Systems in Music Therapy: Bullet Journaling...Again...

If you are new to this blog, then just know that I am a bullet journaler (sorta), and I tend to write about my journals on a regular basis. I love blank books - I make them, I buy them, I use them for all sorts of things. I have a personal journal that has a theme to it, but most of my journals are functional rather than decorative. What this means to me is that I don't spend much time making pages look pretty in my working journals. My personal journal, on the other hand, is a place where I spend some time with decorating my calendar pages - but, even that goes by the wayside when I am tired or pressed for time. So, let's get into the journal systems that I have in place.

Journal #1 is my personal journal. Like I mentioned, it has a theme, and the theme I selected is Star Wars. Again, if you have been a reader of this blog for awhile now, you know that I am a Star Wars fan from the very first time I saw the first movie in a drive-in movie theater. So, having Star Wars as a theme is something that makes my heart and brain hum along happily. 

Each month has a double page (full spread) where I showcase information about one of the planets in the galaxy. At one point, I thought I would be drawing droids for these months, but I'm not all that confident in my artistic abilities, so I switched to planets. I haven't managed to get some information about Kessel, December's planet, so that page is still not done. I have a monthly calendar on these planet pages. I track appointments and things like bills or information that I need to remember for the month or the next month. 

After the monthly calendar, I use a weekly format for each of the weeks in the month. I use the exact same format for these weeks - seven boxes across the top of a full spread. One for each day, drawn using a color that goes with the character that I research for each week. 

At the start of this journal (in May), I found a list of Star Wars characters online which I printed out and then attached a random number generated list so I could go through the list in a somewhat random order. I removed the droids because I have other plans for them. Each time I sit down to make my weekly spreads, I check out the lists to see who I am learning about. I then go to Wookiepedia to find information about the character. I am enjoying learning about characters that I have never encountered - there is SO much to Star Wars that I know, but there is SO much more out there that I have never encountered. I have learned about things that happened thousands of years before the movie timelines, and I am so interested in it all! 

When I started this planner back in May 2022, I thought I would be drawing the characters as a way to encourage my drawing practice, but I have found that to be more challenging than I can handle at the moment. As a result, I am printing off pictures rather than drawing. Sometimes, plans change.

That's my decorative journal. I enjoy the opportunity to focus on something that has lots of meaning for me, so it fulfills more than just a planning function for me.

Journal #2 is my work journal. This is the one that is most like the "Bullet Journal Method" by Ryder Carroll. I do not do as much decoration in this journal as in my personal journal, but I do occasionally include quotations and stickers in this book. There are times when I am very drawn to color and other times when all I can do is write sown what is going on in my work life.

This book includes several different sections. From the front of the book until it meets the other things in the middle, I have my daily lists. I have started using a modified calendex (just a list of the dates in each month to keep track of appointments and special work events) for each month. On that page, I include a list of birthdays that I am in charge of commemorating and things that will be happening in the future that I do not have a place to write down yet.

After that page, I have daily entries on how ever many pages I need. At this point, I am fitting about six days per page into my journal. In each day's box, I write down the tasks that I need to do. This includes my documentation, sessions, meetings, and other tasks as appropriate. At the start of each day, I set up the next day's list. So, this morning, I will arrange Monday's schedule in the next box. Then, I cross off tasks and sessions as they happen.

In the back of the book, moving towards the center, I have several different sections. The first is my index. I don't like using the front pages of my books for index pages or tables of content because I never use as many pages as are part of the pre-printed books, and I hate wasting pages! So, I start my index on the very back page. The second thing in my book is a grid spacing page where I have counted the number of spots that I have in the book to help when I am trying to design different things. I don't use it as often as I thought I would, so I will probably skip that page next year. The third page is my time tracker. I count my sick, personal, and non-contract day use on that page. Then, the intern pages start. Each intern has their own page where I keep my notes about our supervision/consultation sessions. During the week, I can make notes about what I need to address in our weekly meetings, and I track what they bring up as well. This is an area that I want to develop further - add an assignment tracker there. I just haven't figured out how I want to start this task. I have a section for meeting notes and then my personal processing section - where I actually journal.

The rest of my books are project or collection books. Some are work-oriented and others are just things I think about. They are not decorative - they are work books, so I use up the lined books that I have in my collection for those books. I don't use lined books for the two previous journals. I prefer dot grid pages for those books, but these work best with lines, so there you go.

I have a collections book - a place to put lists or plans or things that are not work-focused. This is the companion to my personal journal. I have things like the order of the Star Wars movies and television shows as well as the Marvel movies written there. I am doing my brainstorming for my word for 2023 on those pages. That's just a place to collect my thoughts. It has no decoration.

I also have two projects books - one for work and one for home. They include color-coded stickers to indicate different tasks. I can flip to all the blue stickered pages and know that they contain brainstorms on the task at hand. I have an entire color coding system for use! 

My books are my places to quiet my thoughts, organize them, and then let them sit on the pages rather than tumbling around my head until I can act upon them. I use them all the time. It is a good way for me to feel like I am remembering the things that I need to get done as well as to prompt me to get things done. This is my most successful system.

Thanks for reading all about it!