Showing posts with label Bullet Journal. Show all posts

10 Myths About Bullet Journals

  
🇬🇧 You can believe me when I tell you I have been Bullet Journaling for a long time. By a long time, I mean longer than Amanda RachLee herself, I remember when the Queen of Bullet Journals started her first one. Since then, the community has exploded, more people started bullet journaling and it became something way different from the original idea which includes only a pen and a random notebook. Nowadays you will find the most various types of products marketed as Bullet Journal supplies, you will find a whole youtube niche related to Bullet Journals and it can be daunting even for someone who has done it for as long as I am. For today's post, I thought it would be interesting, as the least artsy person on this planet, to share 10 myths about Bullet Journaling.


🇵🇹 Podem acreditar quando digo que já ando nisto dos Bullet Journal à muito tempo. Por muito tempo quero dizer mais do que a própria Amanda RachLee (que para quem não conhece é a rainha de Bullet Journaling), ainda me lembro quando ela começou o seu primeiro BuJo.  Desde então a comunidade explodiu, cada vez mais pessoas ficaram a conhecer o método de organização criado por Ryder Carroll e este ganhou proporções completamente diferentes das originais, que incluía apenas um caderno e uma caneta.
Hoje em dia existe toda uma categoria de produtos cujo marketing é feito como Bullet Journal Supplies, existe um nicho na youtube relacionado com este tópico e pode ser intimidante até mesmo para alguém que faz isto à tanto tempo quanto eu. No post de hoje pensei que seria interessante desmistificar 10 mitos sobre Bullet Journals.



🇬🇧  1. You have to be artsy... As I said, I am the least artsy person on the planet and I have been bullet journaling for almost 10 years. You don't need to know how to draw or amazing coloring skill. I have tried in the past to draw (something I am terrible at) simply because of the pressure of the internet but at the end of the day that is not what bullet journaling is about.

🇵🇹 1. Tens de ser artsy... Caso não saibam eu sou a pessoa menos artsy à face da Terra, simplesmente não tenho jeito, mas tenho um BuJo hà quase 10 anos. Não tens de saber desenhar nem pintar. No passado já tentei desenhar para o meu Bullet (sem grande sucesso) por pura pressão da restante comunidade, mas no final de contas isso não é parte essencial do method.


🇬🇧  2. You need the fanciest notebooks or pens... You really don't. I started bullet journaling with a lined notebook and a blue BIC pen. No Leuchtturm notebook (even though that is the one I use nowadays), no fancy pens, nothing but a blue pen and a regular notepad. If you want to start my best advice is, grab a notebook, explore the method and figure out if it works for you before you spend a bunch of money on supplies.

🇵🇹 2. O importante são as canetas ou cadernos mais caros... De todo... Quando eu comecei tinha uma caneta azul da BIC e um caderno de capa preta. Nada de Leuchtturm (apesar de ser o que eu uso hoje em dia), nada de canetas fancy. Se queres começar o meu melhor conselho é que peguem num caderno qualquer e explorem o método antes de gastarem imenso dinheiro em materiais.


🇬🇧  3. You can't use it simply to-do lists... The secret about bullet journaling is that you can use it for whatever you want. If to-do lists are what works better for you, you don't need to waste time with weekly or monthly spreads. For me, personally, weakly and monthly spreads are what works best, but the magic about the Bullet Journal Method is that is completely customizable. 

🇵🇹 3. Não se podem fazer só listas de tarefas... Esse é o segredo do Bullet Journal, podem usa-lo para o que quer que seja! Se listas de tarefas são o que melhor funciona enquanto método de organização, não precisam de perder tempo a fazer spreads semanais ou mensais. No meu caso as spreads semanais e mensais são o que fucniona melhor mas é muito raro fazer um daily log. A magia deste método é essa mesmo, pode ser costumizado às necessidades de cada um. 


🇬🇧  4. What works for me has to work for you... You can watch/read as much content about bullet journal spreads as you like, but at the end of the day, the whole point is that you can cater your journal to fit your life and your needs perfectly.  

