What I’ve learned from 5 months of Bullet journaling

Focus on employing time to your goals. Chess Masters spend seconds on some moves and hours on others - use your time well. Don’t over use time.

I’ve filled 8 Leuchttrum pocket bullet journals in the past 5 months.

Yesterday I went through each of them and listed the things I’ve learned. I’ll share that list in this newsletter.

I’ve been doing bujo (bullet journaling)for 11 years since it was first introduced in this youtube video. If you want me to write more about bujo, leave a comment with the word bujo.

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👋 Hey, Adam here! Welcome to this month’s ✨ free edition ✨ of Adam’s Newsletter.

I’ll still be writing 4 newsletters a month about building a creative practice, illustration career growth and how life supports art not the other way. I’ll be making one of them free and the rest are moving behind a paywall.

If you’re new here, have you read;

1. The illustrator’s social media survival guide

2. The benefits of taking notes in a sketchbook

3. 365 Day Sketchbook Challenge

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ps: if you’re looking for daily prompts you can the them by toggling the Daily Blog on.

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Some of what I learned, as recorded in my bullet journals over the past 5 months.

1. It takes me anywhere from 1-6 weeks to fill up a 46 spread pocket bullet journal.

2. You can set up habit trackers in your monthly log (this will make sense for those who speak bullet journalese)

3. I learned a shut down routine that adds more intentionality to how I end the day. 3-2-1 shutdown routine: No food 3 hours before bed, no water 2 hours before bed, no screens 1 hour before bed.

4. I learned to create Icons at different scales, Bug Size, Room Size and Landmark Size. This adds more variety and depth to drawings.

5. I learned to make note-making the point of reading and consuming content. Notes transform content into intellectual property.

6. I learned that you can reverse engineer comic and writing into templates and create new work from those templates.

7. I learned that batching illustration steps is fun. It leads to greater flow and variety within a particular part of the process.

8. Have a plan.

9. I learned that a lot of time gets lost between tasks. Reduce wasted time between tasks.

10. Focus on employing time to your goals. Chess Masters spend seconds on some moves and hours on others use your time well. Don’t over use time.

11. Pick a bedtime and work backwards to plan your finite day, to avoid stealing from tomorrow.

12. I learned to take slow mornings and long walks. I did this by enlisting the help of a 3 year old to come with me.

13. I learned how everything changes when you bring your full presence to bare on your chosen activity or moment.

14. I learned you have to keep showing up to stay top of mind, it’s easiest to do this online.

15. Have some default conversations starters for talking to kids.

16. An honest account of how we spend our time is a powerful tool.

17. Write a story sentence daily, highlighting a moment from your day it takes 5 minutes.

18. Keep a list of great questions. Occupy your mind with these.

19. Watching people is a skill, look for what frustrates them.

20. You don’t have to do hard things alone. Find a few people and do it together.

• This month,

  illoguild
  is talking about the things we learned. Visit them to read what they have to say and join us for our next live meetup. You’re invited.

• If you’re looking for a good journal visit Smidapaper

10-Minute invitation

Look through your writing, sketchbooks or even social media posts and write down some lessons. Think what did I like, and what could I do better.

Get invitations like these everyday on the blog

What have you learned so far this year?