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

I found myself relating to the author and her style of writing not to mention her sense of humor! Everything about this book was more than helpful to me and I quickly learned the bullet system better than what I was finding online. Her monthly and weekly spreads in this book got me motivated and I found myself incorporating her techniques that really work for me. I really enjoyed her personal stories which answered a lot of questions I had on how to start, when to start and if I should keep a separate journal. In the beginning I used her key system until I found one that worked best for me so, this book is a great guide when you are just not sure how to start, not to mention the samples provided. As a beginner to the bujo system, I found this book most helpful. Organization to a new level has been on my mind since the better part of the last year. I went ahead and ordered a new planner for 2018 which I love but, knowing that my life is going to be very busy in the new year, it does not provide me enough room for lists, notes, etc. Having a structured planner does help me immensely but, I still find myself with many journals and notes that tend to get lost. I came across Bullet Journaling one day while searching for a new way of planning and this looked like a system that I could incorporate into my life. I watched videos and was so amazed how these bullet journals could store everything you need in just one place! I wanted to learn more and since I am a book lover I looked for a book that could teach me how to set up my new journal for 2018 and found this book. Even though I watched videos, and read blogs on this topic, for me it was still not enough as I really wanted a step by step guide that I could hold in my hands and be able to set-up my dot journal. This book has helped me do just that. This is a book that I would recommend to to anyone that is new to bullet journaling and needs a place to start.

I liked this book. I know other reviewers have said the author presents herself as the inventor of dot journaling, but I never got that from the book. She merely says that she started keeping one and the book is a collection of things she learned as she went. I was like the author and intrigued by the concept but other than seeing amazing illustrations on Pintrest I really wasn't sure what exactly a dot journal was. Her book is really great at explaining things and basically breaking everything down so that you can figure out what's going on. I really liked that the book contains "practice" pages at the back. I used all of them to figure out spacing and designs that I wanted to try before putting them in ink in my (expensive) dot journal. I didn't end up starting a daily journal as it turned out I was already doing something really similar and (in my mind) much easier. Personally, I found the task of having to create pages on a daily basis way too much to do and caused more stress than it was supposed to relieve. But I kept the book and the journal and am using them to track longer term things like household purchases and a loan I'm paying off. These things required only the initial set up and then they're done. Overall, if you're new to dot journaling, I think this book is a good purchase and it will be helpful - even if it's just to decide if this is for you or not.

I received this book before its publication date, which was a lovely surprise, and I immediately sat down to read the entire thing in one sitting. This book is full of simple, effective ideas for creating and, most importantly, sustaining a dot journal, and is absolutely worth the money. In the past few years, I've started -- and stopped -- two dot journals. When I did use them, the system was effective and allowed me to really make it my own. Where my own personal blockages came in was when I went on social media to see how others formatted their journals and was inundated with images of complicated, artistic spreads that made me feel as if my dot journal was ugly. I'm of the minimalist approach, and seeing all of those gloriously decorated and colored bullet journals made me think I was doing it "wrong," so I stopped. (Silly, I know, but it's what happened, and I know I'm not alone in that.) Then along came Rachel Wilkerson Miller's "Dot Journaling" book. She gives those of us who are intimidated by the artsy dot journalers permission to be our wonderfully minimalistic selves. She provides different types of simple, yet visually appealing, layouts for each section of a dot journal, allowing us to be as creative (or not) as we want. The humor she injects throughout is very engaging and fun to read. I soon bought a Leuchtturm dot journal and some fine-tipped gel pens to begin my new dot journal journey. With the author's tips and insights, I've been able to thoroughly enjoy my third go-around into dot journaling. It's become a central part of my life and goes with me everywhere. I'm very glad I ordered this book!

Since grad school back in the stone age, I've periodically tried to organize my life using quite a few different methods. Nothing ever took until now. Within a couple hours of reading the first page of this book, I had created a journal I've been using consistently ever since (6 weeks now). I can't emphasize enough just how out-of-character this is! I always put it down to laziness and lack of focus, so it's a relief to know that I just needed the right method. I really, really wish I'd discovered this at an earlier stage of life. I was skeptical about putting work, family, home, diary, planning all in one place and also about the time sink of creating a freeform calendar/diary/planner from a blank notebook, but decided to just try it and start simple. I left several blank pages for an index. Then created a single page listing each day of the current month with space for a short note, so I can see major events of the month at a glance. On the back of that page I list goals/tasks for the month and also food ideas for the month (I love to cook from scratch and do a lot of meal planning). I laid out each day into a week per page and used the author's recommended symbols to indicate events and tasks. Soon I was adding other sections like planning for a trip, fall veggie garden plan, wish list etc. It seemed strange to interleave these sections into a daily schedule and planner, however it works great as long as you number the pages and keep an index. I am so much more on top of the little things plus longer term goals and tasks do not fall off the radar. I can make plans so much more quickly and easily than in the past. My notebook has no dots, so it's not as pretty as the pictures, but that's OK. Spiral binding and size is more important to me. The only problem now is that the journal has augmented my prefrontal cortex to the point that I'm terrified of losing it!

