The feeling of getting your life together is so satisfying, right? Bullet Journaling is a great way to achieve this. It is a much-loved system for planning your days (and weeks, and months) while also supporting mindful living and doing something creative. In this blog post I’ll teach you what bullet journaling is, how it works, why it’s so popular, and how you can start your own.
What is Bullet Journaling?
Bullet Journaling (or BuJo) is a very flexible organisation system created by Ryder Carroll. You basically buy a blank notebook, usually with dotted paper, and you magically create something that is a journal, planner, habit tracker, and to-do list in one. You use different symbols, called bullets, to log tasks, events, notes, and deadlines.
Below a small snippet of my very first bullet journal from 2018 when I still bothered to make the ‘key’ and the ‘index’ page (I’ll explain these later), it gives you an idea of the ‘bullets’ you can use, but you can always choose symbols that make sense to you.
Why So Many People Love Bullet Journaling
Unlike traditional planners, a bullet journal doesn’t follow a fixed layout. You create the pages as you go, which means your journal can change with your needs, seasons, and goals.
Some cool features of bullet journaling:
- Super flexible: you design layouts that work for your life.
- Fit to your style: keep it minimalistic and simple, or make artistic spreads with pretty artwork, doodles and hand-lettering.
- All‑in‑one: instead of having multiple planners and apps, everything lives in one place.
- Affordable (or not): as a shopaholic, my favourite part is searching for cute notebooks and pretty pens and markers, so I’ve built up quite a large stationery collection over time. That said, you can absolutely use every notebook and pen you already have kicking around and not spend a penny.
Start your own bullet journal
Bullet journal basics
- The key: usually at the front of your notebook, this page explains (to yourself lol) what your symbols mean. You’ve seen mine in the picture earlier.
- The index: every time you create a new page, you can add it to your index. This makes it easy to find things later.
- Yearly overview: an overview of the coming months. It’s perfect for birthdays, appointments, or events that are further away. I usually divide one page in three sections (three months), so I use 4 pages for this for the whole year
- Monthly overview: next you can start with your first month. On the first page you can make a list of tasks you want to complete that month along with important events.
- Themed pages: before starting my daily logs, I usually add some themed pages, which I’ll explain in the next section.
- Daily logs: this is where most of the action happens. You simply list tasks, events, and notes day by day. Below I’ve added an image of one of my daily spreads.
Themed pages
I think this is where the bullet journal really shines. Where the monthly and daily logs are more focused on planning and productivity, the themed pages are often about mindful living and self-care.
Here are some popular examples:
- Habit trackers (workouts, water intake, meditation, et)
- Mood, sleep, stress, or energy level trackers
- Reading log or series watched
- Goal planning pages
I like how Ryder Carroll says that he created the BuJo method for living an intentional life and to be mindfully productive, this sums it up perfectly in my opinion 😊
jhuynhgbf (my cat’s contribution to this blog post)
Final thoughts
I’ve been on and off the BuJo train for years. Being creative with my spreads brings me so much joy, and this method totally makes me more productive, That said, I have to admit that the perfectionist in me sometimes gets a little overwhelmed with creating bullet journal spreads. I don’t want to half-ass it, so when I’m really busy I find myself jumping off the train again. So if you are just starting, learn from me: keep it simple if you feel overwhelmed. You can always add pretty designs later.
✨ Creativity is optional 😊
If you like to try bullet journaling without putting in the actual work, pleas visit my Etsy shop! I’ve created a printable bullet journal bundle.
Further reading
- Ryder Carroll’s book and website are the best places to start
- Pinterest is also a great source of inspiration for bullet journal ideas
☀️ What are your thoughts about bullet journaling? Do you have one, or do you want to start one? I’d love to read your comments!
