## 18 A new Bullet Journal
Since 2018, I've been using the bullet journal method. I won't go into the story behind it (search for Ryder Caroll), but I've been doing it for 5 years in my own way. It's a mixture of professional needs and personal ideas. I've tried a lot of things and the first idea was to replace some of the notes I had on my smartphone, and to be able to draw or write something I had in mind. As I was never in my office, I chose an A6 notebook: I can put it in my work trouser pocket. I can also put it in a bag or just on my small desk. It's perfect for taking notes when I'm trying out a new bench or creating a new method. I added a pen holder for a mechanical pencil and simply reinforced the edge of the book with woven tape. If you're not familiar with the method, it's a very personalized agenda and notebook with your own page numbering, your index, your categories, your legends, etc... Every bullet journal is different and I'm not a big fan of self-development or mental health check-ups. I've tried doing monthly track
ers, a kind of chart with goals... Not very efficient for me.
What is really good is to keep track of tasks to do. It's also very useful to keep data that you might need in your activities. You can write some reminders for standards or abbreviations, for calculations... But you can also take notes in a meeting if you need to write something different than with a PC or a smartphone. During my audits, it's very useful and... discreet. Everything worked for 2 or 3 years, but with my new schedule, working remotely, I needed something different. After 300 pages in the first notebook (they are often 192 pages if you buy a specific notebook), I created a new bullet journal in the same type of notebook (an A6 ZapBook by Clairefontaine on 80g recycled paper, difficult to find outside France). It's much better than a Moleskine, except that it has no 360° opening and no bookmark. I use a small piece of cardboard as a ruler and bookmark. I had copied some of the important notes from the old BuJo (the nickname for Bullet Journal). And I've done more drawings to illustrate my pages
I also abandoned the monthly to-do list for a yearly one (for very important things), and a weekly page with what I need to do at work and sometimes at home. A yearly calendar has been created just to show the main dates and themes.
And I've changed the way I use trackers to do that for a year on some important goals. We need goals and to see if something is going well, ... or not. At the moment it's not working because of ... uncertainties. That's life. I'm thinking about a different format for this notebook in the future. I love the small notebooks like the A6. But if I had a pocket, numbered pages or an index, a better pen holder, it might be a good thing. I had to give up my small A6 Filofax because it was too big and the pages were too small. Maybe one day I'll switch to a more expensive base. I've looked at the Midori Traveller's Notebook, but it's leather, it's too expensive and it's better for the page quality. I'm a big fan of Clairefontaine paper and maybe I'll find an alternative in some Rhodia notebooks. Or maybe in some English notebooks... At the moment I have 260 pages left to fill with notes, drawings, trackers, tables, reminders, poems, .... And maybe ideas for this blog?
After a month of the new version, I have made drawings between the page of notes and trackers, goals or important data. The ideas for the blog are rare and are sent to my email or in a markdown file created with Markor and sent to the server as a draft. I have a new pit pen to add color. The small notes are written with a pencil as a draft. I'm at the end of the second page of the index, so it will take at least 2 years. I don't know if it makes sense to keep the old Bullet Journal. It's sometimes funny to read or see what I wrote in those years and how I did it. But that's just for me, because it's so personal. A bullet journal is a mixture of a diary, an organiser, a notebook and a sketchbook. It's maybe a representative object of who you are, if you're serious about it. But I have seen a lot of people give it up.
2Dɛ
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