What is Bullet Journaling?

Last week we talked about the importance of journaling. This week, I wanted to give an overview of one method of journaling: bullet journaling. This method not only offers you opportunities to self-reflect, but also to keep yourself more organized, track your goals and other habits, and maybe even express a little creativity while you’re at it! The original concept may be a little different than other journaling you might have tried before. It also isn’t necessarily the same as the super creative and elaborate layouts you’ve seen if you’ve searched “journaling” on Pinterest. So let’s dive in!

What Is Bullet Journaling?

In its original, simplest form, bullet journaling is “an analog method for a digital world”. It’s intended to be a physical journal that uses what’s called “rapid logging” to jot down ideas, tasks, events, goals, and more. You have places to put annual tasks or things as you think of them, even if they are months out, a place to organize your week, and a place to organize your day.

Bullet journaling was first invented by Ryder Carroll. There is also a site dedicated to what it is and how to implement it successfully. 

Getting Fancy…If You Want

Since its inception, people have taken the concept and made it sometimes extremely elaborate. Below are some great examples of spreads, layouts, doodles, colorful drawings, you name it. 

It doesn’t have to be intimidating though! Whether you want to get creative in your journaling, or if you’re wanting to keep it simple and easy, bullet journaling might be the way to go!

Elements of a Bullet Journal

There are several elements to a bullet journal, which are listed here. You can also watch this video by the inventor of the bullet journal which leads you through the process.

The Index

Since this is a physical journaling method, you need an index to keep track of where everything is in your journal. That’s where your index comes in. It’s typically at the beginning of your journal and you enter in all your main pages and their page numbers. 

The Future Log

This is where you can put anything that comes to mind that doesn’t relate to today or this week. As you create your monthly and weekly logs, you can add things from your Future Log as the time approaches.

The Monthly Log

You create one of these a month. In these, you list the days of the month and the “big rocks” you need to get done in the month. Add whatever comes to mind as you’re making it, big items as they come up, and refer to your Future Log to add anything from there.

The Daily Log

This is where you create one entry a day, and track your tasks, ideas, reminders, anything that comes up. You use a concept called “rapid logging”. In rapid logging, you create short, bulleted entries. Ideas, reminders, thoughts, and tasks, as well as to indicate completed tasks or those that were moved to the next day are denoted by symbols.

And More Elements

If you’re getting fancy with your bullet journal, you can add “spreads”, weekly layouts, more elaborate daily layouts, and “collections”. Collections are lists of things, such as a habit tracker, a sleep tracker, movies you want to watch, books you want to read, the possibilities are endless, really.

Collections can be referenced in your index and where you can also get into the reflections part of journaling. There’s nothing saying you can’t have a daily reflections log, or maybe track your dreams or all the great ideas you have. You can track a list of self-care activities for when you’re feeling stressed, or make a list of all the things that make you happy. Coming up with the lists is, in my opinion, half the fun!

For lots of ideas for creative bullet journal pages, check out our Pinterest board on Journaling!

What’s Next?

Coming up this week, we will be introducing a FREE in-depth video course called “How to Start a Bullet Journal”. You will learn all kinds of stuff:

• How to start and organize your physical bullet journal
• Some recommendations for journals, pens, and other supplies
• Step-by-step instructions on how to create some simple pages
• Step-by-step tutorials on how to use EverNote and OneNote (both free software programs) to create digital journals. With digital formats, you can create journals that you can access on your phone, laptop, and/or tablet so that your journal is always with you!

Get started with Day 1 here!

Wrap Up

I hope you found this useful. As I talked about last week, journaling has a bunch of benefits to your mental and even physical health. If you’re not already journaling, getting started can be a great way to get to know yourself better, get organized, and start improving your overall health!

Happy journaling!

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