when asked "what do you want to be when you grow up?", my reply as a kid always was "I'm going to own a stationery store". Well, that did not happen but the bullet journal revived that love for all things cute in such a way that I had amazon packages arriving at home for a whole week. I also found an amazing art supply store near home where they have the zebra mild liners and all that bliss. So equipped with a gorgeous new bullet journal (should I go into how much I love the smell of a new, unused journal? ok no), and all my markers and pens, I felt overwhelmed... what now?

Of course, after watching dozens of "plan with me" videos, I had a thousand ideas of trackers, spreads, collections and set ups in my mind, so where to start? Planning is key, so, so key. So here's my 7 step method:

1. Find Inspiration. Youtube, Instagram, Pinterest. Save and pin everything you like, knowing as you do, that you should never copy someone else's designs, but just find ideas that yo can somehow evolve and make your own, transforming them into your own style, you'll be surprised at how happy you will be with the new things and ideas you come up with.

2. Choose Your Spreads. Instead of wanting to do it all, think of your specific needs, make a list and then discard what you know will not be practical (like, I know a movie tracker, though cool, would not work for me). As you discard spreads you will see clearly those that will definitely improve your life. Cool thing is, even if you are unsure of a spread and yet add it, nothing is written in stone, apparently every bullet journal has an unused, forgotten tracker and that is totally fine.

3. Define your style. After seeing so many doodles and colors or so many minimalist spreads, I knew I wanted a mix of both. I define my bujo style as "Minimalistically Frilly", yeah, lots of space with cute, more elaborated details. Perhaps someone likes the all colorful and cluttered lay out, or the basic no-drawing-at-all style, and that's great to, but finding what you like, what you feel comfortable with is essential. For me, adding those details is my "me time", I just love it. How do you know you have nailed your style? Show it to someone who knows you well, if they say "this is so you", you've nailed it!

4. Digital sketch. This was a savior! it spared me so much erasing (and even then I did quite a lot). Using any digital drawing software (I used Procreate, I can also babble about my love for it), comes really handy. I uploaded a blank dotted spread and started sketching away, adding pages and pages as I went. Here you can take into account everything you plan to add to the page: graphics, doodles, washi tape, prints, stickers, etc. Sketch it all, this will be your reference for the real notebook. If you're not familiar with digital drawing then you can just use any scrap paper or used notebook to map it all.

5. But first, pencil. Trust me, even when you think you got it all figured out, you will want to sketch everything in pencil first. The eraser will be your best friend too. As I said, I erased so much, I even teared a couple of pages... But yeah, pencil even your calendar numbers, those sneaky dudes are naughty (and double check you are writing them down correctly and that they are from the right year).

6. Ink. Now's the time to confidently add that beautiful ink all over your spreads. So grab your pens, markers or liners and go right into the amazing Inkfest... yes, I enjoy it that much. This is the part to be creative, to combine colors and to add life to the pages. So have lots of fun and don't forget to erase all pencil traces afterwards (yes, it's annoying but it will make such a difference in having a neat looking spread), and erase carefully, hold on to those pages, you don't want to rip them apart.

7. Add embellishments. This is optional, but for a stationery junkie like me, it's not. I had this amazing washi tapes and stickers that added a nice touch to some of my pages, and as everything in life, I went for the "nothing in excess" motto. Again, maybe excess is what you love so don't be afraid to make a stationery explosion on your journal, as long as you love it and motivates you to go on. As they say, the sky is the limit.

Ok, this is a long entry, I better leave it at that. After all, the process of discovering and planning did take me some time since it was the first time. As I go into the method, practicing and discarding or adding, I'll be better at it.

Next blog will be on my actual set up and final spreads. And a video will be added too.

Thanks for reading me,

Nala

Notebook: "Nevertheless She Persisted" A5 Dot Matrix by Peter Pauper Press