JoFo BuJo!
As part of my efforts to be more comfortable writing, I began keeping a written to-do list book at work soon after taking up fountain pens. This worked really well for me -- I enjoyed the act of writing, so I had some motivation to keep the list up to date. It was a little haphazard, though, in terms of keeping up on things that didn't get done, scheduling tasks more than a day in advance, and that kind of thing. I figured that maybe I should get something like a planner, see how that worked.
While looking around at planners, I found some folks talking about Bullet Journals.
In (relatively) brief terms, you take any notebook you like, and put an index in the front (usually two or three pages). Using the default setup, the next 4 pages are a "Future Log" where you have about a third of a page for each month for long-term events and tasks. Then comes two pages for the first month of the log -- on the left is a calendar (classically, just a list of the days in the month) for scheduling events, and on the right is a list of tasks that need to get done for the month. Starting on the next page is the first daily to-do list, and you take up as much space for each day as you need. If there's something you want to get done on that first day, you put it on the daily task list. If you just know it has to get done that month, you put it on the monthly task list. If you know the date, put it on the monthly calendar. If it's in three months, put it in the Future Log box for that month. There are various notations for different ways of handling stuff on the daily task list; put a ">" next to it if you've moved it forward to a future day's list (if, say, there was something on Monday's list that didn't get done on Monday, you can recopy it to Tuesday); put a "<" next to it if it was scheduled on the calendar or just back on the monthly task list.
The neat thing about a Bullet Journal, though, is that if you feel like it, you can flip to the first empty page and use it for whatever. (These are generically called "Collections".) Want to start keeping a "Books To Read" list? Flip to a new page, put the heading on, and write the page number and heading in the Index. Yes, that will break up your daily task lists -- but as everything is in the Index, you don't lose things. Have a new project that should get its own page? Flip to the first open page and start it. If that page fills up and you still have more for the project, flip to the next free page and continue the project notes on that page. Note on the first project page what page it continues on, and keep the Index up to date.
I liked that -- one book can keep my to-do lists, monthly calendars and due dates, project/meeting notes, whatever. So, just needed a couple of notebooks (one for work, one for home). For preference, notebooks with a lot of pages; by necessity, notebooks that work well with fountain pens.
I ended up going with a Leuchtturm 1917 for my home Bullet Journal; the guy who made up the method used a Leuchtturm 1917 (though I think he used the dot-grid rather than the graph), so it's a classic option. The paper is great for fountain pens, though if I'm honest, the 5mm rule is a tiny bit cramped -- I like a 1.1mm stub nib for my pen, and that puts down a fairly broad line.
I happened upon the book I'm using for work, an Eccolo World Traveler, on sale at Staples. It's a fair bit larger than the Leuchtturm, but the lines are wider, so it's not as cramped. The paper is quite good, and (like the Leuchtturm) it's got 249 pages, so I'm not worried about running out of pages any time soon. The cover feels very solid, and for $7, it was quite a bargain all around. (I may pick up one or two more while the sale is still on.)
So, we'll see how it goes.
While looking around at planners, I found some folks talking about Bullet Journals.
In (relatively) brief terms, you take any notebook you like, and put an index in the front (usually two or three pages). Using the default setup, the next 4 pages are a "Future Log" where you have about a third of a page for each month for long-term events and tasks. Then comes two pages for the first month of the log -- on the left is a calendar (classically, just a list of the days in the month) for scheduling events, and on the right is a list of tasks that need to get done for the month. Starting on the next page is the first daily to-do list, and you take up as much space for each day as you need. If there's something you want to get done on that first day, you put it on the daily task list. If you just know it has to get done that month, you put it on the monthly task list. If you know the date, put it on the monthly calendar. If it's in three months, put it in the Future Log box for that month. There are various notations for different ways of handling stuff on the daily task list; put a ">" next to it if you've moved it forward to a future day's list (if, say, there was something on Monday's list that didn't get done on Monday, you can recopy it to Tuesday); put a "<" next to it if it was scheduled on the calendar or just back on the monthly task list.
The neat thing about a Bullet Journal, though, is that if you feel like it, you can flip to the first empty page and use it for whatever. (These are generically called "Collections".) Want to start keeping a "Books To Read" list? Flip to a new page, put the heading on, and write the page number and heading in the Index. Yes, that will break up your daily task lists -- but as everything is in the Index, you don't lose things. Have a new project that should get its own page? Flip to the first open page and start it. If that page fills up and you still have more for the project, flip to the next free page and continue the project notes on that page. Note on the first project page what page it continues on, and keep the Index up to date.
I liked that -- one book can keep my to-do lists, monthly calendars and due dates, project/meeting notes, whatever. So, just needed a couple of notebooks (one for work, one for home). For preference, notebooks with a lot of pages; by necessity, notebooks that work well with fountain pens.
I ended up going with a Leuchtturm 1917 for my home Bullet Journal; the guy who made up the method used a Leuchtturm 1917 (though I think he used the dot-grid rather than the graph), so it's a classic option. The paper is great for fountain pens, though if I'm honest, the 5mm rule is a tiny bit cramped -- I like a 1.1mm stub nib for my pen, and that puts down a fairly broad line.
I happened upon the book I'm using for work, an Eccolo World Traveler, on sale at Staples. It's a fair bit larger than the Leuchtturm, but the lines are wider, so it's not as cramped. The paper is quite good, and (like the Leuchtturm) it's got 249 pages, so I'm not worried about running out of pages any time soon. The cover feels very solid, and for $7, it was quite a bargain all around. (I may pick up one or two more while the sale is still on.)
So, we'll see how it goes.