Using your Cúpla Focal in your BuJo

I started using the Bullet Journal system last year, after many, many years of buying planners and not using them. The final straw of this continuous cycle was 2020; the year that made it pretty clear that stringent planning was not always going to work for everyone, so I decided to give BuJo a go.

Sure, what else was I doing?

After checking out the official site at bulletjournal.com I was very intrigued - a mindfulness-based productivity system? Sign me up! Initially, I didn’t splash out on a fancy dotted journal because I have a tendency sometimes to get really into something and then drop it shortly after. So, I grabbed a cheap and cheerful dotted spiral book from my local bookshop for €4.50 to try it out - no super fancy spreads, just trying the system out to see if it could work for me. 

After getting to grips with it and sticking it out for 8 weeks, and watching several YouTubers do amazing things with spreads - I did treat myself to a fancy Notebook Therapy BuJo (the Tsuki ‘Crystal Nights’ Limited Edition MilkTuArt Collab BuJo, to be precise) and I just loved everything about it, down to the little free witch's hat paper clip that came with it. 

What I liked instantly were the brain-dumps; getting all the bits floating around my head onto a page where I could then neatly organise and schedule them. I also really appreciated the flexibility in planning, the creative buzz and also the customisation side of planning my own layouts. I then started to layout my planner as Gaeilge (in Irish), which added a whole new level of fun - so I thought I would share some of my BuJo as Gaeilge terms and layouts here!

Tearmaí BuJo i nGaeilge - BuJo Terminology in Irish

Rúnscríobh - Cipher (Key)

           [rún = secret, scríobh = writing]

So, the Irish word for ‘key’ is ‘eochair’ [pron. ukkir] - but that felt a bit too on the nose to use for BuJo, so I explored some synonyms and ‘rúnscríobh’ [pron. roon-skreev], meaning ‘cipher’ seemed like a much better fit because the keys in the BuJo system are a shorthand/cipher for making the process as simple as possible. 

Fun Fact: On the Dutch-Door spread in the picture above, I’ve written the word Rúnscríobh in the Cló Gaelach script - you might notice that it’s spelled “Rúnscríob”. There’s a little dot over the B, called a buaite, which signifies a séimhiú (a lenition) or quite simply a H which follows the consonant. 

Tascanna - Tasks

Instead of the typical square box for tasks, I use a circle (as shown in the picture above) - once a task is progressing I shade it in like the phases of the moon until the ‘Dark Moon’ shows that the task is complete. These are done in a kind of leveled system:

• Le déanamh = to do
• Tús maith, leath na hoibre = a good start is half the work (this is actually a Seanfhocail that I’m using for motivation)

• Idir lámha = in progress [literally, “between hands”]
• Beagnach ann… = almost there...
• Déanta = done
• Imircthe = migrated

For migrated tasks, I use the circle with an arrow - but for tasks and notes which are imircthe go lán-aimseartha (migrated to the long-term) I use the > arrowhead. 

Tearmaí Eile - Other Terms 

• Tábhachtach = important
• Féinchúram = self-care
• Coinní = appointments
• Nótaí = notes
• Smaoineamh = thought/reflection/idea
• Eagraithe = organised/scheduled 
• Airgead = money 
• Ceist = question
• Inneacs = Index 

Todhchaí - Future 

In the pictures above, you’ll see I’ve done my future log, or Todhchaí, as a full year overview split between 2 full spreads so I can see 6 months at a time.

The months of the year are all given as Gaeilge below, as well as a shorthand version which I use for notes.  

• Eanáir [EAN] = January [JAN]
• Feabhra [FEA] = February [FEB]
• Márta [MAR] = March [MAR]
• Aibreán [AIB] = April [APR]
• Bealtaine [BEA] = May [MAY]
• Meitheamh [MEI] = June [JUN]
• Iúil [IÚI] = July [JUL]
• Lúnasa [LÚN] = August [AUG] 
• Meán Fómhair [MFÓ] = September [SEPT]
• Deireadh Fómhair [DFÓ] = October [OCT]
• Samhain [SAM] = November [NOV]
• Nollag [NOL] = December [DEC]