Member-only story
Why I broke up with my Bullet Journal
The first month I used a bullet journal was the first month I truly felt like I could translate the clutter in my brain into words and put them onto paper without spending an entire afternoon doing it.
I was hooked… until I wasn’t.
The Bullet Journal Method first appeared online in August of 2013
I discovered it the next year and was immediately hooked. A whole online community formed around this highly-customizable planner system.
Then a whole wave of people who had tried to join this community abandoned ship. The reason? Overwhelm.
I even ended up abandoning my bullet journal for the same reason.
The irony is that overwhelm should be the last thing a bujo newbie feels. In fact, Ryder Carroll, the creator of the Bullet Journal Method, gave a TEDx Talk about it titled, “How to declutter your mind—keep a journal.”
“The power of the bullet journal lies in its simplicity and flexibility.”
—Ryder Carroll, creator of the Bullet Journal Method
I’ve always know that the flashy, viral side of the bujo community online does newbies a disservice by focusing on customizations and decorations. Of course a newbie would face overwhelm looking at this page full of color-coding…
