Jumping Journals
An undeniable perk of owning a notebook shop, is that I get to use many excellent notebooks. My “Daily Driver” for work is an adaptation of the #bulletjournal system, in an A5 notebook. I run through one every couple of months. April - May, I have been in a MD Notebook by Midori. Beautiful cream paper in an understated Japanese design. Lovely with fountain pens.
It's time for me to choose and prepare the book for June - July. I feel an Endless Recorder coming on.
In crimson. If you are a fountain pen user, and you enjoy a medium size notebook, then I strongly suggest you take a look at these. Made in India, they feature 187 numbered pages of 68 gsm Tomoe River, in ruled, plain, grid or dot grid. These are exceptional notebooks. We have a larger order coming in next week to supplement existing stocks.
This month, I have kept bumping into a flaw in my “Daily Driver” system. It's daily. A simpler life was foisted upon me, and many of you, a couple of months ago. We're staying at home. Each day, I have been following a morning ritual, which has been great for my mental health, and setting me up for the day. I have been busy - perhaps as busy as I have ever been in terms of daily tasks. Wow. I’ve been busy.
Busy.
Busy is dangerous. Busy can flatter to deceive.
My wife has been recovering from a back operation and needs support. The business has tasks that need to be kept on top of - bills paid and the like. I have schedules of blog posts and social media to keep. I’ve managed. However, “bigger picture” things have slipped. I don’t maintain monthly pages in my #bujo. For some reason, flicking forward and back in a notebook never sticks with me.
This is a problem. I don’t want to be a busy fool. I’m not afraid of hard work, but I want that work to be targeted, to be “bigger picture”. The solution, of course, is another notebook. (You knew that was coming, didn't you?)
I’m restarting my year on June 1st. I’ll revisit my goals, think about my priorities and go again. I’ll go through a process based on Shawn Blanc’s program and then work my way down to monthly priorities. This will go into my “Big Picture” book.
Big picture needs a big book, so I’m going to use a Summit from Blackwing. I’ll use the Pearl - because the white will look very posh on my white desk. It's lay-flat, dot-grid and 100 GSM. 160 pages of 7.5 inch by 10 inch gives me plenty of paper to storm out some great goals and month plans.
