Being all over the place is nothing new for me, as most of you will know by now. Apart from some serious ADHD fuzzybrain issues, doing a lot of freelance work (mainly writing and editing) as well as (still) organizing a dissertation may add even more pressure to my already overwhelmed mind. Furthermore, I have so many ideas in my head, ideas for work writing, stories, what to read, which book to blog about, what to sew, and a lot more, that I often forget most of it and have neither the time nor the place to take a note…
Preferring to put my smartphone away on the weekends and when I’m off duty, I’m definitely the wrong one when it comes to productivity apps and the like. Best thing about phones is flight mode, worst the fact that you cannot turn them off and still use them as an alarm clock — but I digress … Not knowing where I put my phone half of the time I obviously need a calendar. I need a notebook. I WANT a notebook. And I could really need a personal assistant, but unfortunately I can’t afford one. So instead I decided to give the bullet journal another go, after a rather half-hearted attempt of creating one two years ago.
Second time’s a charm
After not succeeding last time I tried, I decided to go in 200% this second time around, even buying a new notebook dedicated to the renaissance of the bullet journal. The first time around I used an old notebook I bought years ago, which did not provide the best hardware and left me feeling rather underwhelmed by the results I got from my various layouts and doodles (a lot of ghosting, and also just plain paper, which in hindsight is not the best choice for a bujo). This time I bought a dotted Moleskine with roughly 200ish pages. Though I get some ghosting there too, it still provides a much better hardware for keeping and actually using the bullet journal …
My main goal this time around was to bring everything together in one place — not 15 different notebooks for different topics, but one notebook for everything, from my schedule to my to-do lists, my calendar, my diary, and my various list for books I want to get/read, stuff to cook, ideas for my blog and the like. Apart from all the notes for my thesis –— my thesis notebook is not yet full — it seems to work this time around, at least it has for the last two months (yeah I know, what a milestone, two months and counting …).
One for all
I even startedto include some serious doodling and coloring, though this is light-years away from all those sophisticated and beautiful bujo spreads one sees on Instagram and Pinterest. But that’s ok, I like trying my hand on doodling and some sort of hand lettering (or rather my interpretation of it) just for the fun of it.
I even got a section called “daily recap,” which I use for my journaling so I won’t need an additional diary anymore. And once my thesis notebook is full, I will include all my notes for my thesis project in my bujo, too. The big idea behind all this is to confine my chaotic state of mind and thought to one single notebook at a time so that I have one place to turn to to find my ideas, concepts, plans, memories, lists, and all that jazz. I got a vintage label maker to put the dates of the specific journal on the spine once it’s full, so I won’t get lost in various notebooks. So for now, it seems like a pretty good idea, and it feels like it’s a good way to tackle my ADHD state of mind…
At least in theory. August is my third month with this new system of mine, I started my current bujo in early June. For the last three months I tried some layouts, trying what works for me and what not, which design I like to create regularly and draw and what is simply too arduous to do every month. I still experiment with some stuff — trying to keep a gratitude log has not worked that well overall, though I think it’s useful and important for someone like me. The spending log too has not worked out as planned, but I guess some things need time to get used to, so I will continue to include one in my monthly layouts for some time to come. Overall I love my new approach — using the bujo as a diary and a work notebook makes a lot of things easier and motivates me to write much more in general.
Let’s see how it works out this time…
So much for the second try. Right now I’m still very enthusiastic about it all, and I hope it stays that way (I probably wrote that the first time around too). I long for some method to ease my mind and help me stay (get?!) more organized — not using any ADHD medication, there are days I can literally see my thoughts popping up and then slowly fading away, only to disappear in some sort of dark corner where I won’t find them again any time soon – nevermind if it’s something trivial or important and interesting ideas. And when this happens I don’t have the time (or nerve) to look for just the right work/thesis/blog/ideas notebook to jot a special thought down — at times it can be a challenge to find the one-for-all bujo in time to not lose the thought or idea, let alone one of 56738 specific notebooks stashed away somewhere.
Maybe it works this time around. I dream of shelves filled with my bujos of the past few years while I gaze lovingly at all of them, all happy and organized and oh so polished.
Yeah well, one can dream…
FYI: if you want to find out more about why a bujo can be really great for ADHD minds, you may watch this very interesting and funny video from Jessica/How to ADHD — it helped me find a good concept for my current bujo. Enjoy 🙂