“Bullet Journaling is Saving My Sanity in Quarantine.”

3 Comments: “Bullet Journaling is Saving My Sanity in Quarantine.”

1. I’ve had AdHD Inattentive all my life – I’m a disorganized, forgetful, tardy disaster both outside and inside my mind. I was diagnosed at age 39 and still struggle daily – 11 years later but I understand why. My sons do much better than I did and get far more support from their schools and family than I did, thank goodness. I thought Bullet Journals were for perfect, organized, artistic people but in February 2020 I looked into the basics (bulletjournal.com) and realized I needed to try this. I got a basic journal (with tiny dots) and a black pen. Nothing else. I loved it. Then my state and job shut down for 2 months (Thanks, Covid) and I did’t need to keep track of ANYTHING! But I felt zero guilt because I just skipped March and April and started up in May – unlike a pre-printed datebook or calendar (read: guilt!) I am able to put anything I want in my BuJo. I put in True Crime facts, History notes, Earworms, Favorite Quotes, Zentangles, Paid Bills, Lists of Podcasts, Netflix & Amazon shows to watch, Word Definitions, etc. It’s casual and easy and I even added a little color. But no fancy fonts or art. And I don’t show anyone my BuJo. It’s just mine. Messy handwriting and random thoughts. You can do it, too! Use a basic notebook and your favorite pen. Keep it simple and make it your own.

2. Like Adi, bullet journaling is the ONLY thing that has ever worked for me, or perhaps I should say, creating my own system based upon Ryder Carroll’s principles is the only thing that has worked for me. Ryder laid out some basic ideas but he stresses this is a do-it-yourself endeavor. I actually do not use the official bulleting method that gave it the name, but I sure love the habit trackers and brain dumping etc. I love having no preprinted gridlines or calendar pages screaming “failure” if I have a month when I don’t use it. I add color and fun stickers or washi tape here and there if so inclined, but one should NEVER see that as a requirement. Im now on my fourth year, with my bujos and every year’s bujo is different from before as I figure out what works and what doesn’t. It has been life changing in a positive way for me. Cost wise, its incredibly cheap. My first one was a little bound notebook I found laying around the house. I spend 12 dollars for a fresh journal each year plus a little for fun stuff IF I choose to, but this year I haven’t. If you are approaching this method feeling like you have to do this or that you are missing the whole point of the plan-it-to-work-the-way-you-want journal (aka “bullet journal”). Now excuse me – off to scribble in my bujo as this day begins! 🙂

3. I’m amazed that anyone with ADD could manage to make Bullet Journaling work. I looked into it once, but just READING about it sent my brain into tailspin. For those not familiar with Bullet Journaling, it’s an incredibly complicated organizing system. Instead of a basic organizer where you can keep a schedule, you have to memorize (or create and memorize) a long list of symbol and color codes which you then use to label all your tasks. And then there’s the complicated system of page types, each type with a different purpose. If all the listing and organizing and memorizing doesn’t manage to take up your entire day, you’re supposed to actually journal in it as well. Even after the time it took to learn the system (which would be a lot), you’d be spending probably an hour a day messing with it – organizing and reorganizing tasks and labeling them and color coding and making journal entries, not to mention keeping track of all the colored pens and highlighters without misplacing them. Every bit of it requires exceptionally good focus and executive function — the two things people with ADD most often lack. If you have ADD, read about it online before you go out and spend money on a bullet journal!