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Are you a busy person who loves to write things down like me? Bullet journals are the best tools for busy and productive people like you! It’s time to create your best bullet journal notebook for more productivity. You are going to love all the habit trackers, to-do lists, monthly spreads and other pages that you can make. And if you are anything like me, you are also going to love to buy all the cool items like pens, stickers, washi tape, etc. So I suggest you get an Amazon Prime membership so you can save dollars. I know it has saved me a ton of money and time as it relates to getting my supplies delivered.
What exactly is a bullet journal?
Bullet journaling is an analog approach of keeping and documenting daily habits, responsibilities, lists, and goals all in one place. A lot of people like me, love creating bullet journal notebooks because of the flexibility it offers. There are also tons of minimalist designs out there that you can recreate on your pages.
If you are unsure about the type of design you want, just scan Pinterest and Instagram. When it comes to design, the creative possibilities are limitless.
Why should you start a bullet journal?
Bullet journal notebooks are for people who love to explore the traditional and more creative way to plan things!
1. It helps you monitor your goals.
Every successful individual I know loves talking about the significance of goal setting. Write down all of your goals in your bullet journal notebook. This will help you visualize your goals, take all the necessary actions, and monitor them properly.
2. It helps you manage your time a lot better.
You need a specific system to manage your time in a better way. Don’t waste it on unimportant things. List down all of you prioritize, highlight them, and take action right away. If you want, you can put exact times you need to finish a task.
3. It improves productivity.
Are you a terrible procrastinator? Stop doing many things all at the same time, or not doing anything at all. You will never accomplish anything. Organize your thoughts, and monitor your day-to-day activities. Write them down in a bullet journal. Never underestimate the power of organizing ideas on paper.
4. It helps monitor your sleeping habits.
Many bullet journal owners love making habit trackers. Basically, this is where you track your sleep, exercise routine and other habits. Sure, there are tons of apps out there that can help you track your sleeping habits, but exercising your creativity on paper will never go out of style. Monitor your sleep by writing down your sleep hours every morning for the previous evening. From there, you can identify your sleep patterns. Check out some gorgeous sleep habit trackers in the 19 BULLET JOURNAL SLEEP TRACKER IDEAS FOR A HEALTHY SLEEP HABIT.
5. A bullet journal can motivate and inspire a person.
Bullet journals can help you stay motivated and inspired to live life to the fullest. Carry it around anytime and anywhere you go. It provides you a purpose to stay focused and organized.
How to set up the best bullet journal notebook
1. Gather basic bullet journal supplies.
So, where can you get the best bullet journal supplies that you can use? Well, you can check the nearest stationery shop, but the most convenient choice is Amazon! Here are some of my favorite tools and supplies. All of these options are affordable and can fuel your creativity.
✅ This journal stencil planner set that you can use not just for your bullet journal, but also for handmade family holiday cards, greeting cards and letters.
✅ This bullet journal notebook that is 24% heavier compared to other journal brands.
✅ This card ink pen set can help you make beautiful letterings and line widths.
✅ These fine tip pens will change the way you approach drawing in your bullet journal. I adore them and I can’t live without them.
✅ These ball pens are loved by many bullet journalist friends because of its great for creating flowy strokes.
✅ This highlighter pen set is a top choice for those who love bullet journaling.
✅ These washable markers are perfect for writing, coloring and drawing.
✅ These washi tapes have wonderful, unique patterns.
✅ These set of pens are designed for every person who loves calligraphy, drawing, and art therapy.
✅ This graphite paper will save you tons of time by capturing each detail in your original design smoothly.
✅ These bullet journal stickers will look beautiful for almost every kind of spread imaginable.
✅ These watercolor brush pens offer good colors for blending and shading bigger areas.
✅ These sticky notes offer are incredible reminders to not forget important items.
Apart from these basic tools, you also need a motivated mind to start a bullet journal routine. Many people start a bullet journal because it helps them improve their productivity and daily routine. How about you? Think about what you want to accomplish before diving in.
2. Gather ideas from Pinterest and Instagram.
Instagram and Pinterest are two of the best platforms when it comes to BuJo designs. Prepare yourself for beautiful doodling ideas and monthly spreads! There are millions of ideas out there but don’t become so self-conscious about it. You are just starting out, so yours don’t need to be perfect. Don’t stress out! Make your bullet journal gorgeous, one page at a time.
3. Plan the bullet journal spreads and layouts you want to create.
Do you know that the bullet journal system can help you become a better, more productive person? So take a minute to plan all your amazing spreads and layouts. List down all of the pages that you want to make in the following days, from the frameworks to the decorations. Here are some of the pages you can do first.
The Index
The Index is included at the front of your bullet journal notebook. It helps you locate all the contents of your bullet journal. Just add your topic collections and their page numbers to the index. That way, you can find a lot faster and easier.
The Future Log
This bullet journal spread contains entries that happen outside if the current month. It is a time machine that allows you to have a glimpse of your future accomplishments.
The Monthly Log
A monthly log is a page that is composed of task and calendar information.
The Calendar Page
If you want a birds eye view of your month, make an awesome calendar page. Here, you can schedule tasks and events, or record them right after they occur (or both!). Make sure to keep everything short and simple, since this specific page is only designed for reference.
