Bullet Journal Companion 4+

I have to say this app has proved to be more effective than I thought. I used to use Apple Reminders to log quick tasks that I would come back to later, but inevitably wait days before opening the app, be overwhelmed by the large list of tasks needing to be addressed, and avoid “migrated” them to their specific list or area of my life.

After moving back to pen and paper and using the bullet journal method I still needed a way to capture tasks and quick notes on my phone on the go so I paid for this app. The sheer brilliance of a task or note expiring after 72 hours forces your hand to migrate them timely into your bullet journal (or any “system”) but also reminds you that if you haven’t looked at something in 3+ days it must not be that important. There have been many times I’ve forgotten to open the app after 72 hours just to find out all my tasks and notes expired. I at first panic, and then sigh a relief. “If it was that important it will come back”.

The app is a little dated on the font/style and I wish it had Siri Shortcuts accessibility so I could voice log tasks with Siri. Other than that I’ve loved it and have been using it about a year now.

I have no idea how such a simple app is so pleasant to use...but it is. The background photos are just beautiful, and the articles are laid out in such an aesthetically pleasing way that I love browsing through them throughout the day, instead of defaulting to browsing social media. No visual clutter.

The log is great for when things pop into my head when I'm lying in bed or not in a place where I can easily write them in my bullet journal. (They disappear after 48 hours so that they don't cause clutter like every other note taking or reminders app does. The reflection part is there to remind you to check in and update your journal.) I'm not one to spend money on apps but for some reason, this was an easy choice.👍🏼

So I am new to BuJo. I am trying to retool how I work to be more present/productive and this seemed a great concept. Bought a journal and the app in hopes it would help me launch out well. The app is helpful in the sense you can add tasks, etc, and they're temporary to keep you on paper. Frustrating but I appreciate why it's like that.

It has some resources to help you get started, but I feel like it's mostly stuff you can find on their site or on the internet for free. And most of what I have seen that isn't an article or small video is class I can also pay for if I want to learn the official way to do things. I feel like a $30 investment should come with some kind of onboarding system that is gradual and helps you get into BuJo without trying to sell me more stuff. I feel like I'll have spent the same price as an Evernote subscription before I'm done at this rate, and it's not even a system I'm fully sure will work for me.

I'm still trying and still hopeful it'll work, but right out the gate I'm worried I just got talked out of $30 with little to show but an organizational foreign language project.