Dot Journaling: A Practical Guide: How to Start and Keep the Planner, To-Do List, and Diary That’ll Actually Help You Get Your Life Together by Rachel Wilkerson Miller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Bullet journal book – Dot Journaling – a Review. Although the title says nothing about Bullet Journaling (the system devised by Ryder Carroll), that’s exactly what this book attempts to explain and help you start. I appreciate that Rachel begins the book with a narrative about her introduction to the concept of Bullet Journaling. She tells us why she was (understandably) confused about the idea of this planner/journal/diary thing. She then wraps it up by sharing her conclusions about what it is and how you can use it according to what you need out of it.
Beautiful, Minimalism-Inspired Dot Journaling Layouts
The layouts are gorgeous and Pinterest-worthy; the author herself admits she spent extra care and time crafting them mainly for the book. However, unlike many elaborate BuJo layouts out there, Rachel’s are beautifully minimalistic enough to not raise my envy hackles and make me think I can easily replicate them.
Easy to Browse Book
You don’t have to read the book in order; it’s easy to page through for inspiration. Some sections display a few different ways to do layouts – like Dailies, Weeklies, etc. – and it’s fun to see them in various configurations. Instead of assuming you’ll understand each layout just by looking at it, she explains what each is meant to be or track. I especially like that she included a chapter at the end titled “Making Your Dot Journal Your Own” – with examples of how different pens and markers look on the page and ideas for tools and things to personalize your BuJo.
Narrow Perspective
As with a lot of other productivity how-tos out there, this book suffers from a narrow perspective. There isn’t a lot of content based on the daily lives of anyone very dissimilar to the author, so don’t expect much in the way of examples from men or people with kids.
Overall Book Impressions
This book was an enjoyable, humorous read; sprinkled with amusing anecdotes on the history of journaling and diaries as well as tips and quotes, I like to refer back to this book occasionally for layout inspiration.