Before starting a bullet journal
“Like building muscle, we need to train our intentions to make them resilient and strong.”
Ryder Carroll
These days I am quite active with my doodle tutorials on Instagram and on the bullet journal communities. And I get a lot of questions about what you need before starting the journey. So this is an article based on what I wanted to know before starting a bullet journal.
If you read the article from here you know that I use agendas (filofax types) one way or another for some years now. Until 2 years ago when people started to ask me about it - never came to my mind to share about my method and time management tools. As part of several communities dedicated to planning/bullet journaling, I see people just joining in, looking to know what they need to know about this passion. So their questions were my inspiration for this article.
There are 3 things I wish somebody have told me before I started this journey:
How to find the type of notebook and paper that suits me
All that is beautiful is not necessary beautiful for me
Budgeting
1. I love agendas: buying, receiving or window shopping for them. Some of the ones I have are new - untouched. I love them but can find their use in a way that will serve my needs. In order to understand what you can use - try to see if one that is with plain papers where you can write down and design your own might provide a support. Or maybe like me - because you like to move things around the rings model (Filofax) could be a good choice, because you can always add more paper to them. After jumping ships several time a decision was made at the beginning of the year - no more clean agendas so I started gifting the ones that were new to friends, and only kept whose that have my plans.
Now about the paper - color and type (craft, absorbant or shiny) it is a personal choice, as well as the gsm (grams per square meter) - just try your favorite pen on the paper you want to use and see what is the reaction - it runs smooth without leaking or bleeds on the other side? Then perfect - if not…think if you can change the pen or maybe search for a thinker paper. NB: If you want to draw and use alcohol markers or water based paint then you will need at least 160 gsm. I use 80 gsm so for me only some markers work and less water for my watercoloring :)
2. The artistic part of the bullet journal movement encourages you to use stickers, draw or paint. Though the purpose of the journal is to support your productivity. But you can use it as you see it fit for your needs. You will see some amazing pieces of art as a bullet journal, that will inspire you or maybe make you doubt your ability. Just try and see what happens, use what inspires you, you don’t have to write tons in it even if you are only using the journaling part, not the productivity. I bought stickers, stamps and a lot of stencils - that I barely use. I wish somebody have told me that even if I go artistic I can use whatever I have, I don’t need so spend so much money on things that are now in a box where I keep my markers and washi tapes….
3. Yes, money! Bullet journaling can become a black hole in your budget. After taking into account the amounts of money I had spent in the past 4 years on things for the journal - almost had a heart attack. So now I have 200 euros buget per year to buy ”necessities” for my planner. I do have tones of markers, pens, crayons and paint that I can use, so any design I want to draw the materials are already in my possession.
So before starting this journey think:
- is a paper planning solution something that you really need?
- can you do this without compare yourself to others and don’t let your saboteurs work?
- is this something that will serve you?
If yes, then go wild and let me know how is working out for you from time to time :) If no, maybe try something else.
