Bullet Journaling For Dummies
What is Bullet Journaling?
Bullet Journaling (BuJo) is a Rapid Logging methodology created by Ryder Carroll :-
- Information logged in the quickest way [to-the-point, in as few words as possible]
- Using Bullet Symbols to DEFINE the Information
Benefits of Bullet Journaling
Before we dive into the fundamentals, let’s explore what are the Benefits of Bullet Journaling. The reason why there are so many Enthusiasts is because:-
- Better Focus [No Sudden Emails, Messages, etc — Devices]
- More Creative+Better Memory [Writing → Motor Skill → ↑ Brain Usage]
- Self Reflection+Self Improvement
- Better Prioritisation [Limited Space on Page → ↑ deciding the importance or urgency of items]
- Better Organisation Skills
- The Bullet Journal doesn’t run on Power/Battery nor Flight-mode
*Note:- All of us have our reasons and they may very well be different so you may find different reasons on different articles
Elements of Bullet Journaling
First, lets start by understanding the Bullets in Bullet Journaling and how we use them. We will be using the Bullet Symbols from Ryder Carroll for this guide which I believe is great for starting Bullet Journaling as:-
- Easy to find references online
- Most people still use these symbols [including me]
The Symbols
In Bullet Journaling, we use different Bullet Symbols to define the type of information logged+action to be taken. These information types are Tasks, Notes and Events and they are denoted as •, — , ○ respectively.
Modifiers
You can modify the state of that log by further adding modifier symbols onto the original symbol — Complete (✕) /Migrate[Move] (< & >)/Cancel ( — )
*Note:-
Modifiers can used on not only Tasks, they can apply to Notes+Events as well.
Collections will be explained further down the Guide. Future Log will not be covered in this Guide. Here is a good explanation by Ryder Carroll
Signifiers
We can further organise our logs by using Signifiers to give them Hierarchy. As you can see Signifiers are added before the Main Bullet to [in this case] Make Priority (*)/Make Inspirational (!) the log.
Putting it all together
Most guides don’t show how these Bullet Journal elements come together and actions like Migration and Nesting.
- Migration — Moving the entry to another Collection [e.g. an entry on a name of the song you heard → Song List Collection page]
- Nesting — You can nest below a log entry for further Tasks, Notes, Events that below to that entry [just like in Google Docs/Microsoft Word/Pages]
In this chapter, I just put an example up for you to understand how all these come together and how an actual Bullet Journal entry is logged, reviewed and modified.
*Note:- it’s okay to mix and match the different information type in your logs.
Here is the example of a Daily Log entry:-
Beginning of Day (23 Mar)
- Dad’s Birthday on 9 Apr and to call him (Important)
- To buy Groceries — Milk+Eggs
- MCO extended till 14 Apr (Important)
End of Day (23 Mar)
- Migrated Dad’s Birthday Event to my Apr Monthly Calendar
- Migrated MCO extension log to my Apr Monthly Calendar
- Completed my grocery Shopping
*Note:- Why do we have to put in the modifiers? To indicate that we have already worked on these logs when we do review our Bullet Journal
The Breakdown of a Bullet Journal
A Bullet Journal is made up of Collections.
Collections
You can think of them as Sections where you collect your logs [e.g. song list collection, k-drama list collection, etc] where you can migrate the logs into (from your daily/monthly logs)
Collections — Sections for organising specific type information
Jon’s Starter Bullet Journal Setup
There are a lot of different setups for Bullet Journaling but I wanted to make it easy for you to start Bullet Journaling so I stripped down Ryder Carroll Starter Setup to make it even simpler for someone to start Bullet Journaling.
The standard Starter Setup I am recommending is:-
- The KEY
The Key → Legend page where we put in the Bullet Symbols + it’s purpose for reference
*Note:- Not needed when you are experienced
2. Monthly Logs
- Monthly Calendar — Overview of Month in Days
- Monthly Tasks — Overview of Tasks for the Month
*Note: Put in the more important items here.
3. Daily Logs***
Daily log of Events, Notes, to-dos which you can action on or review+migrate into your Monthly Logs
*Note:- Don’t be too bothered by what is right or wrong to log. It’s common to log more at the start and with time, you will improve your Bullet Journaling → Better Prioritisation, More efficient, Better Decision Making.
Jon’s Starter Bullet Journal Layout
Most Guides tell you all about the Setup, but don’t detail layout the Collections.
KEY → Month 1 Monthly Log (2 pages) → Month 1 Daily Logs (Many pages) → Month 2 Monthly Log (2 pages) → Month 2 Daily Logs (Many pages) → Month 3 Monthly Log (2 pages → Month 3 Daily Logs (Many pages) ……. [Complete Book]
*Note:- Try to always keep your Monthly Logs a double page spread so its easy to have a complete overview. Hence if you end your Daily Logs for the month on a LEFT page, skip the page and start your next Monthly Log on a fresh Left+Right page set.
Benefits of This Start Bullet Journal Setup
This setup is super easy for anyone to pick up Bullet Journaling → you not need to have any experience at all. Set it up and go.
- No need to Index — Hard for a Beginner to know/allocate pages for each Collection.
- Reduce Future Log — This allows us to take a step away from the Bullet Journal to make it Super Simple → Introduce Future Log into your Setup later when you get more familiar and confident in Bullet Journaling
This Setup is by no means the best setup, its just a starting point. Once you are more familiar with Bullet Journaling and get more confident, you can add in more Collections and also Index the Journal.
*Note:- You should build the Bullet Journal to how you want to use it, it does not mean someone’s setup is best suited for you. Develop your own style.
*Note:- If you’d like to go with the standard setup, you can find it here.
