Thanks to listproducer.com I’ve met a lot of people in the productivity community and the more people I meet the more I find we have in common. We tend to be stationary nerds, who love Marie Kondo and are always looking out for the best way to get organized. So it’s no surprise that the latest to-do trend, that combines a to-do list with a planner and a diary, has become a big success in the productivity community. I’m talking, of course, about dot journaling.
If you don’t know what that is, dot journaling is, simply put, making a lot of bullet point lists. (You’ll quickly find with dot journaling that there’s a lot of overly complex names for simple things.) While I normally think it’s better to keep your lists separate, dot journaling allows you to put all your long and short term goals, as well as daily tasks, into one notebook. And you use a code-type system to keep everything from getting muddled together.
BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.
A bullet journal is broken down into modules. You start with your ‘future’ module, which is an overlook at the year ahead. Then you have any ongoing tasks you’d like to track like a reading list or a budget plan. After that you do a big picture view of the month ahead, which includes a monthly task list where you can add bigger tasks that you want to do like clearing out the shed.
Finally, after that you use your dot journal for logging your day-to-day to-dos, tasks and notes. If you’re still not entirely sure of the concept, check out this buzzfeed article, which really helps to break it down for you.
I personally was resistant to trying dot journaling at first, if only because it was kind of too popular (I know, so hipster of me!) But I’ve come to find that it’s popular for a reason. Dot journaling allows you to stay on top of your goals and set good habits, while letting you indulge in the nostalgia of filling in a good old-fashioned notebook. Some people use dot journaling as a kind of creative output, putting a lot of thought and effort into the design of each module. The results can easily be found on Instagram – and they look so pretty!
I do still however, have some hesitations about dot journaling, as I feel it can cause people to trip up on certain productivity pitfalls. For example, if you’re easily overwhelmed by too many tasks or goals or if you get a bit too sucked into making pretty, new lists, instead of actually doing those tasks – it might be better for you to customize your approach to dot journaling.
It’s also not that great if you’re the kind of tech whiz who prefers to keep all this kind of information online instead of in a cute notebook.
If you’d like to find out more on dot journaling or think you could do with some help setting up your own journal then definitely check out Rachel Miller’s latest book, Dot Journaling: A Practical Guide. I was lucky enough to get a sneak peak of the book, which totally changed my mind that dot journaling wasn’t just a fad, but a great way to stay on top of all your to do’s. Plus it’s a good excuse to buy more notebooks!
Originally published at listproducer.com