Shutdown 2018, Day #5: Organization and Goals

I started this morning with the reminder that I have nothing to do. I can’t go to my job (thank you, Congress and the White House), so I need to come up with a plan for my time. I’m used to going and going, between my full-time job, knitting orders, hikes or snowshoes (in appropriate weather) and trying to keep up with the people in my life.

For years now, I have been writing in these notebooks:

I record everything from knitting pattern ideas, quotes that inspire me, daily to-do lists, grocery lists, and everything else I need to remember or reference again. Most of the time, I don’t even compose at the keyboard when I write and therefore put actual pen to paper, unless I’m just putting a few paragraphs on a blog post. Writing helps me sort out my thoughts, especially when I’m feeling overwhelmed or full of ideas (and therefore can’t focus on any one thing). So everything is just put down in these books chronologically, as things occur.

But over the past month, I’ve been looking into ways to get myself more organized. Even though I write things down, I still have to flip between pages in my black notebooks to find what I’m looking for at the moment.

I have been reading about the bullet journaling movement. Yes, to me it seems like a movement. Like soccer moms who try to go gluten-free even if they aren’t gluten-intolerant. Some of the bullet journaling stuff is just so over the top. But what if I could get – and stay – organized without the washi tape?

Since my current black notebook is nearly full, I bought a new journal – an actual bullet journal. And a couple of new pens. That’s as far as I am going with the accessories and color-coding, although I will probably write some times in black pens as well. I’m surrounded by black pens.

I spent my morning thinking about what I need to put in my bullet journal for 2019 and how I will organize my book – and what I will still put in my black notebooks. I decided my brainstorming for knitting and writing projects will still go in the black notebooks with blank, unlined pages. My to-do lists, annual goals, budget and linear types of information will go in my bullet journal. I set up my debt reduction plan and financial goals, as well as other big-picture goals for the year and started my calendar pages.

As I travel through my journey this year, and I figure out what works for me, I’ll share some of my pages and hints that have helped me get and stay organized – and accomplish my goals.