BuJo, Journaling and Me

Oh, how I want 2019 to be the year I embrace journaling.

I have 4 goals in the pipeline for 2019 and journaling is one of them, one of the two mindful habits that I am in earnest hoping to adopt.

Knowing myself and how I have difficulty adding any new habits to my routine (particularly mindful habits) I chose to start a Bullet Journal thinking I would have more success approaching this goal from a more practical and business-like POV.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Bullet Journal it's best described by Ryder Carroll, its creator, on the website as "a mindfulness practice disguised as a productivity system. It's designed to help you organize your what while you remain aware of your why. The goal of the Bullet Journal is to help its practitioners (bullet journalists) live intentional lives, ones that are productive and meaningful."

As a productivity specialist I am always looking for and trying new apps and new systems to see how they operate and what problems they solve. I have always worked both analog and digital systems in tandem and I proved to myself to be a perfect example of how writing things down helped me remember things, whereas typing did not. Couple that realization with my experiences working with successful executives who all continued to write things done convinced me that 2019 would be the year for me to transition over to an analog (or handwritten) task management system. My end-goal was to get institute a mindfulness to my daily routine and that by reaching for my Bullet Journal for tasks and notes ... my reflections and journal entries would follow with ease.

I'm here to tell you that it's not as easy as it seems and the Bullet Journal is not the issue. The book The Bullet Journal Method, the website, the Facebook page, the Instagram page, etc. all point you to the right direction with examples, pictures and tutorials, I was not lacking in support. The problem was that it was a very uncomfortable change for me, both transitioning my wonderful digital task management system and adding in a daily mindfulness practice. It wasn't long before I put everything aside completely. I was struggling and overwhelmed by trying to do too much all at once.

The difference between this year and past years is that this time I put my goal aside, I did not kill it. I took the time to look at the experience, to re-evaluate my goal and I will take a second stab at it. This time I will leave my digital task management where it is (with my beloved Todoist) and have found a small notebook to use as my journal.

Starting small is still where it's at ....