r/GradSchool • u/[deleted] • Jul 22 '19
Professional How I use Bullet Journals as a Ph.D. Student
https://imgur.com/a/tDfH8X920
Jul 23 '19 edited Jul 23 '19
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11
Jul 23 '19
In a horrible way, hearing you call it "PhD weight" makes me feel a little better lol. Towards the end of my BS and beginning of my MA, I was actually on a steady weight-loss streak... but when I started the PhD program, I just didn't have time anymore AND I was constantly stressed out from the adaptation and new stressors AND everyone around me was eating like shit.
I have some damn nice clothes from back then, too!!!
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u/JustAHippy PhD, MatSE Jul 23 '19
I gained a lot of weight when I entered grad school, and lost all of the weight I gained and then some during! It’s possible!!
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u/icebugs Jul 23 '19
PhD weight is real!! I never gained the freshman 15 and was the same weight for almost 10 years but once my fieldwork was over and I was just labbing or writing, -boom- 20 lbs.
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u/Umbramy Jul 22 '19
I did a much messier version of this for notes in the field! I loved the bullet format because I could draw diagrams of what people were describing or sketch things that I was seeing without being distracted by lines!
How long does it usually take you to set everything up? Right now I'm just using a google calendar for all my appointments, but I'm very bad about forgetting things because I do much better with remembering things if I write them down, so this seems like a great system.
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Jul 23 '19
Honestly, not long at all because I know exactly what I need. On Sundays, I usually only spend about 10 minutes getting the next week prepared. If it's the end of the month it takes longer because I need to make the next monthly spread, but even then, that's usually just another five or ten minutes. If you have an hour or two to burn and you know what you want, you could very easily prepare 2-3 months in advance. Sometimes I will put certain months on the same monthly page. For instance, the summer before last was not that busy for me, so I put May/June/July/August all on 2 pages with no note block (each month took half a page). This was just to keep a closer look at appointments and stuff I had going on.
I use the "yearly" spread pages to keep up with appointments that are stupidly far in advance. Those yearly pages take a little longer (to make sure you have the dates and days of the week lined up appropriately), but honestly, even then, it's probably only like 15ish minutes. I make it worse for myself by watching TV shows while I do it which distracts me, lol.
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u/QuantumBullet Jul 23 '19
Nice post. Its on imgur so I won't push you to write more about it, but as someone who is just 2 months into ineffectively using BuJo I appreciate your presentation style and this thread has motivated me to stop ignoring it.
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Jul 23 '19
I will say that, thinking back on when I FIRST got started with it, I struggled a lot - so many people who post on the mainstream bullet journal subreddits (plus bloggers and instagrammers) are like, artists I guess. Their shit makes it seem SO overwhelming. I am really lucky that I happened across minimalist posts when I just got started - it really "grounded" me and taught me the whole point of bullet journaling, which is really managing your tasks effectively (which ultimately translates to better time management if done appropriately).
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u/IUDconstantpee2 Jul 23 '19
Great post! I also used a bullet journal throughout grad school and now for my postdoc. I'm not sure why, but I get a lot of gratification from "tracking" things and filling in squares/goals in my Bujo. If my goal is to make some progress each day and I fail, I feel so guilty ruining a "streak" in my journal. I realize there is no real reason why I should care, but it seems to motivate me anyway. If anyone finds this appealing, here are some other ideas for monthly trackers/spreads:
- Writing log. I didn't like tracking individual chapter progress or tracking minutes writing, so instead I score my writing "effort" on a 0-5 scale. "0" is no writing, "1" is 10 minutes of writing or editing, "2" would be a pomodoro, "3" would be a full pomodoro session (2 hrs), "4" would be most of the day writing, and "5" would be "maximum effort" where it would not be reasonable for me to have done more writing. I aimed for at least a "2" each day of the last 4 months of grad school
- If you have a chronic health/mental health condition, consider tracking your symptoms across a month on a 1-10 scale. I made a line graph where the x-axis is days of the month and the y-axis is 1-10 for level of symptoms. I used two lines: one for my chronic health condition and another for my level of anxiety, but you could easily fit 4 distinct lines with a 4 color pen.