🇵🇹 4. O que funciona para mim também tem de funcionar para ti... Podem consumir todo o conteúdo de Bullet Journaling que quiserem, mas no fim de contas o objectivo é que o método funcione para as necessidades de cada um, sem verdades absolutas.


🇬🇧  5. You need a lot of supplies... As I said before, you only need a pen. I do use a few highlighter pens, and an eraser tape but I don't have the cult Tombow Pens, I barely use washi tapes, and, generally, I can do my spreads with a ruler and my trusty uni-ball black pen.

🇵🇹 5. É preciso imensos materiais... Tal como já disse só faz falta uma caneta. Eu, para além disso, uso sublinhadores coloridos, corrector, régua e pouco mais. Não tenho as Tombow, umas canetas que são quase sinónimo de BuJo, quase não uso washi tapes e, regra geral, consigo criar qualquer spread com uma régua e a minha fiel caneta preta da Uni-ball.


🇬🇧  6. It has to be perfect...  It really doesn't. I am a perfectionist at heart, but bullet journaling has taught me that done is better than perfect, always. 

🇵🇹 6. Tem de ser perfeito... De todo. Eu sou super perfeccionista, mas se há coisa que aprendi com o meu Bullet é que feito é melhor que prefeito, sempre.


🇬🇧  7. You need to learn how to do calligraphy... I must confess I try to do different types of lettering and to embellish my BuJo with pretty looking notes, but I don't know how to properly do calligraphy, I don't aim to learn it, it's something a lot of people associate with bullet journaling but it is not essential. 

🇵🇹 7. Tens de saber fazer caligrafia... Eu tento fazer tipos de lettering diferentes para decorar o meu BuJo, mas não sei fazer caligrafia, nem tenciono aprender. Apesar de ser algo que muita gente associa com Bullet Journal não é de todo um essencial.


🇬🇧  8. There are rules you need to follow... Bullet Journaling is a method, yes, but, as time has passed I realized what works for me and what doesn't. Nowadays I don't do a kye, something that is part of the original method, I've never done the daily spreads, habit trackers are not something I've struggled with and I'm still trying to adapt and so on. My best advice is, do what works for you.

🇵🇹 8.  Existem regras... Um Bullet Journal é, em última instância, um método, mas com o passar do tempo fui percebendo quais as "regras" que faziam sentido usar para mim. Hoje em dia não faço uma chave / kye, algo que é parte essencial dos método original, nunca fiz daily spreads, habit trackers so algo que ando a explorar ainda, e por ai fora. O melhro conselho? Façam o que resulta para vocês.


🇬🇧  9. It is a big commitment... Well, I understand why it may seem, but I wouldn't call it a commitment, I've had months in the past in which I didn't bullet journal at all, I don't do it every day, and that's ok. What I love most about bullet journaling is the fact that you are free to do it how and when you like, with no absolute rules.

🇵🇹 9. É um grande compromisso... Apesar de perceber perfeitamente o porquê de acharem isso não é necessariamente verdade. Às vezes passos meses sem tocar no meu BuJo, outras vezes uso-o todos os dias (mas a maior parte dos dias não). O que eu mais gosto neste método de organização é o facto de cada um ser livre de fazer o que querem, sem qualquer tipo de regras.


🇬🇧 10. A dotted notebook is a must-have... As I said earlier in this post I didn't have a dotted journal. I started with a regular notebook, then I wanted to do some spreads that involved grids so I used to cut pieces of gridded paper and glued them to my notebooks, it wasn't until my third Bullet Journal that I invested in a dotted Moleskine and nowadays I always do it in a Leuchtturm and I always go for dotted, but I know a lot of people who prefer gridded notebooks or blank ones. 

🇵🇹 10.  É obrigatório ter um caderno pontilhado... Como já disse neste post, quando comecei tinha um caderno pontilhado, na verdade não sabia sequer que cadernos pontilhados existiam. Quando queria fazer spreads com tabelas ou algo do género usava folhas de papel quadriculado cortava e colava. Só lá para o meu terceiro BuJo é que decidi investir num Moleskine pontilhado e hoje em dia uso sempre o famoso Leuchtturm 1917 pontilhado mas sei que há que prefira um caderno liso ou quadriculado.


