Hi Jake,

I thought I had completed this yesterday but must have left the page without publishing my project.

My planned first Class is in Bullet Journal Basics. This is a flexible journaling system that I have found to make a big difference to my life in many ways and I'd loveto be able to pass the opportunity on to others so they can benefit too.

I have drafted a rough script for a few lessons which I'm attaching below but I've not yet seriously thought about the visual presentation side of the lessons. I also need to come up with a Class Project.

I would appreciate your feedback on my initial thoughts, content and structure as well as the image for the Class as is shown here.

Bullet Journal Basics - image 1 - student project

Here is the outline draft for the Class as fracas I've got so far.......

Bullet Journal Basics

Introduction – What is a Bullet Journal?
Bullet Journals seem to be one of the latest, and most useful, ideas to sweep over the world seemingly overnight. They are being kept by people of all ages, from all walks of life. Men and women, children and senior citizens, students, professionals, parents, grandparents and the list goes on. Whatever you like to do with your time, or whatever you have to do (which may not be the same thing at all) you may well find that your life benefits from adding bullet journaling into it.
So what is a Bullet Journal (fondly known to many as a BuJo!)? Well it's basically a way of keeping your plans, thoughts, feelings and actions written down using a simple coded and indexed system so you can track, locate and retrieve everything you want or need to remember or record easily, all from one location.
Of course in this digitalised world we have Smartphone apps, desktop software and Internet sites which are all accessible and will keep a track of our appointments, meetings and upcoming special dates such as birthday and anniversaries, there are digital opportunities available to record our day-to-day thoughts, feelings and activities; to track our weight, health symptoms, maybe treatments and medications; to keep a record of our holidays and vacations, our memories of events and how we felt about them. To-do lists can be written on scraps of paper to keep on our desk or kitchen worktop or, once again, there are numerous technological gadgets, applications etc that we could use.
But do any of these allow you to keep everything indexed in one, single, easy to access place? And if such a thing does exist, saving you so much time switching between applications to compare and integrate them, can it be configured and designed exactly how you want it? Can you specify exact categories of what you’d like it to include, can you decorate it to your taste depending on how you’re feeling or how busy you may be that day/week/month?
I’ve never found such a thing and I daresay if one did exist it wouldn’t be easy on the pocket!
A BuJo can be all the above and more, it can be whatever you want it to be and doesn’t need to have anything in it that is superfluous to your requirements. There's no pressure to ‘complete' anything, no way to ‘go wrong’ or mess things up so no need to worry about making a mistake.
So what are the rules of keeping a Bullet Journal? Well it's quite simple and that is the subject of our next class.
What are the ‘Rules’ of keeping a Bullet Journal?
Ok, are you ready? .....There are NO RULES! That’s right, no rules at all. Maybe the odd guideline or suggestion but absolutely nothing that has to be done according to someone else's way of thinking!
Yes the original creator of the Bullet Journal - Ryder Carroll from Brooklyn, New York – had specific ideas for the system which you can follow letter-for-letter if you wish, there is a lot more info about the original bullet journal at bulletjournal.com (see link) but unless you prefer to follow someone else’s detailed instructions as some people do, it's really fun to do things your own way.
A Bullet Journal is pretty much an indexed version of everything you want or need to remember or record, written by hand in a notebook.
The type of notebook is entirely a matter of personal preference, you may prefer plain, unmarked pages, lined pages, pages with dotted grids, the choice is yours. Use what you have laying around or buy what your wallet will allow or what you fancy , it really is completely up to you.
The same applies to your writing implement. Pencil, ballpoint pen, fountain/cartridge pen, fineliners, felt-tips. Use whatever you have to hand or anything you’d like to purchase.
One tip that I feel I really should pass on to you is to check the absorbency of your paper with any ink or pen you’re going to be using. Some ink can ‘bleed’ through your page and show up on the other side of it, spoiling either your next clean page or maybe ruining a previous page you particularly liked and making parts of it unreadable.
So you know what to use to create your Bullet Journal but what exactly do write or draw in one? Well the next class will be going into more detail about just that – see you there.
How do I begin Bullet Journalling -
And what is included in a Bullet Journal?
There are so many things that can be put into your BuJo, in fact the list, if not endless, would be way behind my ability to write here, would take forever and in any case as it’s such a personal and individual matter nobody would know exactly what you yourself would like to put into it.
A couple of things that makes a Bullet Journal are a page-by-page index of the contents and numbered pages. I would recommend leaving 3 double pages blank for the Index. Now some notebooks are available with pre-numbered pages but it doesn’t take long at all to jot the page numbers down before you begin or better still put them in as you go along – that way if you need to remove a page for any reason the order of the following page numbers won't be interrupted, there is no need to number the pages you have set aside for the Index.
Before your Index you may like to add in a Year-to-View page and you’ll also need a page for your Key, as I’m about to describe.
Each entry in a to-do list, task list, goals list, monthly or daily log is much easier to identify if it has an icon in front of it relating to what it is or the status of that entry (to be completed, in progress, completed, cancelled, important etc). This example shows mine but you’ll discover your own way of doing things that works for you and makes sense to you.
After my Index page I normally place a Future Log. This is a month by month plan of the next 12 months with just a small space for each day to wrote a small note if needed. This could also be used to record birthdays, work days, shift patterns and so on but you may prefer to have those on pages of their own, again the choice is yours.
You’ll want to include a page at the beginning of each month which is a small calendar for that month. You can write in future appointments/meetings and anything else you are aware of in advance as the month begins or is about to begin. It’s handy to refer back to when you’re competing your journal layout for an upcoming week. It's also often nice to begin a new months with a page dedicated to welcoming the new month, this can be as plain or innately illustrated as you like, or as you have time to do. This Hello.....page was done to welcome February which includes St Valentine's Day but you can do whatever you like.
I cannot stress that last point enough. When it comes to Bullet Journals the choice, content, design, well everything about it is completely and utterly your choice. Its a personal book by you, for you and as such nobody has any say as to what you do with it or in it. It really doesn’t matter if you miss a day's entry, or a week's or even if your notebook isn’t picked up for months. You may find yourself getting bogged down with trying to memorize everything again but that’s the nearest there is to a ‘bad thing about not writing in it. No need to feel guilty about missing an entry (or 35 entries or whatever). You’re not letting anyone down, no not even yourself! You’ll just be busy living your life and who is going to argue with that?!
Here are a few more ideas for pages that I’ve not yet mentioned elsewhere so far. (Talk through examples)
In the next class I’ll be explaining a few of the benefits which keeping a Bullet Journal can bring.

