They don’t need to be used together, but…

I have never been a fan of digital calendars. At home, my husband has the luxury of having the Google Calendar all to himself. Personally I find inputting content in digital calendars easily forgettable as the task for me is passive. I live and die by taking notes with good old fashioned paper and pen for all sorts of reasons.

Recently I’ve had to get used to using a digital calendar for work, as it’s how people tend to schedule their days. I was torn learning this; I first and foremost depend on my bullet journal to navigate my way through life. Did this mean I was going to have to defer to Outlook?

Why not both?

It may seem a little redundant, but I’ve actually adjusted by using both calendars to keep track of my work life, but not my personal life. The only exception to this is keeping track of when I’m away from the office. Usually when I get to work the first thing I’ll do is sit down and make a list of all the things I need to do for the day. I look at my Outlook calendar, then my bullet journal, and then make my list in my notebook based off of that.

The nice thing about having multiple places to defer to is I don’t always need to bring my bullet journal with me. Most of the time I do bring my bullet journal along, but, as an example, if I’m going out to the movies and someone messages me to ask what my schedule is looking like a few weeks ahead, I have the option to open up my Outlook calendar on my phone and see if there’s anything work-related I need to prioritize.

Why not stick with one method?

I know that I’m the kind of person that needs to write something down in order to remember to do it. I will actually recall things that have to be completed using this method. Additionally, I’m much faster writing things down that inputting them into my phone or even on a desktop computer; it just happens to be the way I function. What’s more, if I can’t access a computer or a phone for whatever reason, having a default that is analog and accessible 24/7, 365 is incredibly convenient. I could never go 100 per cent digital.

I still prefer keeping track of my life in my bullet journal, and I love to look back at the tasks I’ve completed as it makes me feel accomplished.

What are your favourite ways to organize your life? Leave me a comment below!