My Bullet Journal

 

In September of 2016 I wrote the first pages of my bullet journal after reading Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. It was a quick read that I read with some of my real estate team and I got a lot of out of the book. I tend to value productivity, which is something I learned from my parents, so this book with its ideas like "own your morning and you will own your day" resonated with me. 

 

My bullet journal is a living, breathing book that I use mostly for real estate, and does not replace my agenda (yes, that’s on paper too) or my travel planning book (also paper and holds the drafts of every trip I’ve created and/or taken plus future trips.)  It started with a Miracle Morning-inspired habit tracker based on my own version of S.A.V.E.R.S. and quickly evolved into notes and task lists…then kept evolving!

I have a creative side, so this fulfills that need with some colorful pages, some creative lettering, and a failed scrapbook-style page at the beginning (it really does not work in this book.) Visually, mine’s not interesting enough to share, but I know people who create absolutely lovely bullet journals. If you’re not familiar, a quick Google search will show you some brilliant journaling. As I love art supplies, I do have some high quality fine tip marker sets and what is left of my beloved vintage Venus Canada Laurentien, Berol Canadiana, Berol Canada Prismacolor, and the random Venus Paradise pencil crayons from my Canadian childhood (called colored pencils in the US, and now used sets go for high prices on ebay. Can we take a moment to appreciate how amazing these are?) Mostly though, I use black pen in my journal.

 

My pages are filled with notes from books and seminars, classes, webinars, & meetings. There are habit trackers (some successful and some not) and gratitude lists for when I needed them. There are big ideas, big questions and big goals. There are honest answers and accountability. There are reminders for self-care (because I’ve never been good at taking time for that.) There are affirmations. There are weekly, monthly, quarterly, and ambitious yearly business plans, marketing ideas, launch plans from we formed a team, then opened a new real estate brokerage, and years in review. It has become a resource that I turn back to often.

There are, as of right now, 182 pages of things that are (mostly) important to me and it’s all organized into one place. It’s not that I don’t love tech, but there is something about putting pen to paper that feels like more of a commitment to me in this case. Maybe it’s my homage to analog in today’s digital world. I always learned by writing things down back in school.

 

My journal of choice? The German-made Leuchtturm1917 A5 (medium sized) dot pages notebook. It is small enough to slide into all of my work bags, and keeps closed with elastic and has ribbon bookmarks. It’s very utilitarian looking, and I will absolutely be getting another one as I edge towards the last of the 249 pages of this one.

Are you a bullet journal enthusiast?