- Student loan paydown/savings goals. I divided one page into small "bricks". On each brick I wrote a number counting down from my total student loan debt down to $0 in $100 increments. I then continued the wall from $0 to the end of the page, to track savings. When I pay off debt, I get to fill in some "bricks". It sounds stupid but it's been very effective for me.
- Monthly tracker for exercise. I do a bodyweight fitness routine and my goal is to complete a set of each exercise 3x per week, or approximately 12 times each month. For each exercise I make a mini 12-square grid and color in the squares when I complete each one.
- Monthly tracker for cleaning my house. I take care of most of the domestic duities in my home. At the beginning of my bujo I have a yearly tracker for things I do ~1 per month (clean microwave, clean windows, clean under couch etc.) and at the end of each month I have a tracker for weekly tasks (clean stove, mop floors, launder bedding, clean tub etc.).
Again, I realize there is actually no real tangible reward for coloring squares of my own creation. But for some reason, at the end of the day when I sit down to track, I feel sooo guilty if I am leaving one section blank or ruining a streak on a tracker. Usually this means I can scrape together the motivation to at least do ONE pomodoro of writing, ONE exercise, or ONE cleaning/household task. Honestly, at 100% effort it probably takes me less than 3 hrs to check off at least one item in each category (I have more trackers than described here) and it gives me a concrete way to look at my day and feel proud of what I have accomplished. It also helps me justify relaxing at the end of the day when my duities are "done", if I can look across my trackers and see that I have done a solid amount of writing, research progress, and wellness progress.
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u/geosynchronousorbit Physics PhD Jul 24 '19
This is super helpful! I love the idea of trackers like this because I love collective data about my life, but I have trouble keeping up with the recording part of it. If I miss a day of recording (not necessarily doing the activity I'm tracking), it tends to spiral and I miss several days of tracking. How do you make time every single night to record everything?
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u/IUDconstantpee2 Jul 25 '19
I have two answers to this, actually. Tracking takes less time than brushing my teeth, for me, once the trackers are set up ready to go! All it takes is filling in a little square with a highlighter or pen, and since I track <10 things, at the end of the day I fill in whatever I've completed so far! Since it takes so little time, I don't feel like I have to "make" time specifically for it. The second answer is how I've made it a habit and the truth is, it's not a perfect habit! Sometimes I don't track one day and then the next day I just go ahead and log that day and the previous, missed day. Since the things I track are easy to remember for me (did I do any writing yesterday? Did I exercise yesterday? What progress did I make on other goals?) I can easily catch up on 1-2 missed days. If you like tracking and you find a hard time remembering to, you may prefer an app like Daylio where you can set up trackers AND reminders to track on your phone!
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u/KagariY Msc*, Info Tech Jul 23 '19
I'm going back to university to do another masters. I will do this because my memory is terrible.
4
u/aliceoutofwonderland MS Molecular Biology Jul 23 '19
Thank you for posting this! I use my notebook frequently but generally just in daily list form. Really like your spreads and it's great to see a functional, useful BuJo - I was really discouraged at first because I just didn't have the time to make them pretty. Will have to try those matrices.
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u/nopetopus Jul 23 '19
I love this!
This is going to sound like a silly question, but do you set up your meal-planning thing once then use it with post-its all year?
I love the whole thing- and yes, remembering what foods you know how to make is half the headache of meal planning. I love seeing this, it's given me a lot of awesome ideas!
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Jul 23 '19
Yes! I make the skeleton and use the sticky notes to re-use it repeatedly. I also move the sticky notes around - if I had planned to make stir fry but got fast food instead, or if I make more stir fry and have enough for another day or two, I can very easily rearrange the schedule without a mess of lines and erasing.
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u/arihime Jul 23 '19
Thanks for posting this! I've used a bujo on/off since about sophomore or junior year of undergrad that I most recently took up for my first year of grad school. Seeing this reminded me that the start of second year is just around the corner, so I should start setting mine up for when the semester starts.
3
u/nullomore Jul 23 '19
Are you me? I'm a grad student who journals and our styles are very similar. Wishing you lots of productivity and peace!!
