Bullet Journal Collections and People Boxes

Make sure to check out What is a Bullet Journal? the first post in this series.

Collections

Collections in a bullet journal are any related notes that do not fit into your log modules. Basically it's turning to a fresh page in your notebook and making a list or taking notes. 

I have a collection of my personal goals, my department's goals, and project ideas.

The most used type of collection for my work bullet journal is meeting notes. Keep using the bullet journal key when taking meeting notes. That way, at a glance, it is easy to see if there are items you need to do as follow-up to the meeting. 

One trick that has worked for me is that I like to place an X at the bottom of a page in the corner when everything on that page has been addressed so I know there are no outstanding items on the page. 

People Boxes

I may have watched a youtube video or two about bullet journaling (there's "about" 175,000 results). I came across Christoper Allen and his people boxes system. He divides up a page in his notebook and makes a box for each of the people he meets with on a weekly basis. He jots down things he needs to tell someone in their box. 

I adapted it to the regularly weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly meetings I attend. I keep a running list of the agenda items I need to add to each meeting and items I want to discuss with people. It helps save me from searching my big list for an item saying "tell Jane ..." instead, when I am with her, I find the box that says "Jane" and see if there is anything I needed to discuss with her.

Melissa Haberman
Financial Aid Director
University of Wisconsin Extension

What is a Bullet Journal (and why would I want to know)?

Those that know me know I love organizational systems. I've tried them all. Some people even call me organized. It's not me, it's the system.  Those that know me also know my fondness for technology. You may be surprised to hear the system that has made the biggest difference for me only requires a notebook and a pen. It’s called a bullet journal.

Why Bullet Journal?

Is your desk covered in post-it notes?

Do you know you wrote something down, but just don’t know where?

Do ever get the nagging feeling you are forgetting something?

The bullet journal system has helped me to keep all my work to do lists in one place in order to have them on hand easily. The system of reviewing tasks that were not completed is a really helpful way to regularly reflect and prioritize what is most important going forward.

What is the Bullet Journal?

The Bullet Journal is a system created by Ryder Carroll. http://bulletjournal.com/

The key to the bullet journal is using easy, quick, and short points to log what you need to do. This is called rapid logging.

Bullets represent tasks, events, notes, and signifiers. Signifiers are symbols to indicate the importance of an item. A typical key includes a bullet for a task, a circle for an event, and a dash for a note. It also includes indicators that a task is complete, that it has been moved forward to the next list, or moved forward to the further out future.

Pages in a journal are broken into modules. (These are more fun than R2T4 in modules!) Standard modules are usually and index, future log, monthly log, weekly log and/or a daily log. I tend to not use the index and prefer a weekly log rather than a daily log.

A future log is a place to note items for upcoming months. A monthly log lets you look at key points in the month at a glance and create a master list of tasks you would like to accomplish in the month. The daily or weekly log is the tasks and events that are actually going to take place on a given day.

Not just a task list.

The bullet journal isn’t just an organized task list. It is a system to ensure every task is dealt with. At the end of a day/week/month every task should be addressed. It is either marked as completed, migrated forward to the next day/week/month, moved to a future month, or determined to no longer be relevant.

This regular review of tasks is the key to the bullet journal’s productivity. It is a mindful way of ensuring you are focused on the right tasks to get you where you need to be.

The video below is from Ryder Carroll himself on how to bullet journal.

Stay tuned for a series of future blog posts on bullet journaling and productivity in the aid office! Please let me know what questions you have and they will be addressed in a future post!

Melissa Haberman
Financial Aid Director
University of Wisconsin Extension