  ðŸ‡¬ðŸ‡§ And here they are... the 10 myths I wanted to break about bullet journaling. Remember that you only need a pen, a notebook, and some research to start. You can adapt the method fully well to your needs and, if nothing else, you will have a lot of fun doing it.

🇵🇹 E pronto... aqui estão os 10 mitos sobre bullet journaling que eu queria contestar neste post. Lembrem-se que tudo o que precisam é de uma caneta, um caderno  e alguma pesquisa. Podem adaptar o método totalmente ás vossas necessidades e eu prometo que se vão divertir a experimentar este método único de organização.

How I Plan Planning 2019 : My Bullet Journal


I'm starting to feel like a pro at the art of Bullet Journaling. I've been keeping a BuJo since I was in 11th grade and it has become more and more my creative outlet. I love the method because it allows me to be as creative as I want to, without the added pressure of failing or doing it wrong,  because there are no rules. Deep down, and if you want to be part of the Bullet Journal community you need nothing more than a pen and a notebook, by following the method you will be creating your own planner, something that is 100% adapted to your needs. If 2019 is the year you are starting to Bullet Journal I would recommend you to find any notebook you already own and try the method first, no need for fancy pens or fancy notebooks. I only committed to a Leuchtturm or a Moleskin after 3 years of using the method. 
In my opinion and with the crazy amount of content that it is available online on the topic I think it's important to leave a few reminders, especially, if you have been wanting to try it but you feel like you can't because you are not artsy enough. 


I suck at drawing, however, and because this is my main creative outlet in a physical form, I like to try a few header designs and a few different caligraphies when writing quotes and things like that, however, this is not needed. You can keep your spreads as simply as you want them, I personally think that the simplicity of some pages is what makes minimal Bullet Journals so pleasing to look at. 
2019, however, will bring a bit of a change when it comes to how I plan. I decided that this year I wanted to use my iPhone a bit more as a planner and for that, I am using nothing more than the calendar app on it. I've started creating time blocks so that I can have a full view of what my day looks likes since I wake up until I go to bed, this will help me keep on track of stuff when I am on the go and can't take my Bullet Journal with me. I've color coordinated everything with pastel colors so that it looks organized and at the same time it matches my Stabilo Boss Pastel Highlighters that I use in the kye of my Bullet Journal, this is how both my digital and my physical planning methods come together. 
Another helpful thing I've started doing was to always braindump everything into my notes app, this way when I am planning a month I already know what blog posts I want to create or what movies I want to go to the cinema and watch. This way I can always be organized and I am not 100% dependent on either method. 


Since December that I've been planning more and more following this coordination of digital and physical forms, and I have been truly loving it. After so many years of having a BuJo as my only planning form, this feels revigorating and it made me excited again to use the notebook as my planing method. 
Right now my main supplies are a Leuchtturm 1917 grey notebook (I parted ways with the official BuJo notebook because I fancied a different color and the main advantage in the original one for me was that the pages were numbered, which also are in this one). And I use a regular bullet point black pen from Bic. I also use the Stabilo Boss Pastel Highlighters and a ruler (which is more often than not replaced by a card) and nothing else, I keep it simple and that is the way it works best for me. However, this method is so personal that a very high maintenance super fancy BuJo might be what works for you.
Don't forget to read Ryder Carroll website in which he explains every step of the method he created. I will be reading his new book on it this year as well!
If you want to check my 2018 and my 2017 Bullet Journals feel free to go back and visit those posts!

New Year; New Bullet Journal || Lifestyle


HAPPY NEW YEAR! This year one of my resolutions was to get more organized when it came to the blog, for that I can always count on my Bullet Journal! Once my previous BuJo posts did really well here on the blog, I decided that this year I am going to share more of my Bullet. I already have a post planned in which I'm going to share all the collections I've put up and share my thoughts on the official Bullet Journal Notebook, but in this post I just want to share my doodles (yes I doodle something for the first time in my life and I am more them proud!) and what the theme of my January 2018 spreads!
Btw if you don't know anything about bullet journals what so ever, you must check my first post on this subject! (you will also be able to have a look at my 2017 BuJo).


