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A written agenda is a great way to manually keep track of your tasks. But a journal from the store with a pre-determined layout might not have all the sections you need.
Enter the bullet journal method. This planning technique lets you plan however you please, personalizing your agenda to your exact needs. By formatting blank pages with lists and sections that suit you, you can avoid flipping through pages you won’t use and hyper-focus your productivity.
Although the bullet journal — or bujo for short — can help you organize your life, starting from such a blank slate can be overwhelming. Before diving in, learn more about what a bullet journal is, how it works, and the best ways to create your own.
What is a bullet journal?
Bullet journaling is a combination of daily planning and journaling, using the blank pages of a notebook to create your own format. It usually has sections for daily and weekly to-do lists, habit trackers, and calendars, but it can include anything and everything you want it to.
The origins of the bullet journal system are a little more rigid. Entrepreneur Ryder Carroll struggled with ADHD and wanted to find a tool that could organize his life and help him focus. In 2013, he created and launched the official Bullet Journal method, which uses specific symbols to indicate task statuses — like “X” for completion or “>” for migration to a future date. He then released an official book, notebook, and online course to help people follow this method.
Carroll’s Bullet Journal method has a helpful structure, and it might work for people who need a clear organizational system when planning their day-to-day. People now use the term “bullet journal” to describe any kind of written agenda that someone creates and decorates themselves. It’s since become popular on social media because of its aesthetic appeal and flexibility.
Most bullet journal examples have two things in common: they’re free-form and aesthetically pleasing. But your bujo doesn’t have to include calligraphy, stickers, and motivational quotes. And you don’t have to use Carroll’s symbols to track to-dos. If your only goal is to write down tasks, there’s nothing wrong with a simpler approach. The point is that the journal should match your needs.
How to start a bullet journal
Your first step is to buy a blank or dot grid notebook to use as an empty canvas. From there, you can decide what your goals are, which will inform what pages to create. If you just need to keep track of your tasks every day, you’ll need to-do list sections. If you want to organize your thoughts when inspiration strikes, include a section for brainstorming. It’s up to you.
Here are some simple bullet journal ideas that are common to help you get started:
- Task lists
- Notes to self
- Yearly overviews
- Pros and cons lists
- Meeting notes
- Grocery lists
- Goal trackers
- Vision boards
- Prompted journal entries for anxiety or manifestation
- Doodles
- Sleep trackers
- Stress trackers
- Mood trackers
- Reminders
- Weekly or monthly calendars
- Shadow work
- Plans for specific events
- Meditative exercises
- Meal planners
4 benefits of bullet journaling
Journaling, the act of writing diary-style entries, improves mental health, encourages gratitude, and even boosts your immune system. Bullet journaling taps into all of these benefits while promoting organization and helping you visualize your life.
Here are four more benefits of bullet journaling:
1. It gives you a high-level view of your life
Unlike a traditional to-do list where you only write down tasks you hope to complete, a bullet journal gives you a holistic view of how your daily activities fit into larger goals. It could help you see things like habits you haven’t been meeting, patterns of missed deadlines, and lapses in your work-life balance. With that information, you’ll know where and how to improve your personal and professional life.
Say you hope to change careers, improve your nutrition, and take a summer vacation to Greece in a year. While you might tackle these matters together in a typical to-do list or planning tool, that process gets messy. Instead, you could organize all of them in individual sections of your bujo. You can fill your journal with notes on your job search, weekly meal plans, and trip information, spotting potential discrepancies or ways to connect your goals.
2. It encourages creativity
Creativity is for everyone, whether you love to make art or have never even doodled before. Research shows that being creative promotes well-being, reduces stress, and makes you happier overall, and bullet journaling can be the outlet you need.
As you work in your bullet journal, push out of your creativity comfort zone. You could make a collage of images representing your goals or color-code your meal plan in your favorite hues to inspire you to fill it out. Use a full page for a meditative coloring exercise or write out song lyrics that move you. There’s no pressure to make your bullet journal a perfect piece of art, but it can be an effective new way to express yourself.
3. It organizes tasks your way
There’s no such thing as a productivity tool that works for everyone. A digital planner might have too many bells and whistles to suit your needs, and an Eisenhower matrix might not capture the details of your to-do list.
A bujo can bring together every detail without overcomplicating the process. It keeps all of your favorite parts of different planning tools and creates a unique system that works for you. It might take some trial and error to discover what pages and symbols you find useful, but there’s no better way to personalize your workflow.
4. It’s a living record
Keeping a bujo organizes tasks and promotes productivity. But it also gives you a space to capture the details of your life at a moment in time — your thoughts, goals, and even manifestations included.
