As Sheila E. sang, "Take me with you..."

One important thing about keeping a journal is consistency. If you don't fill it out often, its value diminishes rapidly. I fill it out at least a little bit every day.

That's easy at work, where I open the journal up more or less first-thing. I check off any tasks I completed the previous day, and move ("migrate" in Bullet Journal lingo) the ones I didn't to the next day, week, or whatever is appropriate.

It's crucial to keep the journal nearby and handy. I don't fill it out if I don't have it with me, or if it's buried somewhere I can't get to it easily.

I keep my journal in my work bag, a beat-up Kenneth Cole Reaction that I've had about eight years, and which looks awful. But it does what I need it to do, and it conforms to my body like a well-worn leather jacket. It just needs to be functional, not impressive.

I sit the bag by my desk at work, so I can grab stamps, the newspaper, or anything else I might need during the day. I do a lot of stuff electronically, but have an analog backup for my address book and some other items.




One very beat up, but serviceable, bag for a bullet journal.

So the bag sits there all day with the journal in it. Sometimes I leave the journal out on my desk if I think I might need it. I also usually mark a few things off right before I leave for the day. I rarely open the journal at home on weekdays, because I keep my bag in my car so I don't forget it.

On weekends, my bag sits in a cubby by the garage door with my kids' school backpacks. It's easy to get to, right by the home office, so I can fill it out in there if I need to do so.

I've been good about filling it out each day on weekends, rather than waiting for Monday. That makes it easier to remember all the tasks I completed. I log runs and guitar practices in my tracker on weekends, plus any other tasks.

I'm nearing the end of my first month of journaling. My first migration is coming up, and I'm sure there's a blog entry in there somewhere.