So as I said before, the notebook I am using this month is the Leuchtturm1917 Official Bullet Journal Notebook. This wasn't  planned, but when I was shopping for some Christmas presents and I found this precious little thing there. I must say I didn't even know they soled this in store in Portugal, and I had really low hopes of ever getting the official thing but I did and I still can't believe it! I love how the pages are numbered and how the BuJo system is already predefined, ending up saving me a long time when I was setting up the pages (but that is subject to my next Bullet Journal post). 
The pens I've been using are the Zig Art and Graphic Twin pens. I own 3 colors of this pens and at the moment I think they are enough, they are not the best to do calligraphy with but they are really nice to draw, paint and write with once they have not only a brush tip but also a regular felt tip.


January 2018 will mark the year I tried drawing in my Bullet for the first time. Drawing has always been something I love to do but something I am terrible at, at the same time. I never thought that I would adventure myself into drawing something (regardless of how simple it seamed in something that I am as perfectionist with as my Bullet Journal). I am so glad I did. Even though the drawing I created was totally inspired by the Bullet Journal Queen Amanda RachLee  December spreads I still had the balls to do it myself and to draw something I can actually say I am proud of. 
With this, I want to leave you my first piece of advice of the year: If you want to try something, just do it, instead of being afraid of failing and too scared to even try. Challenge yourself.


All my other spreads of the month remain the same. I am doing a monthly tracker in which I am going to write down all of the events that are happening in the month.
I'm going to keep tracking my habits in my Habit Tracker. You can use this to track anything, from reading a book to post on social media. I personally prefer to use my habit tracker in order to track healthy habits and if I want to track social media (which I might start doing, even though I am not sure yet) I will create something similar but focused only on the number of posts I do in a month and how many Instagrams I put up.
To track my expenses I did an Expense Tracker, the only little thing that changed is that I decided to use the top of the page to do a little budget but as the year goes I hope I can find a few more elaborate spreads when it comes to tracking money. 


Another of my new year resolutions was to be more organized when it came to the blog (and no, I am not doing a post on my resolutions because I did a post on things I want to achieve before turning 21 last month). To achieve my goal I knew I had to be able to plan ahead. I'm proud to announce that January 2018 marks the first month in my history as I blogger in which I have managed to plan a whole month worth of blog posts ahead of time, I hope this will guarantee that we will have new and fresh content up every Monday-Wednesday-Friday by 9AM GMT!


Basically, these are all the changes I made in my new Bullet Journal. I must say that I am very proud of this one is turning out. I love how organized I feel and if you decided to use this post as inspiration feel free to send me pictures on Twitter or Instagram @annesperks.

My Bullet Journal Spreads, un update || Lifestyle


Back in June, I've done a post about the whole Bullet Journal thing, and once that is still to date one of my most read posts, I decided to share a bit more about my BuJo today. I'm going to focus on the spreads I've designed for the month of November and share with you a more specific post, that is focused only on one month instead of the whole journal. 


Once I didn't set up a Future Log at the beginning of the year (something that for sure will change in my 2018 BuJo) I always use my laptop calendar app to plan events and mark important date ahead, so when it comes to setting up a month the first thing that I do is opening my calendar so that I can see everything that has to be added to my monthly log, which is still the only one I use. 



One of the first things I do is set up my monthly header, and once I can't draw basically anything I always go for the same kind of calligraphy. Something that changed, however, is the fact that since October I am only using one color per month which makes it a lot easier and in my opinion, a lot prettier as well. One of my most recent investments for my Bullet, and also for my school was the full set of the Stabilo Boss Pastel Highlighter and I couldn't be happier with them. All the colors look so cute and beautiful and I can't wait to use them more and more.