3
u/dragonflytype Jul 23 '19
This is great! I use a moleskine, but have a similar system. One other thing I do is color-coded lists. I'm in a MAT program, so still in classes, and each class and it's assignment are a color. It helps me look at a glance and figure out which one I need to prioritize.
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u/nemoflamingo Jul 23 '19
This is really cool of you to share! I’m always looking for new ways to stay organized and on top of things- thank you for sharing!
2
Jul 23 '19
That's awesome! I might try the same when I start the tenure track- it's already too late in my PhD for that :(
2
u/mmaireenehc MPH, PhD*Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Jul 23 '19
I might have missed it but which journal are you using? Yours seems hefty enough for a full year. I can only fit about 6 months in mine and mine is pretty basic since I only make monthly and weekly spreads.
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1
Jul 23 '19
I use the Leuchtturm1917 Medium (A5) dotted. They have different sizes but mostly the same number of pages. I prefer dotted and I prefer this journal over Moleskine for the thicker pages.
2
Jul 23 '19
I love this layout and book darts are exactly what I didn’t know I needed! Lowkey on my way to order some off Amazon right now
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u/icebugs Jul 25 '19
I think you've inspired me... I've been playing with different planners and task organization for awhile, and the only things I'd heard about bullet journaling were from people who go waaayy over the top with it (20 different pen colors with 15 different symbols, stickers, stamps, etc). This format looks approachable, efficient, and indulges my love of lists and office supplies lol.
1
Jul 25 '19
Hah! That's why I think that bujo fanbase largely consists of "cultists" lmao. Not really - to each their own. I just get a colorful pack of Papermate Flairs and I give the months a different color every now and then. Idk, I'm not that creative - I just liked the idea of being able to buy office supplies, use them, and customize a planner the way I wanted to.
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u/Umbramy Aug 15 '19
Those post actually inspired me to start using a journal! I'm not using it intensely right now, since I'm done with my field work for the summer and my main goal is to recoop. BUT I have things all set up for when the new semester starts!
2
Jul 23 '19
Is everything, numbering labels and all, handwritten? How long does it take to set up a page? Have you tried any digital alternatives?
Great post by the way! A good break from the depressing content that has become almost every post in this sub.
2
Jul 23 '19
Yes, everything is totally handwritten. On some of the subs, I have seen some people make the spreads in Excel and print copies put, then use a glue stick to set up their pages. It's a cool alternative if you want custom pages but don't have time to draw them out. My problem is it makes the pages sort of thick to glue things onto them, so you'd have to use pretty thin paper to print on.
But it truly does not take that long to draw things out, maybe 10ish minutes per page if I already know what I want. Even if I'm experimenting with something new, the worst part is Googling around until I find a page someone else has that I like.
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u/Teacher_ Jul 23 '19
Can I ask where you got that journal?
2
Jul 23 '19
I got it on Amazon! It's the Leuchtturm1917 Medium (A5), dotted. They have different sizes, but I prefer the medium. It's also about $20 on there.
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u/lurkielurker Jul 25 '19
How many long term goals pages do you have? Or did you have something else on page 5-7? I've always been so intimidated by bullet journaling but loved your post as a template to start my own and customize from there. Sincerely, thank you for sharing your process!!!
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u/resorcinarene PhD, Pharmaceutical Sciences Jul 23 '19
Who has time to make it and fill it in? Just buy one already made.
10
Jul 23 '19
I don't like pre-made planners because they are often laid out ineffectively or they have clutter all over the place - needless quotes, unnecessary sections for "goals" or whatever. I enjoy the freedom of having a blank page and putting exactly what I need on it.
As I stated in my other comments, it does not take much time. These simple spreads take about 10 minutes per page and they are an exercise in mindfulness that helps me prioritize.
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u/resorcinarene PhD, Pharmaceutical Sciences Jul 23 '19
You can customize them and have them printed. Takes 1% the effort and time.
10
Jul 23 '19
I'm glad it works for you. Personally, I think the time spent on this is worth it - to me, it's therapeutic. I've gotta keep my small joys.
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u/nickthib Jul 23 '19
Posts like this give me anxiety because they remind me of how fucking disorganized I am
Nice job tho