bullet journalling, two and a half months in

[a notebook page decorated with watercolour British butterflies washi tape, titled "March", with lists of seeds as need planting and long-term projects I want to advance this month]

Back in about October, I realised that I was coming to the end of the notebook I've been using since 2011 for, well, a bit of everything (lab notes, lecture notes, poetry, therapy notes, thoughts about books, meals out, shopping lists, med logs, sketching out the arrangement of furniture in new flats, BSL class...), and coaxed myself into buying A New One to continue in... and at the same time coaxed myself into acquiring a ridiculous frivolous self-indulgence with dot-grid pages.

I also discovered that the Staedtler Triplus Fineliners I'd been coveting for many a long year were available in a pack of 60 from Ryman's with a significant discount.

And then I sort of queried the ether about What This Bullet-Journalling Thing Is, Anyway, and lo did celeloriel answer! Two introductions I found particularly useful: Bullet Journaling for Beginners (and Impatient, Unartistic People Like Me) and Finally Understand How to Keep a Bullet Journal (content note for a dizzying glimpse of an alternate universe from the Before Times in that second link). I also particularly appreciated Thorough Guide to the Bullet Journal System (content note for intentional weight loss) and, for a specific approach to keeping a record of Matters Upcoming, Future Log: The Alastair Method.

In practice, for me, the bit of bullet journalling that is New And Useful is the approach to keeping organised todo lists where every single item can be ticked off -- in a meaningful fashion! -- at the end of the day/week/month. The thing that makes this Work, and that makes it work for me, is the concept of using multiple kinds of tick-mark -- half-crosses for half-done, arrowheads for "scheduled for A Point In Time" and "migrated to A New List", strikethrough for "in fact I've realised I don't care that much about this any more". Scheduling I already had in Google Calendar (because that's how lab space and mass spec time are booked in my research group), and the "rapid log" I already had in the form of my tada lists.

What I didn't have, though, was todo lists that were working for me, in terms of "possible to look at without being overwhelming" and "possible to keep track of" and "such that I ever remember to look at them".

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Short version: I am getting on very well with the decidedly-modified system I'm circling around settling on. It's a somewhat more structured version of things I was doing already, in ways that I find helpful. And, as a bonus, I am very much enjoying the small indulgences of zoological and botanical art, and tactile notebook, and bright colours.

And even, this past month, I have managed to mostly avoid dripping water from my hydration device all over the pages covered in water-based inks! Long may this continue.