🙋Beginner's Guide to Bullet Journaling
Updated: January 26, 2023
The post on Tuesday January 11, 2022 identified many different journaling types available. One of the most versatile journaling types mentioned on Tuesday's post is the Bullet Journal.
In this article we will cover what a bullet journal is, what supplies you need to start a bullet journal, and the different sections of a bullet journal.
The following topics will be covered:
1) What is a bullet journal and what supplies are needed to get started?
2) Bullet Journal Key and Index
3) Future log of Bullet Journal
4) The major sections of Bullet Journal - Monthly, Weekly, Daily Spreads
5) Custom Bullet Journal Collections
Note: Ryder Carrol is credited with coming up with the bullet journal .
1) What is a bullet journal and what supplies are needed to get started?
The bullet journal is a productivity system based on rapid logging with symbol keys to help you organize important events, notes, and tasks. The system used for bullet journaling is referred to as the bujo rapid logging system. The bullet journal can also be referred to as a bullet journal planner.
The keys allow you to classify tasks without spending much time writing, this makes for a quick system to get more tasks done.
You can use the bullet journal to monitor habits and activities to increase productivity, health, or anything that might interest you.
The bullet journal is a personalized and flexible planner and journal system where you can make edits and add collections to suite your life and situation.
This journaling system provides great flexibility and versatility.
The supplies you need to gets started bullet journaling are 2 items:
- Notebook
- Pen
2) Bullet Journal Key and Index
Bullet journal keys are the core of the bujo rapid logging systems.
The key symbols make the bullet journal fast, easy, and effective.
The value of the key symbols is that it allows you to write, track, and scan your tasks and event in a simple and effective way.
It allows you to easily and visually scan your days' tasks and get your list written quickly without losing the meaning of the bullet journal tasks.
The bullet journal system uses the following symbols:
- bullet point identifies tasks
- dash identifies notes
- circle identifies events
The index is where you list your entries and their respective pages for easy finding in the future. The index is your reference or mapping that you will likely need to find at a future time.
The index is a time efficient and effective way to quickly find important information in the journal in the future. So, making the habit to fill out the index is important for you.
The index you will reference your pages as you fill them, either by following a chronological order or by clustering related pages.
For Example:
January - pages 7 - 21
February - pages 23- 27
Running log - pages 22, 28
March - pages 30 - 35
Project tasks - page 29
3) Future log of Bullet Journal
The future log is one of the first pages you setup.
It is considered a collection page.
The bullet journal future log gives you an overview of future months at a glance.
This is the placed to add your important long-term future events, tasks, appointments, and plans and birthdays in one (1) place. For example medium and long term vacations, school breaks, events, appointments, and family visits.
4) The major sections of Bullet Journal - Monthly, Weekly, Daily Spreads
The other major sections of the Bullet Journal are the Monthly, Weekly, and Daily Spreads. We will discuss each section more in depth here.
A monthly spread is an overview of the current month at a glance. The monthly spread is simply a calendar where you add important monthly events / appointments and notes. The monthly spread is one of the first monthly pages you see along with the optional monthly cover page.
Next we discuss the Weekly spread in more detail. The weekly spread is much like the monthly spread, however, the focus is on the weeks events, appointment, etc.
The weekly log is where you have all the weekly events, appointments, and important dates in one place. You can also add the weekly bullet entries that you mark complete or add notes as you go.
The bullet journal weekly spread is one of the most important pages where you add your entries and migrate tasks.
Finally there is the bullet journal daily spread. The daily log is where you will add all of your daily activities. The daily spread is designed for day to day use just like the weekly logs are for weekly use. You will rapid log your tasks, events, notes, etc. in the daily log / journal.
You can use the bullet journal daily spread to track habits, add quotes and mantras, or simply journal.
5) Custom Bullet Journal Collections
There are many different other custom collections you can use in your bullet journal too.
Collections for the Bullet Journal are just pages or logs where you organize related information. For example, recipes, drawings or art, Blood pressure readings, etc.
Some possible Custom Collections for the Bullet Journal are:
- Recipes
- Fitness tracker
- Heart rate tracker
- Yearly Goals
- Monthly Goals
- Mood tracker
- Finance tracker
- Weekly meals
- Decluttering Schedule
- Laundry Schedule
Summary
To summarize we learned all about the bullet journal. The bullet journal is efficient, versatile and flexible. All that is needed to start a bullet journal is a notebook and a pen. There are several different sections that comprise the bullet journal. The Key and Index are very important and should be the start of the journal. A bullet journal usually includes a future log, monthly, weekly, and daily spread and could also include custom collections. And we learned the weekly spread is one of the most important sections of the bullet journal.
For journaling prompts these posts will help
Credit to https://diaryofajournalplanner.com/bullet-journal-guide/ as this site is the main source of information for this post. Much more details and/or bullet journal spread examples are available on this blog.
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