Jen Nipps - Create Your Own DIY Planner

Create Your Own DIYPlanner

by Jen Nipps

A JEN EnterprisesPublication

(powered bySmashwords)

ISBN: 9781370718733

Contents

Introduction

Getting Started

Finding Your Style

Collections, Lists, andTrackers

Challenges

Other Configurations

Conclusion

Appendix

Author's Note

Introduction

For years, I struggled to find aplanner that worked for me. I tried the DayTimer system severaltimes. I tried academic planners. I even tried several apps on myphone, computer, and tablet. It finally got to the point where Iwas trying to make my own.

I actually made some progress on it. Ihad a title for it. I called it the KNOWS - Keep a NotebookOrganizational Working (or Writing) System. I started researchingDIY planners.

One day, I happened across this thingcalled a Bullet Journal created by Ryder Carroll. In his video andon his web page, he describes it as "The analog system for thedigital age."

Someone else had been having the samekind of issues I had and already did the work to create a flexibleplanning system that would do everything I wanted -- and needed --a planner to do. I set the KNOWS aside and became a Bullet Journalconvert. I used it consistently for a few months. For variousreasons, I quit.

Once again, I struggled. I knew Ineeded to get back to the bullet journal system. But it was soplain. How could I jazz it up?

Since I had found Ryder Carroll's videoon YouTube, I went back there. I typed "bullet journal" in thesearch and found Kara Benz/Boho Berry. Through her videos, I foundout more about trackers, lists, collections, and other ways to addmore interest to my bullet journal.

A while back, I decided tosearch Amazon for books on the Bullet Journal method or other DIYplanners. The closest I got was a book called Visual Journaling: Document Your Life by MG Popham. I toyed around with the idea and decided I could-- and would -- write a book about my experiences with the BulletJournal/DIY planning. If I can help someone else along the way, somuch better. Along the way, my system evolved where it's a hybridof the Bullet Journal and the KNOWS. Im using my ideas from thatmore and more in my planning. Now its more of a DIY planner than atrue bullet journal. And Im OK with that. Its all about findingwhat works for you and evolving when things change.

Let's get started

Jen Nipps

Chapter One
Getting Started

Just Start

Chances are, you have heard aboutBullet Journals before, if not DIY planners. You might have found afew groups about it on Facebook. In these groups, you might haveread about Leuchtterm1917 journals, Moleskine notebooks, Rhodia webbooks, fineliners, fountain pens, washi tape, and....

Stop!

Forget about all of that. You only needtwo things to get started:

A notebook - spiral or compositionnotebooks are perfectly fine.

A pen you like.

That's it.

Now let's talk about the components ofa DIY planner that make it yours and easy to use.

The first things to set up are your keyand index.

TheKey

Your key is a symbol legend. RyderCarroll established some universal symbols in his Bullet Journalsystem.

. Task

X Task completed

> Task migrated

< Task scheduled

O Event

- Note

* Priority

! Inspiration

E (or an eye) Explore

To start, use the symbols he developed.After you've used them for a while, you will have an idea of howyou want to personalize your key.

For example, here's mine:

- Appointment

- Event

- Task

Strike-through - Canceled/irrelevant

- Migrated

- - Note

* - Important

F - Follow-up

? - Explore/learn more

-Favorite/love

! - Idea/inspiration

- Done

Personally, I don't color codeanything. I know some people do and it works well for them. Again,that is something you can evaluate and personalize later on. KaraBenz has a video on her Boho Berry YouTube channel about colorcoding.

Index

Your index is simple. When you startyour new notebook/journal, set aside four pages before you startplanning/drawing layouts. Alternatively, you could place your indexin the back. In that case, set aside the last severalpages.

When you set up your index, put a shortdescription of the page -- for example, April 2017 -- and a pagenumber.

You can either index everything,including your daily lists, or everything but the dailies. In thatcase, you might consider going to your April monthly page, as inthe example above, a page range.

Future Log

Next up is the future log.

Ideally, your future log is a two-pagespread that shows the next six months at a glance. This is true, nomatter what time of year you start.

Divide each page into three equalsections and write in the months. I started my current journal inJuly (the previous one was full and falling apart), so my futurelog starts in August and goes through January. I will fill thisjournal before then, so I will start the next one with the nextmonth.

There are variations on the future logincluding one that combines the future log and the index known as aCalendex. It was developed by Eddie Hope and is showcased in theblog at BulletJournal.com and in a video on Boho Berry onYouTube.

At this point, I prefer the basicoriginal future log. That might change later on, but for now itworks for me. I recommend you start with the original future log.When it's full or when you move to a new notebook/journal,re-evaluate it then and switch it up if you want.

Layouts

The three main layouts you will workwith are monthly, weekly, and daily.

Monthly

There are many ways to layout yourmonth. The minimalist version just lists the dates down the side ofthe page. You add appointments and events as they comeup.

There is another variation of this.After the dates, you divide the page into columns. One is formorning-specific items. The other is for afternoon/evening. Or youcan use the columns for time-specific and day-specific items thatdon't have a specific time associated with them. There are sectionsavailable for goals and notes if you want them and embellishmentsif you don't.

Some people prefer the standardcalendar layout and either draw it in or print it out and glue itto the page for the month. Another variation is a calendar wheelthat allows for a mind-mapping approach to organizing the month.I'm using this method in a separate bullet journal intended toorganize my writing life. More on separating journals for differentuses later.

Weekly

To be fair, there are no weekly layoutsin the original bullet journal system developed by Ruder Carroll.It isn't strictly necessary, but I found I like having theweek-at-a-glance along with notes and goals I mighthave.

I also use a "coming up" section as abit of an extension of my future log.

There are more ways to do a weeklysetup than there are for the month. There is a vertical Dutch doorwhere you fold a page in half. There is a horizontal Dutch doorwhere part of the pages are cut out, creating a combination ofweekly/daily hybrid.The weekdays are at the top of the two pages.One page has a large section for goals that I check off as I dothem. The other page has two sections. One is for notes and theother is for what is coming up next. This is what works forme.

I recommend doing a little research andexperimenting to find what works for you. You might decide youdon't want or need a weekly layout.

Daily

This is the workhorse of almost any DIYplanner system. In the beginning, you will refer to your key a lot.This is where and how you will decide if the original key works foryou or if you need to adapt it.

Although this is part of the originalsystem, you might decide you don't need it and do best with themonthly and weekly layouts. If so, that's great. The way my mindworks, I need the dailies.