Bullet Journaling 101. The world of bullet journaling can be…
By: Kathryn Thompson
Tags: Bulletjournal, Focus, New Year 2021, Productivity, Bullet Journaling

The world of bullet journaling can be complex and intimidating. For those of you who don’t know what a “bujo” is, look no further. I came across the practice of bullet journaling when I was going into high school. As a measly freshman, I thought to myself “how am I ever going to survive high school without a proper way of organizing myself?!?” It was very clear that I did not watch enough “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide” as a child. But nonetheless, I was on the hunt for planners. Kind of. Basically Facebook knew I was worried about organizational tasks and showed me bullet journaling as a recommended add. I never said the fact that Zuckerberg stores and sells my information isn’t completely unhelpful. Anyway, I saw this beautiful layout with bright colors and the most aesthetically pleasing handwriting I had ever seen.

a very fancy bullet journal that someone put way too much time an effort into

My pubescent and underdeveloped left brain was hooked. I rushed to my mom and told her that I needed to get a notebook (never would I ever disrespect the art like that again) just like what I had seen. A quick trip to Barnes and Noble and I picked up the supplies needed: a Moleskine Journal and new colored felt tip pens*.

*not pictured above in stock image of notebook and pen

That is really all a person needs to start bullet journaling. I could have just as well used normal pens that I already had or even elected to use pencil for everything — which I often do now because I’m lazy. Almost every retail store now a days has their own version of the Moleskine journal, so there is no need to get the name brand stuff. Knock off notebooks function the same. As long as it is dotted you are on the right track. (My first journal was gridded because I didn’t know anything, but I would recommend to get the standard dotted. All the lines are not helpful. They just make you confused and overwhelm the page.)

TO START:

1. Open the notebook and start to fall in love with it. This will become an extension of you that cannot be left anywhere so start getting used to seeing it as more that a notebook

2. Put your name in it and include a phone number or address to return to incase of you misplacing it and a stranger caring (both of which will never happen but best not to test fate)

Okay great. You have done things most people do to any of their processions. Now to the good stuff.

YEAR AT A GLANCE:

The first point of decision and creative liberty. Some people draw small calendars for each month on the first two pages. Others (like me) resort to a much simpler layout to get key dates for the months ahead. I call this the “year’s dates grid”.

my current year spread for the 2020/2021 school year — surprisingly there's a lot of stuff on it. go me :)

Just include the months at the top and then start adding important dates on the side. I recommend doing six months ahead because no one knows what’s going on in seven months and if there is a crisis more than six months from now, that’s a future problem. It is also helpful to include the time on this page so you don’t have to go back and look for that email from 3 months ago explaining the required full staff meeting coming up and can instead tell the coworker you hate the correct time. Bonus points if it’s in front of your boss.

You can also add a page dedicated to your friend’s birthdays which you won’t celebrate, and it can be fun to include a new year’s resolution page if you’re into that stuff. Some of the real bujo enthusiasts go buck wild with birthday pages but most of the time, I get extremely bored by these spreads and move on from them very quickly without finishing them.

MONTH SPREAD:

Next comes the month page. Making a calendar that fits the dots evenly can be a hassle but if you are anything like me it is extremely important. It is best to simply divide the number of dots across the page by seven to figure out how wide each day should be and then do the same for the length. Other than a standard calendar, it can be fun to include other spreads to help keep track of the month more personally. For a long time (before I got exposed to the world of electronics), I used to have a habit tracker in my bullet journal. It included how many hours of sleep I got, if I had worked out at all, and of course if it was my “time of the month”. Often impacted by the previously stated monthly occurrence, I also included a mood tracker which had not only a number for what I felt the day was ranked from 0 to 10, but also tracked how prevalent my anxiety and depression was each day.

my month spread for may 2020. includes the month calendar, a daily gratitude page (with redactions for privacy/embarrassment) and a mental health tracker showing some relatively stable numbers considering the world was starting to fall apart.

I’m sure for some, these examples will be helpful. For me, I got really tired of doing it and opted out of them. Instead, I’m currently doing a page that I like to call “things that bring me joy” and list random events throughout the month that made me laugh. This is not to say that you cannot do more for your own month spread, just shedding light on the realistic side of bullet journaling.

WEEK and/or DAY SPREAD:

Finally, the main event. Daily journaling. Once again, some people go all out for this, but I refuse to put that much effort in day in and day out. So, every night I grab a felt tip pen and write tomorrow’s date in the best handwriting I can muster up at 11:30 pm. I then pick up the pencil that I had just sat down and start bulleting.

a page in an old bullet journal of mine. featuring a small week planner!

The keys are as follows: dots represent tasks, circles are for events, and dashes are for notes. Once a task is completed, you can do the exciting and fulfilling act of putting an “X” through the dot. If you do not accomplish the task, bullet journaling is still here to support you. You can draw an arrow through the dot to symbolize pushing it towards the next day, officially make it a tomorrow problem. There is some pride in pushing a task onto the next day. When I start a task but don’t complete it, I put a slash through the dot because I can. I put in some effort and deserve to acknowledge that, as do you.

SUMMARY:

This has been a long explanation of a craft that I have been working on for many years now. I understand how overwhelming this looks. I have had my fair share of drought spells where I didn’t bullet journal for multiple months. It takes a long time and a lot of effort to make it a part of your life. The only way for you to get better at it is to keep practicing and make it a habit. Like my basketball coach always said, “you don’t have to be great to start, but you do have to start to be great” (I did start and continue playing basketball for far too long. I was never actually going to be great but the sentiment still stands) Good luck in your own bujo adventures if you so chose to partake in them!