There's not much in this world that I find more satisfying than crossing things off a list - but I love lists so much that I even love the process of creating them. Depending on the list, making one can make me feel invigorated, calmed, productive, proud.
So of course I was very excited when I saw Rachel's mention on Instagram that she was joining a list-making challenge - right up my alley! Basically you just make a list of the lists you want to make, and then sit down once a day to write out one of those lists. It was initially attached to a month-long challenge, but I think you could just do this any time as a nice chance to reflect on your life (particularly as relates to this current time of corona) or your dreams or your strengths or just your frivolous favorite things.
A great form of relaxation and self-care, and such a perfect use for your bullet journal or even one of those as-yet-unwritten-in pretty notebooks you have lying around (come on, we all do!), and of course some favorite colorful pens or highlighters. It's like this lists book that I've always wanted but never purchased, but you don't need to purchase anything...
Above are some lists that inspired me on Instagram, and here is my lists of lists as well as Hendrik's - because of course, as my constant companion these days, he had to do it by my side in his own notebook.
Hendrik's includes favorite Hogwarts pieces (i.e. the shape/color of his favorite Lego pieces from his Hogwarts set, ha!), wanted sets (i.e. Lego sets on his wishlist), Harry Potter characters, mythical creatures, animals in Magic Treehouse books, Formula One drivers, favorite birds, coupons I wans momy to have, things I want to bake, favorite candys, favorite TV shows, things wanted for birthday, birthday themes (i.e. ideas for his birthday party...in October).
Definitely gives a taste of what he's into lately - I love it. And speaking of taste, a list of favorite desserts was my favorite to write so far, but I have lots of fun list-making to come!
For someone who loves list making as much as I do, it might be a little surprising that I'm not much of a paper planner person at all. But all of the blog posts about bullet journals I've seen in the past couple of years (and the subsequent serious Pinspiration I've spotted) really got me intrigued, and 6 months in, I love my bullet journal! I've really adapted it to my own needs though, so I thought it would be fun to share my approach:
Essentially my bullet journal is one central place to keep all of my range of to do lists and idea lists - instead of having them on my Teux Deux phone apps plus various sticky notes and note pads as I used to do. Plus a little calendar action thrown in. So I'll share my main page layouts for this below, but basically for me this is a list book more than it's a planner or a journal.
And I will add that even though I was doing fine with mostly keeping my to do list on an app that synced between my phone and laptop - which was super handy for accessing it from any place in the house or out and about, vs. this journal that's usually sits on my office desk upstairs - I'm really loving having something concrete, and something I can be a tiny bit creative and hands-on with (with marker colors and minor embellishments etc.). It doesn't take much time commitment to make this functional, and I don't have to spend time making things fancy, but sometimes when I'm sitting around watching TV, it's really fun to mess around with as a creative outlet.
yearly overview
At the front of my book I have a yearly calendar written out (this took the bulk of my initial setup time) where I mark down dates of things that are a month+ away, like dentist appointments, school vacation days, etc. This way I don't have to keep all of the little appointment reminder cards, etc. I just have everything recorded here, and then each time I make a new weekly page, I just quickly refer to this and write in that week's events/appointments. Easy way to keep track of everything.
weekly calendar/to do list
Here's the main focus of my bullet journal. It perfectly suits my to do list making style, plus incorporates a calendar for the week so that I can visually separate out appointments/events from the to do lists. The first photo above shows the layout that I use now - it's super simple to do because I can see through the highlighting from the previous week when I flip the page, so I just trace it out! The second photo is a format I used to use - works great, but takes a little more time and effort to set up each page, so I have been opting for the quicker and easier route. Usually I make the next week's page about midweek, so that I can start writing down any to dos or appointments I know will be coming.
My ideal weekly log page contains:
calendar: alongside the to do lists, I like to have a visual on the week's events and appointments.
this week: slot for those to do items that don't have to be dealt with on a specific day, but should get done sometime this week - it's nice to have one place to put them down instead of just letting them swirl in my brain and cause occasional anxiety... and if I don't get to one, I just write it down on next week's page.
daily to dos: a slot for each day's to do items, on which I include both personal and work items (though I don't write down daily things like "clear email inbox" or "process new manuscripts", just special projects/tasks)
blog: I write in my intended post for each day and mark them off when scheduled; also leave a little space to write in any longer-term projects
school: anything I need to remember for Hendrik's school that week - what's for show and tell, whether we need to bring snack, etc.
next week: reminders of what's upcoming in terms of appointments or to dos so that I remember to add them when I lay out next week's page.
Also in keeping it simple, I just use a sharpie pen, no embellishments, but for some color I use my fun Zebra dual-tip highlighters to mark the different days, and to check off completed items.
lists, lists and more lists!
All of my other lists are toward the back of the journal (I don't like intermingling these with my weekly log pages) but are easy to find because I keep the 2nd bookmark ribbon at their start. Various lists include:
goals/life list: I've got my 18 in 2018 but also a life list of 100 items.
travel planning: instead of keeping a zillion tabs open on my internet browser, or writing on a scrap of paper I might lose, I have been putting potential itinerary options for travel in here. Plus it's fun to play with embellishing the page to get me excited about the trip!
outfit planning: instead of having thoughts run around my brain (or huge piles of clothes on my bed), I write down my ideas for mini capsules for travel, 10x10 challenges, etc.
holiday ideas: perfect place for the list of Christmas cards to send, and gifts to buy!
reading lists: I will never give up my Goodreads app, because I read so many books and mark so many as "to read" that it would be a hassle to have to write them all out, but it's fun to track reading challenges like the MMD challenge in here, since they don't record in Goodreads in the same way.
I've gotten so many great ideas from Pinterest for how to lay out my weekly log and such, and there are a zillion more cool ideas for pages that I haven't included because I don't need them or they seem like more work than I want to do (though they're still cool ideas if useful to you!):
password list (am thinking about doing this though - since I know all the passwords for our accounts and Peter has no idea about them... might need a backup!)
