I’m not gonna lie, I really started missing my rings. Not because there was something wrong with the system or the notebook, but because at heart I’m a rings girl. I don’t think I can totally abandon rings. But this has been a great experiment. I have always struggled to do daily pages, and now I could! And I feel this was because I was doing this in a bound book in which I had no fear of making mistakes, and no pressure to make it look pretty or tidy. So I hope to be able to transfer/add this into my system. Speaking of which, what are the various aspects of the Bullet Journal Method that will be staying, going, or changing moving on?
Monthly layout: I always thought that I could not handle using the BJ monthly layout. Maybe it worked this time because I wasn’t so busy. I will definitely be more open now to these types of monthly layouts. The monthly to-do list is definitely a keeper. Each week had a different colour highlighter and I highlighted the task or project in the coordinating colour of the week that I completed it. This way I can see not only what I completed but in which week. I really liked how that turned out and want to try this in a ringed planner.
Habit/Task tracker: Again, usually I’m not so great at keeping up with habit trackers, especially when its in the monthly layout. To be honest, I wasn’t all that great at it this time round either but I was better than previous attempts. I think this was because I was regularly going back to that spread. I will once again try to use a monthly tracker in rings, but I will also make a tracker in my weekly/daily pages. This I definitely need for reminding me to do some recurring tasks.
Index: I never used it. There were only a few pages that I would return to and I used washi tape or page markers to find those pages easily. Perhaps I will find the need for it moving on…but still…I don’t know. Maybe I’m to lazy to make an index hahaha. I just feel like its time consuming. It doesn’t feel natural for me to make one…unless I call it a context page…actually that sounds much nicer. It may be useful for my collections… As you can see, I’m torn about this. :p
Collections: This will basically become the list section of my planner that I hardly ever referenced, but still found useful. I prefer collections/ lists in rings than in a bound book as it’s easier to find. As I said before, I used page flags to mark the different lists in the notebook, but I wasn’t a huge fan of it. It works, but I can’t remember which colour is for which list so I end up flicking through anyway. I think I would prefer using labelled tabs for easy reference in a ring planner, which probably negates the need for an index/contents page…
Rapid Log: or what I like to call the bread and butter of bullet journalling. I like that I can just write whatever comes to mind without thinking of where I have to put it. Its kinda like a daily on-going brain-dump area. I write it down and sort it out later. And when I look back, I can easily recognise what type of notes I have written. Love it! I also liked just using the next available space to start a list or brainstorm an idea or project (which I will now then transfer to the appropriate section of my ring planner). Now the question is, will this work in a ring planner or should I just stick to using my notebook? I think I will experiment with both next month and find out what works best for me.
Bullets and Signifiers: I didn’t use the signifiers exactly as the book says. In the book a (o) is an event which is described as an experience, and a (-) is a note which is information that you don’t want to forget. This can be a fact, idea, thought or observation. However, sometimes I get confused as to when to use which bullet because I feel that sometimes notes and events can intertwine. For example, if I received an online order, I could enter it as an event because it’s an experience, but I could also enter it as a note that yes, the package got delivered on that day. Is this something that confuses other people or is it just me? Perhaps I’m missing something. In any case, I have my own key and other signifiers that I think will work for me better in the long run.
Random Pastimes of a Restless Mind 
With regard to events and notes, my interpretation would be that an event is an appointment and a note isn’t. Using your example of a parcel – if you are adding it to your daily list at the beginning of the day, noting that the parcel is due that day (perhaps you need to wait in for the delivery) then it would be an event; however, if you are adding it at the end of the day in your review of the day and you just want to remind yourself that the parcel arrived that day you’d use the note indicator. For me there is more crossover between events and to-do items because, for example, if you plan to phone your sister for a chat, I’m not sure if I’d classify that as a to-do or an event.
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Thanks for your insight. In the book he wrote that an event could also be an appointment as well as an experience. I think he used the example of someone going on a date and then writing “factual notes” underneath to add more information about the experience. But I had not considered the timing of the written note/event (whether I’m writing before or after the fact), which clarifies things a bit more for me.
I agree that there is also cross over in to-do items and events. What I’ve told myself is that if it’s an action that I need to do, then it gets a to-do bullet. Thanks once again 🙂
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I know quite a few people don’t make an ‘index’ as the BuJo method calls it. If you ask me I’d say it’s not an index, it’s a list of contents. Generally, an index is organised (usually alphabetically) to help the reader find what they’re looking for quickly. I find listing the contents of the notebook becomes more valuable when there’s a lot in the notebook. My bullet journal notebooks fill up in around 6 months. The list of contents then becomes useful to find a collection I made a few months ago. Use colour and highlights to make important collections stand out in the list.
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Indeed that makes sense.
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