Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! If you’re looking for the perfect gift to get the bullet journalist in your life, or a little something for yourself, I have the perfect list for you!
True to form, you won’t find any fancy tape or clips here – and though I do enjoy a variety of pens, I don’t use mid liners enough to recommend with confidence. What I will do for items like this is refer you to other friends who know that world much better. Here we go!
Heads up! At the end of the guide I share more information on the upcoming membership community, don’t miss it!
The Journals
Baron Fig Confidant
The OG notebook for me and the first I seriously BuJo’d in. It looks very classy, the paper is of a quality thickness, and it performs great. Only drawbacks are it is a little smaller than the Leuchtturm (unless you like that), only has one marker ribbon, and no page numbers.
Buy any of the Baron Fig products with my referral code
Habit Journal (available for pre-order)
A collaboration from Baron Fig and my friend James Clear, I’m really excited to see this journal. I had the opportunity to review the early drafts and can say it’s the best journal for habits – I think you’d love it!
Leuchtturm1917
The bullet journal that started it all, they are the official Bullet Journal provider. Everything you’d want is here: index, key, 3 ribbons, and numbered pages. Can’t go wrong with it.
Field Notes
If you want a smaller pocket notebook, these are my favorite. Can get a few for cheap and use as needed. Each one normally lasts a month of daily use.
Everyday Carry
Baron Fig Backpacks: Slimline and Classic
You can see my review of the Slimline here, it’s a great bag that I highly recommend. The updates they made are fantastic as well, water resistant coating, upgraded zippers, and more! I especially love how slim it really is.
One underrated use is it’s easy to lay this bag flat in a larger travel bag, then have it ready to go for daily carry at your destination. The classic is their take on the school pack, and I do love that it has water bottle pockets!
If you want to do the deepest dive into bag reviews, check out my friend Chase Reeve’s holiday gift guide!
Accessory Bags & Carry
I like to keep my stuff organized in the pack, from pens to cords to snacks and many other things. It’s easy to find these little bags anywhere online, but here are a few different outdoor companies that I really love. Since they’re made for protecting outdoor gear you can feel confident they’ll protect your daily carry stuff.
- Topo Designs Accessory Bags
- Bond Travel Gear Tool Roll
- Peak Design Tech Pouch
- Dango Pioneer Pack (wallet, mini-tool, & notebook combo)
Pens
I’ll just go ahead and say that if you really want to nerd out on pens, make sure you follow Brad the Pen Addict. He won’t lead you astray. I say that because I am not much of a pen nerd and tend to buy and use fairly basic pens. I go for the “better than Bic but c’mon it’s just a pen” category. That being said, here’s what I like to use.
Papers, Pads, & More
Best Self has some of my favorite productivity products. Besides the Self Journal (see my review below), they have some of the smartest tools to help you level up in many different areas. Here are some of my favorites!
For one last shout-out to Baron Fig, here are my favorite “tools for thinkers” they make and I use almost every day. Here’s my referral link once more.
- Strategist Dot Grid Index Cards
- Ruler Set
- Mastermind Desk Pad
Books
Make sure you read & watch the books livestream to get tons of recommendations! But for the holidays I’ll whittle it down to five.
- Atomic Habits – James Clear
- 5 Second Rule – Mel Robbins
- Bullet Journal Method – Ryder Carroll
- It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be – Paul Arden
- How to Fight a Hydra – Josh Kaufman
Other Gear I Love
- Anything Jeff makes at Ugmonk
- Make -Excuses- Things mug from SeanWes
- Life’s Better When You Make Stuff from Levi
Timeular Time Tracking: this cool tool is something I’ll definitely be making a full video about soon! Basically you set 8 common activities in your work and life. When you start that activity, flip Timeular to have that activity face up, and it will track your time until you flip to another activity or set it on the stand. A cool visual tracker for your time!
Get Timeular here and use the code ‘xmas2018’ for 20% off 2 trackers!
note: you can use the app and tool without a subscription – it’s up to you!
Coming (very) Soon:
Bullet Journal Guy Membership
I’m really excited for this in 2019! There will be two levels of membership, Patron and Mastermind. I’ll be releasing Patron this month, and the first big perk will be an end of year livestream just for members! This is the biggest time of year for new goals, habits, and systems, so I want to be available to answer any burning questions you have!
Here’s what else members will receive…
- Monthly livestream – show up live, ask questions, get answers!
- Weekly Bullets – a short member’s only newsletter with my favorite tips and products.
- Monthly Giveaways – people send me stuff to review now, and I’ll give those things away to members! Will include notebooks, pens, books, and more!
If you’re interested, just enter your email below and I’ll email you as soon as membership launches!