Balance is a good thing. So is technology. Have you ever considered the extent to which you rely on technology? And not only to get stuff done, but for survival? Yes, even a good thing can be taken too far. When something useful and helpful becomes a focal point of life it can become unhealthy.


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It's weird, really. For some folks losing one's smart phone would be an inconvenience, sure, but for others it would make life unbearable. Seriously, lot's of people survived and accomplished significant things long before the cell phone was invented. Incontheivable, right?

I've caught myself, on more than one occasion, choosing a digital option for something when I could have experienced it in the real world instead. I've watched a fireworks celebration on screen when it was happening just a few miles away. I often read stuff on screen instead of paper for the convenience of it but sometimes a physical book is more satisfyin…

We've all been there. Something is initiated, you have to contribute to it in some way, and then you have to wait. Maybe you have to wait for some information, or for something to be delivered, or for an event to take place, etc. You can't finish what you're working on until someone else does something. This where following up could significantly improve your situation - if you remembered to follow up in the first place. Let me offer some ideas on that.


I use two methods to help me remember to follow up. Which method to be used depends on whether I'm working on a project with a deadline or if it's something else. One of the benefits of trying to keep things minimal is certain concepts can be used for multiple purposes. Here are two ideas already discussed on this blog.
Following up: for projects with deadlines On a project with a deadline, stuff has to be done by a certain date and you've got skin in the game. For this sort of follow up I typically use a free p…

Several times I've seen a question about adding collections to the bullet journal. The question usually goes something like this: do you move to the next available page, skip some pages to make a collection at an expected place, or something else?


It's common in my journal to end up with a blank page here and there. As far as I can tell, most people don't want to waste pages in their journal. Even in the 500 page journal I'm currently using I still try to avoid waste. And there's an easy way to deal with these intermittent blank pages.

Since I index the content in my journal it's very convenient to simply record blank pages there. Later these blank pages can be converted into what ever I want. Most of the time they are turned into collections. This way my journal workflow is not interrupted and I still get to use every page. Easy.

How do you manage collections? Comment here and be sure to subscribe!

Many bullet journalers see the need (and I'm one of them) to track things. Be it medication, exercise, hydration, or something else, tracking certain details can be immensely helpful in keeping one's life in order. Often a simple tracker will do. But many times something more comprehensive is needed. Unfortunately these expanded trackers can quickly become a burden to construct and maintain, as the typical tracker is something that has to be built repeatedly. If you want a simpler way to deal with comprehensive trackers, welcome to the Triple Tracker system from Universal Journal.


In the Universal Journal style, minimal effort is as important as minimal design. The Triple Tracker is a PDF document made to print, cut, and paste in your journal. Its circular layout combines 3 tracker designs into one. Its minimalist design leaves plenty of options for customization. Intended for monthly use. The Triple Tracker includes:
1 ten-degree level tracker2 monthly progress trackers3 daily…

A lot of bullet journalers like to keep things minimal, and I'm one of them. But this can pose problems, such as where do you put stuff if the minimalist design leaves very limited space? That's the intersection between design and technique: how you layout your journal vs how you actually use it. This is the second in a series on the amalgam of these two things. (see the first installment on a future log workflow)

In Ryder Carroll's introductory video you'll see a minimalist monthly spread. It's pretty much the monthly spread I still use today. So if you want to keep things simple, how do you this and still keep it functional enough to accommodate real life? Easy: short hand.


In this monthly spread you'll notice my calendar printout in the upper right hand corner of the right page. Beneath that I put a task list for the month. This is a bird's eye view of the month. Nitty gritty tasks or multi-step tasks are handled elsewhere. The printout and task list use…

Price: 39.99 Personalize your schedule with this 496 page bullet hardcover journal notebook. Light unobtrusive dotted grid paper, extra margin space for elegance.

Good for left-right or right-left writing (rotate 180 degrees for other languages such as Hebrew).
Cover image: starfield

Hardcover: 496 pages
6in wide x 9in tall
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So you've spent some time building your bullet journal layouts and getting yourself organized. But it's just not quite working like you want it to. What's going on here? As is often the case, the what to do is only part of the question. How to do it is another. This is the first in a series of an amalgam between design and technique. Let's take a look at future log workflow.


In this ultra-streamlined approach to bullet journaling, it's not only the layouts and designs that are minimalist, but the techniques for using the system as well. The flow of your tasks, appointments, etc. from one module to another can be tricky. Or it can be simple. It's all a matter of how you manage these things.

In my journal, most items end up in the daily log for the day I intend to handle them. That may or may not happen on the actual day assigned but the most important thing is I don't lose track of stuff. The daily log is the last stage of a task/event filtering technique. T…