Bullet Journaling 101
Sometimes visualizing time can better help us manage it. If any of the following apply to you, you might benefit from a bullet journal:
You constantly have lists and notes all over the place and really need them all in one place
You are tired of always starting a new diary/sketchbook/planner/idea-book/some other book that you think can only handle one kind of interaction)
All those planner apps aren’t working for you because handwriting things actually helps you remember them
You secretly like scrapbooking, zine-making, and collaging
You have some serial killer level organizational compulsions
Your thoughts are scattered and your life shows it
You’re a normal person, and just want to get organized
A bullet journal is great for students, creatives, parents, leaders of any kind, entrepreneurs, and anyone with goals and ambitions. Wherever you are in life, a bullet journal is recommended for anyone who is honest enough with themselves to know they will use it. All you need is a notebook and a pen. The bullet journal at its core is “rapid logging” organized into four parts: The Future View, the Monthly View, the Daily Lists, and optional bonus pages, all managed by the Index.
The Future View is a big-picture view to mark dates as far out at six months. This is a good place to mark birthdays, holidays, vacation and travel dates, concert dates, things you know will happen far off.
The Monthly View is a narrower perspective of time to navigate dates for the current month. You can move dates from the Future Log here as they arrive, and mark things like a work schedule, class schedule, menstruation dates, due dates, etc. It’s a good place to track your habits and spending. It’s also a good place to list out big picture goals and monthly challenges. More ideas are listed in the second half of this post.
The Daily Lists are for your everyday happenings: everything from reminding yourself to wash the dishes to bearing your soul on a bad day. Some users will add a view of the week ahead of time, for more immediate planning, or reoccurring things like homework and chores
Lists of bullet point tasks are typically logged one day at a time (like the night before). Items on the list are differentiated by various marks. Markings such as these shown will help you navigate your journal when looking back on the many things you may have added to it.
Bonus pages are essentially auxiliary pages for the purpose of reference. They are low-priority lists that don’t need your immediate attention, as well as specific modes of tracking time that you want to separate from the above spreads. If you have a journal that is numbered (or you number the pages yourself), you can refer to these pages by giving them titles and listing them on your Index page. Your Index is a table of contents. Some ideas for bonus pages and for all the bullet journal categories are listed below.
Your journal should be as simple, complex, colorful, and/or flexible as you need it to be. This is important to note because it is easy to be seduced by all the Instagram-worthy bullet journals out there on the interwebs. Anything more complex than what your lifestyle can realistically handle will make your bullet journal another time-consuming chore you will likely abandon. BUT if you’re down to clown – because you have loads of time (and highlighters) on hand – keep reading. We’ve discussed what makes a bullet journal useful, but what makes it fun is all the extra personalization, decoration, stickers, bonus pages, bookmarks, washi tape, confetti, pop-ups, DVD bonus footage, and anything your heart desires to convince you it will help you stay organized. The key is to find balance between useful and fun.
IDEAS FOR YOUR MONTHLY SPREAD
Spending Tracker – Because budgeting and adult-life
Splurge Cap in Bold – So you don’t feel guilty about going over budget, just allocate ahead of time
Habit Tracker – It can be motivating to see yourself have a streak of consecutive habits you’re trying to accomplish
Big Picture Goals & Challenges – 30 days is a good timeline to accomplish sizable goals, right?
Separate Work/School Columns – When you want to keep work at work
IDEAS FOR YOUR DAILY VIEW
Mini Habit Tracker – Something singular like one important thing you want to do (such as draw once a day), or something that recurs throughout the day (like drinking liters of water, or praying)
Daily Mood Illustrations – Better manage emotions
Calorie Intake Number – If you’re undergoing strict dieting, writing this number down everyday may be helpful and motivating
BONUS PAGE IDEAS: GOAL TRACKERS, ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING
Habit Tracker – To stay on your butt about things you want to do (or not do) regularly
Achievement Bar – Illustrate chronological goals in a cute little drawn bar graph like money saved or hair growth. Similarly you can illustrate a non-chronological collection like 400 meter track running times, zombie apocalypse bunker storage completion, etc
Ultimate Bucket List – checklist for every single place you have to travel, every book you need to read, every cake you want to bake, every movie you still have to watch, every restaurant you’ve been told to try, and all that “I’ll-do-this-later” goodness
BONUS PAGE IDEAS: CONTAIN YOUR VAST AMOUNT OF IDEAS & THOUGHTS
Blog Post Ideas – Or really any ideas, so you don’t forget any of those gems
Gift Ideas – When your bank account and memory are never aligned, plus handy things like clothing sizes, ring sizes, favorite colors, etc
Funny Tweets & Memes This Year – How great will that be to reminisce on later?
Inspiration – Page for motivating cutout images, quotes, notes, and whatever gets you moving
Gratitude Moments – For when you’re feeling blessed, or just need a reminder of how awesome life is
BONUS PAGE IDEAS: REFERENCE & PREFERENCE
Emergency Binge Watch List – For that sabbatical you take into Netflix/Hulu, no restraints, no regrets
Emergency Zen Tips – No one knows how to relieve stress better than your past experiences
Staple Food Grocery List – Life is complicated enough, who has time to think of elaborate meals
Recipes You Never Remember – Because cooking is not at the forefront for some of us
Travel Packing List – Don’t we all usually forget at least one thing when packing to travel?
Apothecary Reference – (E.g. you can’t remember the order of your Korean face-washing routine, and this close to giving up if you waste another single ounce bottle of $50 “essence”)
Health Reference – Calorie counter, workout regimen, juicing diet, etc
Important Info – Locker combinations, passwords, emergency contacts, math equations, car maintenance log, etc
Many ideas for a bullet journal are of the aesthetic variety. So if you are into the graphic possibilities of bullet journal spreads and suspiciously perfect hand-lettering, I suggest you take a stroll down the Pinterest-paved road.
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A bullet journal is a beautiful reflection of you, a (hopefully) growing person, always changing and moving forward. My bullet journal started as a means to organize all the projects I wanted to accomplish. Though it still serves that purpose, another great purpose has organically sprung out of my using it to have honest conversations with myself asking “what have I learned?” and turning those conversations with myself into bite-sized, motivational reminders that actually gets me to do all the things on my many lists. It has become a place to sort out my ideas as they happen and not just the edited cute curated version of them; a place to look back to the week before and realize that I’m happier than what I currently feel, or that I have so much for which I should be grateful. My point is, let your journal be your workshop, let it be a place where you are truly learning about yourself for the better. Let the aesthetic beauty come – if that’s something you’re truly into – but power through when it gets a little ugly too, because life gets a little ugly sometimes, but that won’t make your bullet journal any less useful. Until next time.
Check out my bullet journal flip-through below!