I recently had breakfast with a high school senior. As we talked about the transition from high school to college, I asked him two questions that I ask literally every student that I talk with who is going through any sort of life transition—what are you most afraid of, and what are you most excited for? These conversations are often met with grins, tears, or both. This time it was the former. The young man gave me a sheepish grin and said, “I’m afraid I’m going to forget where I’m supposed to be!” This was funny, because we had set the appointment the day earlier and he had written down the wrong time. He was embarrassed when he arrived late and apologized, but it was also a school holiday and I had planned on him taking the opportunity to sleep in a bit. So when his answer had to do with schedule, we both had a good laugh. What followed was a healthy conversation on time management—something I have always struggled with—and I shared with him something that has helped me tremendously over the past couple of years: the Bullet Journal. It’s hard to both be a person who reads blogs and at the same time not know what Bullet Journaling is, but for those few people who are unfamiliar, I encourage you to check out the video on the front page of bulletjournal.com. In quick terms, a Bullet Journal is one part journal and one part calendar that is designed to help organize an aspect of your life. For me, it has really helped increase my personal productivity, focus, and calm. Reasons I Bullet JournalProductivity
First and foremost, keeping a Bullet Journal has helped me take hold of my work week and organize my life. As a pastor, my week isn’t driven by clocking in and out and my home time is often blurred with my office time. As such, my meetings, appointments, game nights, double dates, and doctor visits end up all getting rolled into one very messy calendar. For these reasons, my calendar has to be as flexible as my schedule, and this does it for me. Not only that, but I’ve found that I’ve been much more productive on days that I take the time to inventory my tasks and thoughts on paper. I’ve gone back and forth between several calendar methods over the years, be them analog or digital. I’ve used web based schedule trackers and to do lists, Covey planners, wall calendars, and what I affectionally call the “sticky note wallpaper.” But none of those things stuck with me. None of them were able to both keep my attention and keep me organized. None except for my Bullet Journal, that is. It’s been the perfect mix of kinesthetic and visual to be the singular tool I need to keep my productivity in order. Focus A huge benefit for me in regards to journaling has been focus. Where before I would try my best to juggle my schedule in my head—while also trying to give counsel to a student and also keeping my lesson-writing thoughts collected enough to use them for a sermon later—using a Bullet Journal is like a sort of pensive, if you’ll excuse the Harry Potter reference. The idea is simple: there are too many things going through my head at once to be able to focus on what is in front of me most of the time. To compensate for my inability focus on one thing, I find myself starting ten different projects and not finishing a single one of them. This has gotten me in trouble academically, professionally, and personally for years. Enter: Bullet Journal. I make a conscious effort to dump any fleeting thoughts into the journal, when I think them, and then allow myself to forget them and continue the task at hand. It’s taken me a while to get there, but it’s absolutely freeing and a huge game-changer when it comes to focusing on what needs my focus. Calm More than the other reasons, this is the most subjective reason that I Bullet Journal. There is simply something soothing about putting literal pen to paper. My penmanship was terrible when I began, and it was almost a reason I stopped before I really got started. However, as I’ve kept at it I’ve noticed that when I’m stressed more and more I reach for a pen rather than a controller/phone/cheeseburger. A big part of this is that I have been journaling through my quiet time as well. As I study Scripture and/or pray, I journal. Because my handwriting isn’t great, I tend to journal slowly. Because I want to get as much bang for my buck regarding expensive journals, I write as small as possible. Put all of these things together and the result is an activity that is easily one of the most calming parts of my day. So there you go. Are you having trouble with your productivity? Are you curious how a Bullet Journal can help with your walk of life? Do you want to compare methods? Leave a comment below or send me a message, I’d love to talk about it with you! Sincerely, Chaz
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January 2019
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