My bullet journal did something unexpected at a coffee shop in Portland

I was sitting at Coava Coffee on SE Grand last Saturday, trying to plan out my meal prep for the week. I had my bullet journal open to a monthly spread that I'd honestly been ignoring for two weeks (it was kind of a mess). A barista named Sam leaned over and asked what the dots and symbols meant, so I explained the rapid logging thing. She got really into it and showed me how she uses a simple key system for her work tasks at the cafe. I ended up redrawing like half my key right there on the table, using her ideas for marking urgent vs. just important stuff. It's only been three days but I've actually kept up with my daily logs way better than before. Has anyone else had a random stranger change up their whole bujo approach like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

tylerg3013d agoMost Upvoted

Coava Coffee, nice. But I gotta ask, @emma_burns96, are we really out here treating a barista like a productivity guru? She showed you a basic key and now your whole life is different? I mean, cool you're keeping up with your logs, but it's not exactly a life changing philosophy. It's just a checkbox hack.

emma_burns9613d ago

I read somewhere that bujo is basically just a personal productivity system that only works if you keep tweaking it for your own brain. The bit about "redrawing like half my key" really hit home because I've done that exact thing twice this month after watching a YouTube video about signifier symbols. The barista's idea about marking urgent vs. important is actually a classic prioritization method called the Eisenhower Matrix, which I heard about on a podcast but never thought to put in a bullet journal. Seems like random people often have the best practical hacks because they're not trying to sell you anything or make it complicated. I think the thing that sticks with me is how she just showed you her own simple system instead of trying to explain some fancy method from a book. Good for you for actually trying it out and keeping up with it, most people would just nod and forget.