Checked out a bullet journal meetup last night and it was a mess

I finally went to a local bullet journal meetup at a coffee shop in downtown Portland (the one on 3rd and Main). The organizer spent 20 minutes talking about her custom stamps and then handed out a pre-printed weekly layout sheet. I thought bullet journaling was about making your own setup, not following someone else's template. Has anyone else run into these kinds of rigid groups that kill the whole point of it being flexible?

3 comments

3 Comments

rose_hart1mo ago

I walked into one where the first thing they did was hand out a printed "approved" layout and I just drew a circle in my notebook instead of copying it, which got a few looks but also started a real conversation.

milesj702d ago

Wait, did anyone actually tell the organizer that pre-printed sheets go against the whole idea? I went to a group once where the guy running it spent ten minutes explaining why we should all use the same brand of pen because it "flows better." I just sat there doodling a little spaceship in my notebook while he talked. Nobody said anything to him, but a woman next to me whispered that she was only there for the free coffee. The whole thing fell apart when someone asked if they could use a different notebook and the guy got all weird about it.

lisak261mo agoMost Upvoted

Ask the organizer if she even uses a bullet journal herself. Her handing out pre-printed sheets makes it sound like she just runs a planner workshop and called it a bullet journal thing. Did anyone push back on that, or did everyone just nod along? I'm guessing most people there were new and thought that's just how it works. That whole rigid setup kills the whole point of being flexible and making it your own.