How can a Bullet Journal make a difference to me and my life?
Ok so why should you keep a BuJo? What’s in it for you? Well all I can do is tell you what my own opinion and findings are. You’ll probably find different benefits and enjoyable discoveries as you go along with your own journal.
For starters I’ve not missed or been late for a single appointment or meeting since keeping a BuJo. I’ve not missed any friends of family member's birthdays or anniversaries. I’ve found that I’m not nearly as stressed as I used to be (to the point where I’ve been able to reduce my anxiety medication for the last 8 months without any detrimental effects). Not having to remember so many things or having to check several different calendars, diaries, scraps of paper in my pocket or handbag has made a huge difference to the amount of pressure on my mind. Added to that the fact that I find spending a few minutes a day writing in my BuJo relaxes me and having an hour or so once a week to layout the following week's plans and it’s a no-brainer anxiety-wise!
In my BuJo I make lists each morning (or the previous night) of tasks/jobs to do over the following 24 hours and there is always a sense of achievement marking something as completed. When I don't accomplish everything on my daily list, I find it helps seeing written down the things I have been able to get done as well as adding in other things I did which prevented me from doing what I’d planned.
I also have a Goals page for the next 1 2 months and often at the start of a months or week I’ll take one or two of the goals from the year page and put them for that coming week or month. Having something written down kinda makes me more inclined and determined to get it done.
A Brain Dump is another great idea. A page where you can note anything that’s on your mind, it doesn’t have to be a long-winded description or even a full sentence. Just a word or two or a name, an idea that occurred to you, a quote you heard or saw.... get the picture?
Sometimes it’s good to get down on paper how I’m feeling. Especially if I'm having a hard/rough time physically or emotionally or if a day has been really good, it’s great to have somewhere to write that down and even better to look back and re-read it at a later date....a great pick-me-up!

Personalizing your Bullet Journal to suit you!
Final words and thanks.

Many Thanks in advance for checking this out and any feedback and constructive criticism you'd like to offer.

Kate

Kate Withers

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