Less is more
Hi! I’m
really glad we can see each other again. I hope you’re doing all right. Today
we’re gonna start talking about journaling in itself. You know last post was
just a mere introduction to the blog but today we won’t beat around the bush,
we’ll go straight to the point.
Less is
more, that’s the title I’ve chosen for this post. You know why? Because
sometimes I’ve seen some amazing pictures on IG about journals that have A LOT
going on within their pages. Don’t get me wrong, they look beautiful as they
can be, however, many times I notice there’s hardly any space left for actual
writing.
That’s
pretty much the reason why I’m saying today that less is more. We can keep our
journals beautiful, we can draw, decorate, and so on, but we need to remember
this is all about the content and not so much about the look. I take my time
decorating and planning how the pages and the spreads are gonna look, but I
also take time to check I’ll always have enough space for writing, keeping
records and tracking.
The idea of
the bullet journal is to be functional; nobody says it cannot be functional and
beautiful at the same time, I’m just saying it doesn’t have to be just
beautiful. We need to make room for the functionality it’s been planned for.
And again, I
need to make something clear (I’m messy, sorry): functional and messy are not
antonyms. You can have a planner that looks messy, but in any chaos there’s
some order. So, the idea is for you to understand yourself and for you to
optimize your performance, as long as it makes sense to you… screw the others
(sorry for being so blunt but it’s true). Remember that it’s jour journal, so
your rules. Take some advice, look for advice, but always do what you think is
best for you and your journal. Sometimes things that work for others won’t work
for you, and that’s completely fine. This is about finding our way in, not
about fitting in.
Another
reason, besides functionality, to keep things simples is our brain. You know
how much noise can get us out of focus (I cannot picture you trying to study
for an important test with someone singing Metallica to the top of their lungs
while standing right next to you), well, paper can also have that sort of “noise”.
So, for important sections of your journal – maybe a project for a startup,
your summaries for school/university, or any important section you may have
designed – I think you should keep as simples as it can get. No too much color,
not too much decoration. The basics, colors and high light resources just if it’s
important on itself, not so much if you’re just using them ‘cause it looks nice
(or use a little bit, but not too much). The idea is that the simpler it looks,
the least attention you’ll pay to the decoration and the more attention you’ll
pay to the actual content.
Of course,
this advice does not apply for sections that are not so important as logs
(weekly, monthly, future, etc.) and general trackers (like the ones we use for
food, sleeping hours or tv series – if you have specific and important trackers
related to your health or improvement in a significant task, I’d recommend that
you set them up separately). In those cases you can decorate as much as you
want and you’ll still be able to focus on the content. In addition, if you’re
kind of a minimalist (or almost a minimalist) you can still get to decorate without
creating too much “noise” on your pages. I think it’s all about balance, what
do you think? I’m dying to know.
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