When you look back at a bullet journal years down the line, you won’t find just a ticked-off to-do list like you might with a traditional planner. You may encounter photos, drawings, or quotes that inspired you. With more detail than a diary or photo album, it can remind you of who you are and how far you’ve come, which can be uplifting and inspiring.
How to bullet journal: A step-by-step guide
While bullet journaling doesn’t have set guidelines, a few hacks can make setting up your first journal easier. Take what works and leave the rest. The most important consideration is creating a journal that uniquely represents you.
Here are eight steps to start bullet journaling for beginners:
1. Gather materials
Start your bullet journaling process with a high-quality notebook. Do some research and find one that you like. Brands like Moleskine, Leuchtturm, and Rhodia are popular choices, but you can also get a notebook from founder Carroll’s official website. Just make sure the one you choose has blank or dotted pages so the lines don’t limit you.
Then, gather pens, stickers, and any other materials you need to create the journal. This is a moment to let your creativity soar. If you think you might collage, grab a glue stick and scissors. If bright colors bring you peace, pick up a set of highlighters. There’s nothing wrong with just using your favorite pen, but having a couple of different options can help you further organize your thoughts, like using red for urgent tasks or green for completed ones.
2. Determine your journaling needs
Your bullet journal should reflect your values. It could include work, wellness, or any other aspect of your life that you want to direct your attention to. Take a moment to think about what you want your bujo to cover, whether that’s exclusively personal tasks or a mix of everything.
Then, think about the best ways to represent each of these areas. Perhaps you need a checklist for work tasks, a calendar for general planning, and space for journal entries. Start planning out how these pages might look or fit together. It’s a good idea to do some sketches on a scrap piece of paper before committing your ideas to the journal.
3. Designate a symbol system
One of the key players in the bullet journal’s popularity was Carroll’s original symbol system, so incorporate it into yours. Create a shorthand to represent things to do, things you’ve already done, and things you’ll do later.
These rapid-logging symbols might include dashes, bullet points, and checkmarks, and each should have a defined meaning. You might use checkmarks for completed tasks and crosses for new items on your to-do list. If you have trouble getting used to the system, make a key you can reference at the beginning of your journal.
4. Create sections
You likely don’t have time to map out a new page every time you want to add something to your bujo. Before diving in, create the outlines and sections you need and input information later. For example, you might set up your daily to-do list for the next month, creating spaces in which to write every task. You could also draw out a habit tracker so all you have to do every day is put an “x” when you’ve completed the habit.
As you plan everything out, consider using tab stickers for sections so you can quickly flip between each page. Label the journal with page numbers and include a table of contents at the front or index at the back to guide you. It should be as easy to use as possible.
5. Start simple
Don’t overwhelm yourself with dozens of categories of information — at least at first. It could cause you to give up before you can even start. Begin with just a few sections, like to-do lists and long-term goals, and add new ones as needed.
After your first week or month of using the journal, reflect on what more you might want to include. You might also want to remove categories or adjust ideas that aren’t working the way you anticipated. If you’re not filling out how much water you drink every day but you’re still meeting your hydration goals, maybe you don’t need to document this aspect of your life.
6. Use your journal
While creating your bullet journal may seem like the bulk of the work, the effort won’t stop there. Bullet journaling is what helps you stay productive, reflect on the balance in your life, and keep track of anything from expenses to goal milestones. And to experience those benefits, you have to constantly check in with your journal.
Make bullet journaling time a habit. Set aside at least a few minutes daily to check in on goal progress, tick off tasks, and write down your thoughts. If you find it’s too overwhelming, that’s okay. You can adjust as needed, and if you find this system doesn’t actually work for you, there’s nothing wrong with ditching it altogether and returning to your digital calendar. It’s supposed to be a useful tool, and if it isn’t, then don’t use it.
7. Resist perfectionism
Some people have the time and artistic expertise to make beautiful bujos with detailed pages. And although that level of creativity can be a fun perk to journaling, remember that perfectionism isn’t the goal. A solid bullet journal should feel like a safe and welcoming place to write your thoughts, track your goals, or scribble down a grocery list — so it doesn’t have to look perfect.
If you need to strike out a misspelled word, do it. Accept the coffee stain on the page. This journal is a living document of your life, and these mistakes or blotches are markers of your experience. Overthinking the aesthetics behind your bullet journal could take away its purpose, which is to organize and improve your life.
Expand your journaling and productivity practices
From self-esteem journals to bullet journals, journaling is an excellent way to learn more about yourself, develop self-awareness, and relieve stress. And organizing your life in a planner helps you reach goals and acknowledge your progress as you go.
Combine the power of journaling and productivity planning in one place. A bullet journal is what allows these two parts of your life to come together, creating a productivity system that brings you closer to your goals without feeling like a chore. And using this space as a creative outlet turns organization into a pleasurable activity that’ll quickly become a habit.
