Have you heard of the bullet journaling craze? It’s a really popular thing right now. If you look on Pinterest and Instagram you will see beautiful journaling pages artfully designed and so creative. It can be overwhelming to look at because there are just so many different great ideas! I’m personally starting a bullet journal this year and I am so excited for it! I thought I could document my experience (perhaps in my bullet journal!) and let you know how I like using it and how somebody might adapt a bullet journal to use for their business.
What is a Bullet Journal?
If you Google “bullet journal” you may come up with many different definitions of what a bullet journal is. My definition is: “a blank journal to ‘brain dump’ into”. One important thing to bullet journaling is to have an index at the beginning of the journal and also to number all your pages. That way you can find your brain dump information after you jot it down. Often times people get really creative and draw and color things in as they go, in their bullet journal, but don’t feel like yours has to be beautiful. It’s for you, and it can be as creative or practical as you would like.
The term “journaling” might conjure up long and wordy paragraphs, but what is so great about bullet journaling – it can be whatever you want it to be! Generally, the bullet journaling style is “bullet points” of information or even just lists of things. This is nice because often times you may want to write out things to remember to do, but you don’t necessarily want to write out every little thing about it. And perhaps there is a special event that you want to actually write about, there’s room for that too.
There’s also something referred to as “collections” which are basically running lists. For example, a popular collection people choose is “Books to Read”. So as you hear about a book, you can add it to your list! This works for many things and as we are talking about using a bullet journal for your business you might choose a “Blog Ideas” Collection so as blog ideas come to you, you can just add them here.
What Do You Need to Start a Bullet Journal?
You don’t need much to start a bullet journal. You mostly need a nice journal, preferably one that lies flat when opened and is not spiral bound. Moleskine is a popular brand. I personally use MinimalismArt and I really love it. You want it to be either dotted paper or graph type paper, not traditionally lined. And a good pen or two! Get ready to have fun and be as creative or analytical as you want.
Why Bullet Journal?
This is an interesting topic because a lot of us in the field of accounting are very tech-friendly. We love computers, Google Sheets, Excel, and all the different apps that make our lives easier. Why step back in time and use a notebook?! I’m writing this as a 29-year-old Millenial that feels comfortable using apps and my computer to organize things. But as I mentioned in a previous blog I still love paper.
I can’t tell you why you might love bullet journaling, but I can tell you why I love it. I feel writing and drawing and making lists on paper (and checking them off) really helps me to be productive. Sometimes I feel that I have all these things floating around in my head. I have things I want to get done for the day, but if I don’t write them down (physically), I either forget them or feel like I’m forgetting something. I write a to-do list every day in my bullet journal and put a little checkbox next to it so when I have completed it. This makes me feel very accomplished and productive.
If you would rather use an electronic way to organize your thoughts then go right ahead! If you appreciate writing things down and still like using real paper – join me in the bullet journal movement!
Using Bullet Journaling for Business
I use my bullet journal mainly for personal use. I use it to track my expenses, to make daily to-do lists, meal plan, keep track of books I’m reading, shows that I want to watch etc. It’s my all-around list maker, life organizer, planner, and lifeline to sanity. But there are so many ways to adapt it to your business life. Here are a few ideas:
- Keep track of blog ideas
- Keep track of new client proposals
- Daily To-Do lists for work
- Job mapping for employees (what exactly they do, who do they work with etc)
- Financial goals
I hope you have enjoyed this post about bullet journaling. I hope you try it and you love it!