Visited a stationery shop in Portland and saw a whole wall of bullet journal spreads

I was at this little shop called The Inky Nook last weekend and they had a huge display of sample bullet journals. One side was all super neat, color-coded, and perfect, like from Instagram. The other side had messy, scribbled pages with notes and crossed-out tasks. The owner said people either want the pretty art or the useful tool. But can a journal be both, or do you have to pick one? What do you think is more important for actually getting things done?

4 comments

4 Comments

wendym871mo ago

Totally! My own journal is a chaotic mess, but that's what actually gets me to open it and use it.

alexpalmer1mo ago

Guess my brain needs the mess to feel at home.

thompson.julia1mo ago

Used to think a clean, empty page was the only way to start. Then I tried a bullet journal and filled the first page with a messy list of random worries. Seeing that chaos already there made it feel less scary to add more.

dianawilson7d ago

Wait, the owner said people just want "pretty art" OR a "useful tool"? That's wild, isn't a bullet journal literally supposed to be both by design?