The Task Page
Task pages exist to help bullet journal owners to take monthly mental inventories. Think about your monthly priorities. What are those things you want to prioritize? What remains unaccomplished from the previous month? List everything on this page. Don’t forget to leave room for signifiers (read on to learn more about signifiers!).
Daily Log
Daily logs are designed for everyday use. At the topmost part of the page, write the date as your topic. Then, as the day progresses, randomly write your thoughts, events, and tasks. Never set up your daily logs ahead of time. If you want, you can make them the evening before. You’ll never know the amount of space you will need every single day.
Custom Bullet Journal Collections
Feel free to design your bullet journal pages in whatever way you want. This type of tool is, after all, meant to be customized. Just contemplate on the most important things that you want to include. Ask yourself how you are currently spending your energy and time. Use the bullet journal as a tool to be more productive, organized and creative.
4. Make bullet journaling a habit.
The final and most important step is to keep it going. Make bullet journaling a habit. Use it every day. Revisit your doodles and lists. And if you find you want to do more doodling in your bullet journal notebook check out these gorgeous doodles in 17 CUTE BULLET JOURNAL DOODLES YOU CAN EASILY COPY ON YOUR SPREADS.
You won’t regret making it a part of your daily routine. Think about doing a migration project each week! This will allow you to review your past accomplishments, and plan for the next ones.
Easy Bullet journal techniques that you should learn
1. Rapid Logging
Writing by hand has tons of benefits, may it be for journaling or simply taking down notes. For some people, manually writing down stuff can be messy, and can take time. By rapid logging, you can enjoy all its benefits and avoid different shortcomings.
Rapid logging is considered as “the language in which a bullet journal is created”. Basically, it’s the primary way of capturing information through bulleted lists. You can consider bullets as syntax or short statements that can be paired with certain symbols that visually categorize the entries. Here are some examples:
Tasks
These are usually represented by a dot “•”. Most people use dots because it is clean, fast and can be quickly transformed in order to reflect the task’s status–whether it is incomplete, done or postponed.
Events
“O” is for events. Events are those date-related entries that can be logged or scheduled after they happen. Instead of writing down your emotions about some occasions, it’s best to keep it objective and short. The most crucial thing here is to record your experience, so you can learn from it.
Notes
Notes include observations, thoughts, ideas, and facts, and are typically represented with a dash “–”. You can use this to capture data or information you don’t want to forget. This bullet becomes even more useful when you are in a lecture or a business meeting.
Note: Mix and match!
Notes, events and tasks can help you capture your thoughts and ideas, as they show up all throughout the day. The most important thing here is writing them down. There is no right or wrong order.
2. Nesting
Do you want to add more color to your bullet journal entries? Nesting bullets can help you accomplish this! Nest some notes under a specific event in order to capture the essential details. Furthermore, you can nest subtasks under the primary task to break things down to a set of steps.
3. Signifiers
Signifiers are those symbols that provide your bullet journal entries with extra context at a mere glance. These are placed at the left side of the bullets so they will stick out, making it easier to spot while you scan the pages. Below are some examples:
! – Inspiration.Awesome insights, mantras and ideas.
* = Priority: The most important information on your list.
4. Migration
This is your filtering system. In the process of migration, you decide what techniques to revamp, discard and keep. Do this at the end of every month. Migrate all of your undone events and tasks.
If you leave random undone tasks in December and fail to move it to January it will keep floating forever. Migrating tasks is very simple! Just make visual clues like arrows through empty boxes to indicate that the task has been relocated to another spot in the bullet journal. Write the task somewhere else. Do you want to “relocate” in a collection page, or in next month’s spread?
5. Threading
This is a useful bullet journal page numbering trick. If you have similar details across many nonconsecutive pages, just look at the index to see what pages you need. For example “5-8, 11, 15.” Threading can make flipping a lot easier!
5. Different Calendar Variations
Decorate your bullet journal calendar in whichever way you want. We all have different preferences and requirements when it comes to design. This also means that we have several calendar perspectives.
Some people want their monthly spreads to be a list of dates, not a series of traditional squares. Create your calendars according to how you see the time.
Keep your bullet journal intuitive and simple!
See? It’s possible to start your own bullet journal in 4 easy steps. These are not the only ways to make one, though. There are thousands of creative approaches out there that you can try. At its very core, the bullet journal system is intuitive and simple. You don’t need to be an artistic or productivity expert to manage everything. Basically, if you feel like writing down something, just do it.
As you go along, you will find yourself becoming more creative and happier. Try reviewing your bullet journal pages after quite some time. By reviewing your entries, you can see:
- The tasks you can’t begin without a documented approach
- The most common tasks
- Unaccomplished tasks
- How many crucial tasks fit into the other categories
This would give you a good starting point to begin tracking, controlling and improving your productivity tactics. There really is no need for you to go through, and write down a lot of details! Happy journaling!
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ANY BULLET JOURNAL TECHNIQUES AND DESIGN IDEAS YOU WANT TO SHARE? LEAVE A COMMENT AND LET’S CONNECT! I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!
I had no idea there was bullet journal lingo! Thank you for educating me. I would have loved to see examples and more photos of what this looks like. I love the idea but makes me nervous I wouldn’t keep up with it.
The bullet journal is a really nice idea! I’d never heard of it before.
Thanks for explaining how to go about it as well.