Another little thing that changed was my blogging planning setup. I now do it all together with my monthly log because I find it easier to keep track of things, also once I launched on youtube it's a great thing I did this because now I can finally be on track of what I have to plan (getting a separate notebook for blogging to do's really helped  as well, but that can be another post on its own). I really think that keeping this log on the same page as my monthly log it helps when it comes to deciding what content to put up on each day, for exemple if I have an extra busy week with school I won't  be doing really complex posts or posts that require specific kinds of pictures. It also helps when it comes to deciding what I need to do in advance. 


Last but not least, and because I'm a university student, I decided to create a mid-term studying schedule in which I plan what hours of my day should I spend studying outside classes. This as also helped me manage my time to blogging. Another thing I added to this page was a quote so that every time I open this page I feel motivated to stick to this schedule, instead of procrastinating like I do most days. 


And this is it guys, this is my favorite spreads for the month of November. I really am happy with the color scheme and with all my supplies. 
Once again if you want a deeper knowledge into my BuJo feel free to read the post in which I explain why this is the best organization system out there I really couldn't recommend it more. 


Bullet Journal: What is the fuss about || Lifestyle

WARNING: Before you read this post have yourself a read at the Bullet Journal website!

Bullet Journals a controversial topic. Some say that you need to be an artistic super hero kind of thing to start bullet journaling. I am here to tell you that is BS! ALL YOU NEED IS A PEN AND A NOTEBOOK! 
Obviously you can get as creative as you want but you can keep it simple and just use some basic materials.
I've been planing with the help of a BuJo for a few years but in the beginning of 2017 I made a commitment and I've been using my bullet more then ever.
Here is a list of my bullet essentials: 

                                                          -  Moleskine dotted notebook;
                                                           - Sharpie Stainless steel pen;
                                                           - Staples highlighters;
                                                            - Washi Tape (I normally get it from Tiger);



But why is a Bullet Journal the perfect planner?


Index:
This is a tool that most planners don't have. It might seem stupid at first but I go back to it every single day. It's also a great way to keep organized as the months go by.
You might want to get a numbered journal tho if you think that numbering the pages down yourself is something you don't want to do!



Key:
Another tool that might be weird to most people, but having a key is a super easy way to put things down as you go, you will know what each color or icon means and it will make your life supper easy in the future.

Quotes:
I love to fill me Bullet with quotes that inspire me and keep me going, thing I want to keep in my mind this month. This one "Strive for progress not perfection" is in the beginning of my BuJo because I am super perfectionist and I tent to give up on things when they are not perfect, something I didn't want to do with this journal. 

Monthly/Weekly/Daily log:
I have tried it all and I found out that the only log that I really use is the monthly log. I keep two monthly logs, one for events, tasks and to dos and another one for blog posts. I love them both and even tho I set it up in two different parts of the journal sometimes I wish they were together but it's fine either way. 
Once in a while I do a weekly log or a daily log if a week or day are specially busy. 
As I said there are no rights or wrongs when it comes to your bullet journal, you do what works best for you!


A place to keep track of things:
I keep a monthly habit and social media tracker. I also keep track of my shade in different foundations, places I want to visit, TV shows I watch, etc. 
I love using my bullet to keep track of my life and have a diary of things that I wouldn't normally keep track of. It makes me feel organized and good about myself. I also makes me feel like I've achieved something every day or that I am working in the right way to achieve a goal. Trackers are not an essential part about a BuJo but are something that I would really recommend.


Where I store my best memories:
Sometimes all we need is a place where we can put movie tickets from that movie we went to see or souvenirs from our weekend get away. 
This is probably one of my favourite spreads in my BuJo. Here I have a little text with a few Polaroids and a bunch of tickets from my trip to Porto in February. 
Even though I'm thinking about creating a travel diary I will always keep track of good memories in my Bullet so that I can look back at in one day and feel the joy I felt when I was in those places.
The fact that I can keep that in my everyday planner is absolutely amazing.


If you, just like many people, were looking for my thoughts on the Bullet Journal I hope this post was informative enough. I really recommend this organizational method. It works wonders at least for me. If you have any questions I will be more then glad t answer them.