Bullet journaling is a popular self development and journaling method, originally created by Ryder Carroll from BulletJournal.com. It is a very easy to start with journaling method that can be adapted endlessly to your personal needs and style. If you need help to get started, the following bullet journal essential layouts should be helpful. Feel free to adapt, customise and only use what works for you! After all, your bullet journal should be a place for your creativity to shine.
All you need to start a bullet journal is a pen and a paper. However, most people take this a step further and use other art supplies to fully personalise their journals and create elaborated artistic bullet journal layouts.
Most people prefer grid or dotted paper, as that makes it easier to create layouts. But you can also use ruled or blank pages if that fits your style better. Check out the quality of the paper though: If you intend to use alcohol markers you’ll need a notebook or sketchbook for Copic markers or similar.
Traditional bullet journals share a few layouts:
Most bullet journals are very decorated but other people stick with a more minimalistic theme. Do what feels better for you. You don’t need to be a professional graphic artist to benefit from bullet journaling.
Some people like having a full year calendar of things, other prefer 6 months. The goal of this section is having a place to record events, birthdays, appointments and deadlines that are in the future. This is just an example layout for a future log.
Some people like having an overview of their entire month. This is particular useful if you have a lot of appointments or things you want to keep track of. The Monthly log is often a good place for a habit tracker as well.
Some people prefer to have a weekly spread instead, or even monthly and weekly spreads. It really depends on what works for you, bullet journaling is all about individuality!
If you use your bullet journal mostly as a planner, this may be all you need. However if you also want to use it for journaling, other types of pages like a daily log, habit tracker or mood trackers can be really useful to keep track of things.
If you prefer to give more space to your day instead of keeping it all on a weekly spread, the daily log is the place to do that. You can record a schedule, todo lists, mood trackers, a gratitude journal… anything that matters to you. Remember though that bullet journal entries are supposed to be concise and easy to read. This way you can re-read them easily in the future. Here you can see a couple of examples for a daily log.
The reason why a bullet journal is called bullet journal is the use of signs, or bullets, next to each entry. The particular bullets you like using should be recorded on your Key page at the beginning of your journal. There is no set of keys you must use, and you will add your own ones over time as you feel you need them. But the following are the traditional bullet journal keys:
( . ) – A dot. This means a task
( x ) – Once a task is completed, you can cross the dot to mark it as done
( > ) – If a task is moved to another time, draw an arrow on top of the dot to indicate that.
( o ) – Record events and appointments with a circle
( – ) – Makes notes using a dash. For example, you could use this to record information you don’t want to forget but that is not really a task.
Every entry on a bullet journal should have a bullet ahead of it, and be written in a short, concise style. By keeping to very concise, one line tasks and entries it will help you focus on what is important.
Most people use their bullet journal as a blend of a diary and a journal. This is done using tasks. This often requires a bit of preparation, often done once a week, to create your daily log or weekly spread for that week. Things that are more than a week in advance usually would go to the future log, or the monthly spread. Refer to them to add the tasks for the week to your current week journal pages.
When a task is added, it should be either prefixed with a DOT or an O, depending on whether it’s a task or an appointment. Once the task is done, you can mark it as done with an X, or you can move it to another day.
To move a task to another day on a bullet journal you would first mark the task with an arrow on your current spread, then either add it to the monthly spread or to another day as a regular task.
Most people do a review at the end of the month, as they prepare their next month spreads. What did you accomplish? What did you learn? Is there a task that just keeps being postponed? What are you grateful for?
While there is a recommended setup for a traditional bullet journal, consider that just a starting point. Your journal should be a place for creativity that works for you, so it will become uniquely individual as you develop your own bullet journal style.
Keeping your bullet journals so you can refer back to them and see how much you have grown is a great activity. It also helps you identify areas of your life where you feel there is a need for improvement, and take action on them. Or you can use them to track habits to either get rid of them or get more of them. The best bit about a bullet journal is its versatility!
The benefits of a few minutes of reflection in the evening or early morning as you prepare your daily bullet journal spread simply can’t be ignored. By focusing on things that actually matter you can reduce stress and keep your life organized, while having fun and being creative. Even if you start with only the most barebones bullet journal essentials, soon you will see your creativity developing and drawing you towards the perfect journal for you.
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