“Dot Journalling” is just a rebranding of Bullet Journalling. I’m not sure why the author felt compelled to do this other than to try tonavoid copyright/trademark infringement. It looks like a blatent egoistic attemptnto cash in on someone elses work. That’s lame. And I don’t think it was neccessary: this book actually, IMO (as a new bullet journaller), has some good advice on tackling various aspects of bullet journalling. For those ideas I think it is worth a few $ and an hour. However there is a significant chunk of the book that is just a list of things you can make lists for. There’s a lot of rambling filler about diaries. I got some actionable ideas from it, but I’l looking for the official Bullet Journalling book by the creater of the system. I’ll be happily paying significantly more for a physical copy.

I bought the Kindle version of this book to read on my iPad while I was traveling and thinking about starting up a journal again. I am really glad that is the version I bought because I find myself pulling up the e book when I'm in a store looking for just the right brush pen brand and color. The value here is a really simple start up guide + a materials reference for brand new newbies. I look at it as one of the tools I bought to get myself started on a new valuable habit. I was brand new to the concept of bullet journaling / dot journaling when I read this book, and I really think Rachel W. Miller's style is going to work for me. She describes just a bit of the history of diaries and gets you thinking about how to make your journal part organizational tool and part record of your life/reflection tool. She keeps it super simple and low on the jargon that has formed up around the original concept of Bullet Journaling while fully acknowledging that Ryder Carol's bullet journal is a jumping off point for dot journaling. Having read this book, some of the bullet journaling world still feels a little impenetrable to me. I'd rather not wrap my head around a "future log spread" but instead just make a couple of pages into a calendar for the year ahead. The layout examples are super simple as well, which keeps them from being intimidating.

I got interested in bullet journaling as a way to track habits. I initially turned to the internet and Pinterest for ideas, but found myself intimidated by others' superior design skills and calligraphy! This book reminded me that the bullet journal is meant to be an organizational tool, and that my bullet journal didn't need to be beautiful and sporting advanced calligraphy in order to be useful to me! It also gave me some ideas about how to start something I can sustain, and reminded me my journal is something that is dynamic and can evolve over time, based on my needs. So, without knowing for sure what spread I'll be using next week, I'm ready for September 1! I plan to use my dot journal to document and guide my home yoga practice, fuel my Wednesday writing practice, track my dinners at home, and express gratitude. This book makes for a quick and very readable guide to getting started keeping a bullet journal.

I should start by saying - I love books. I have hundreds of crafting, diy and home decor books and this book is one of my top 10. I had seen "dot" journaling on Pinterest and was intrigued but couldn't get to the bottom of what it was all about. Ms. Miller fixed that for me in a matter of a few hours and now I am hooked! For the negative reviews that accuse Ms. Miller of stealing someone else's idea - she doesn't claim she was the original dot journaler. She says she (like me) saw lots of pretty pictures but couldn't get down to the nuts and bolts of it. It is a combination of a diary, day planner and scrapbooking that you create yourself so I think it would be hard for anyone to claim this as an "original" idea. And I'm not sure it matters who came up with the "idea". Ms. Miller wrote a helpful book that is entertaining and easy to read. If you prefer to watch youtube videos and scour the internet, then by all means you should do that instead of buying this book. But if you like to read a book and want the info at your fingertips to reference over and over, than this book is for you.

Well written, great concept

Es muy bonito y práctico para gente que se quiera iniciar en el bullet jounaling. Esta escrito en un inglés bastante sencillo, y la autora tiene sentido del humor, es muy ameno y visual. A pesar de que dice que si eres iniciado empieces con algo simple y básico, echo de menos un poco más de creatividad en los ejemplos que da. Hay otro libro de la misma autora que se llama "how to bullet plan" y es el mismo libro que éste. El otro no lo recomiendo porque es más grueso y pesado (a pesar de traer las mismas 224 páginas) y un pelín más caro, pero la información es la misma.

To be honest, i thought this was an actual journal but it turned out to be just a guide. Nice guide tho.

Really surprised by this book! While I know something about this style of journaling already & bought this book for a few extra ideas, what I got was so much more! This book is so easy to follow & it's all written with a great sense of humour. Think I'll be reading this more than once.

Perfekt. Spannend und einfach zu lesen mit vielen Beispielen. Ich bin sehr zufrieden.