By: MaryRose Cobarde Candare
Do not be put off by its name. It is nowhere near violent. Rapid is simply what it signifies – quick and easy list-making. Tagged as the analog system for the digital age, bullet journaling is traditional daily planning with a twist.
A good notebook is all you need to map out your days, weeks, months and even years. You would find ample online resources that could guide you in transforming your unsophisticated sheets into a booklet of achievement.
Structured
Your little handy assistant is organized into Daily Log, Monthly Log, and Future Log. This allows you to assign a timeframe to complete a variety of things ranging from mundane routines to long-term plans.
Classified To-Do’s
This type of diary allows you to categorize your entries into either tasks or events. To create a sense of priority, you may add a signifier – a symbol or a code or a cutie mark if your little daughter should suggest. This way you stay on track of urgent and important issues and keep them under your radar.
Result-Oriented
Yes, much like a book, there is the topic or contents page which gives you a sense of order in terms of entries you create. Page numbers allow you to easily find days to review; to revisit plans vis-à-vis accomplishments in the recent past, organize (or re-organize) the critical present, and plan the near future.
Journaling in this way does not stop at listing to-do items as they cross your mind. Part of its design compels you to regularly return to your list not only to see what is left to do but to assess if they remain worth doing at all. Here you will encounter the idea of task migration. Sounds big but it simply means moving unaccomplished tasks to the next day or week or month but only after considering their necessity.
Flexible and fast
Nothing is written on a tablet. This is particularly true for this quick planning guide. Entries are flexible and open to be revised and updated as necessary.
Why bother with such detailed lists you ask? Well unless you are cruising along mentally-managing your shopping lists; ongoing classes; doctor’s appointments; bill due dates; meal plans; work deadlines; weight loss targets, bucket lists and the like, you need to pick up that pen and write. While you’re at it, keep it clear and orderly. Short and simple. Helpful and hassle-free. Set aside a time (or two) of day to write and revisit your journal.
Creative and Self-Affirming
Many people suggest that mothers have an almost biological destiny to be frantically busy and systematically in disarray. No one would disagree that motherhood is an enterprise all its own. However, confusion and chaos need not be a generic component of the picture. Creating an evolving daily, monthly and even yearly journal in day-tight compartments is your way of gaining and maintaining control of how you spend your time and energy. And what’s more, it is customizable. So, let it reflect you. Write it for yourself. Add motivational quotes on the margins of the pages. Draw your favorite objects. You may even stick photos of your muses to keep inspiration constant.
Planner of a Higher Level
The list might suggest how busy you are or would like to be but reviewing and updating the journal would reveal the extent to which you were productive. It shows what things are important to you and what your deepest desires are. Important things that you put off would (and should) keep reappearing until they are done. Then you know for sure that they are truly must do’s.
Productive and Efficient Minus Gadgets
Millennial moms are quickly running out of strategies for efficiency that does not involve gadgets and electronic fixes. Journaling is as conventional as you’re going to get moving towards the back-break speed of things.
Beyond Basic Benefits
Let’s face it. Despite our strongest and enlightened intentions, we tend to easily fall victim to the flow, the rush, the race that is daily living. Our saner dreams and sacred plans are often the first to go. Your bullet journal could actually take on a more profound character when you consider the belief that dreams, once written down, become plans. And plans are doable. They have a schedule.
Write as you go. Rewrite if you must; not fixated on certain-looking success but on significant progress – the trying and honest efforts day by day.
More than a memory helper and a handy organizer, your bullet journal is a testament to your yearning and striving; a quick reminder of what’s truly important to you and those you love.
MaryRose Cobarde Candare or MaryMom as she is fondly called by family and friends is a hands-on, working mother of 2 harmonizing her love for her children with her passion for writing and teaching as forms of service to others.
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