Bullet journal notation differences (still no pastels)
Oddly, I've been doing bullet journaling for 15 months and only now got around to watching the original video that introduced the concept in August 2013 (I was several years behind this particular trend). I no longer remember which page I took my original style from, possibly this updated version, but there are some differences:
The original bullet journal (OBJ) uses boxes for tasks and dots for notes, whereas I've followed the updated version (UBJ) with dots for tasks and dashes for notes. Originally, done tasks were marked with a checkmark in the box, the updated version uses an 'x', I turn the dot into a checkmark - checkmarks look more "done" than 'x'es.
The "migration" marks work differently in both OBJ and UBJ: A forward angle means it's moved from a day to the next month, while a backward angle means it's moved to the long-term list. Since I have four, count them, four, levels of lists (daily, "soon" (roughly weekly), monthly, and long-term), I prefer using the forward angle to indicate that it's moved to a lower (sooner) level and a backward angle for going to a higher level (think moving closer to or moving away from completion).
For things that get migrated forward on the same level, as I like to do for things that are my highest priorities, I use an arrow, with increasing number of lines as it gets moved more times. This obviously doesn't scale forever, but postponing a task for long is a sign that it's not really that important and should go to a higher level. Having too many tasks postponed makes for dissatisfaction with yourself and by proxy with the bullet journal, making you more likely to abandon the whole thing. Consider if it's really due now, if not move it to a higher level.
The OBJ and UBJ oddly suggest going over the earlier tasks once a month, checking and migrating the tasks then. I like the ability to immediately mark things as done, and if I have to move back to a previous page to find an outstanding tasks, I will not get them done. Plus I'd have to mentally track which ones are done when finding out which ones to do. I mark all a day's tasks at the latest the next morning, typically postponing any outstanding ones, though I will probably migrate more to higher levels. Here's a typical spread:
I try to keep it to at most 5 migrations per day. Ideally I'd get all things done every day, but reality is not so merciful - things that really needs to get done not some time this week or maybe next, but one of the very next days will need to stay in the daily log. Won't help to migrate "Water plants" to the next monthly task list, either.
I occasionally mark tasks that I've done some progress on with a checkmark in parenthesis. I'm not quite happy with this, as it's easy to take for done. Since my BJ is focused on tasks more so than events and notes, I believe it's best to stick to simple dots for tasks rather than the boxes.
I'm pretty happy with my overall task completion rate with this setup. The one thing I'd like is some way to note the thoughts I come up with while biking. Grabbing my BJ out of my backpack in my saddle bag while stopped at a red light is not optimal.
The original bullet journal (OBJ) uses boxes for tasks and dots for notes, whereas I've followed the updated version (UBJ) with dots for tasks and dashes for notes. Originally, done tasks were marked with a checkmark in the box, the updated version uses an 'x', I turn the dot into a checkmark - checkmarks look more "done" than 'x'es.
The "migration" marks work differently in both OBJ and UBJ: A forward angle means it's moved from a day to the next month, while a backward angle means it's moved to the long-term list. Since I have four, count them, four, levels of lists (daily, "soon" (roughly weekly), monthly, and long-term), I prefer using the forward angle to indicate that it's moved to a lower (sooner) level and a backward angle for going to a higher level (think moving closer to or moving away from completion).
For things that get migrated forward on the same level, as I like to do for things that are my highest priorities, I use an arrow, with increasing number of lines as it gets moved more times. This obviously doesn't scale forever, but postponing a task for long is a sign that it's not really that important and should go to a higher level. Having too many tasks postponed makes for dissatisfaction with yourself and by proxy with the bullet journal, making you more likely to abandon the whole thing. Consider if it's really due now, if not move it to a higher level.
The OBJ and UBJ oddly suggest going over the earlier tasks once a month, checking and migrating the tasks then. I like the ability to immediately mark things as done, and if I have to move back to a previous page to find an outstanding tasks, I will not get them done. Plus I'd have to mentally track which ones are done when finding out which ones to do. I mark all a day's tasks at the latest the next morning, typically postponing any outstanding ones, though I will probably migrate more to higher levels. Here's a typical spread:
I try to keep it to at most 5 migrations per day. Ideally I'd get all things done every day, but reality is not so merciful - things that really needs to get done not some time this week or maybe next, but one of the very next days will need to stay in the daily log. Won't help to migrate "Water plants" to the next monthly task list, either.
I occasionally mark tasks that I've done some progress on with a checkmark in parenthesis. I'm not quite happy with this, as it's easy to take for done. Since my BJ is focused on tasks more so than events and notes, I believe it's best to stick to simple dots for tasks rather than the boxes.
I'm pretty happy with my overall task completion rate with this setup. The one thing I'd like is some way to note the thoughts I come up with while biking. Grabbing my BJ out of my backpack in my saddle bag while stopped at a red light is not optimal.
Comments
Post a Comment