Yet another medium article on Bullet Journaling.
You can find the updated version of this note at https://hiran.in/writing/bullet-journal
For the last three and a half years, I am into Bullet Journaling. It’s a framework for analog journaling, created by Ryder Carroll. It’s not like a planner you get from the store that forces you to follow specific formats. It’s an extensible and customizable system that gives a variety of ways to use it . And there are thousands of “BuJo tips and tricks and templates” available online.
If you are new to Bullet Journal, the best way to learn is by watching this small official video. It’s simple, well explained, and 5 minutes! For more, read the blog or The Bullet Journal Method book by Ryder Carroll.
In the last three and a half years, I tried many journals, pens, layouts, templates, formats. And one thing I learned is that the tools won’t improve your productivity. It’s about your clarity about the purpose. For me, my bullet journal is about task management, daily planner, and idea-collection. And here is how I do it :
- My journal is a rough notebook.
No lettering, calligraphy, or penmanship. I jot like how I used to take notes while at college. Also, I use one pen to write everything. Two-color annotation, highlighter, etc., doesn’t work for me. To emphasize, I use upper case text or underline.
2. Single Column Layout.
I found ‘setting up BuJo’ a tedious task. For some reason, it never worked for me. For the last year, I am using Pennline — a long note that restricts me from creating a multi-column layout.
3. There is an Index Page
One thing that made me interested in Bullet journal was the way he handled Index. I don’t like leaving pages in a notebook, and I am bad at estimating pages-per-idea. BuJo is the first system that recommended me to use an index like book appendix. Its title relates to many page numbers, not title per page number.
4. I don’t use Future Log
The future log is a place to store events and dated entries outside that month for the future. I gave it many tries and stopped using it. I mark future events on Google Calendar and future project ideas on a page “idealist”.
5. But there are Monthly Logs
Bullet Journal suggests a two-page monthly log — one for the calendar and one for the monthly task. While I use the calendar to mark all my events, plans, meetings, etc., I don’t create a monthly to-do list. I prefer creating it weekly. Instead of the Task page, I use the right side as my “One line a day dairy.”
2022 Feb Update: I am not very religious about the monthly logs these days.
6. Weekly Log is the core.
Instead of planning for an entire month, I plan per week. Every week, I start making a list of every task I need to do from all categories — work, reading, writing, home chores, and even movies to watch. I use ! to prioritize important and : for delegated/to-review tasks.
Once the weekly note is made, every morning, I create my daily task list which is a subset of the weekly log, new tasks, and events from Calander.
7. It’s a commonplace book too
I do write random notes, thoughts and ideas with dash bullets. If it’s worth recollecting or revisiting, It gets indexed on the first pages. It’s a flowing note. No spaces are left or reserved.
I use a small paper block that is always on my table to jot down quick fleets. And such fleets are migrated to by Personal Knowledge System on weekends.
I stopped using BuJo for meeting minutes. Instead, I use time-log using simple outline notes via Logseq, Remnote, or Obsidian.
Answers to some frequently asked questions
The decoration is a choice: You might have seen books with illustrations, calligraphy, and penmanship while searching #bulletjournal on Instagram. It’s beautiful. But not mandatory. Some take journaling as their me-time or a way to relax. If you can do it, and if that helps to stress-less, go ahead. But that’s not a barrier. You don’t need a dozen pens, washi tapes, and all to do journal.
Any Notebook is beautiful
It’s totally up to you to choose the notebook. Don’t fall for the brand & price trap. Moleskine won’t make you productive. (Tho the quality is stunning!) If you plan to have monthly logs, check if the journal can contain 31 lines per page. For Indian users, I would recommend Matrika journal (Amazon Basics note is fine, but they don’t have dotted books and on the square, the lines are darker than it’s supposed to be)
Digital Journaling
You can do Bullet Journal digitally too. There are multiple blogs on how people successfully do BuJo with Evernote, Notion, Coda, or Notepad. If you find it working, go ahead.
To conclude, Don’t be too religious about the Bullet Journal. It’s a framework. Just a framework. And the best part of BuJo is that you can customize, mix and match and make it the way you find it productive and useful.
Hiran Venugopalan is a Product Designer from India. The latest version of this writing is available at https://hiran.in/writing. To read his working notes, visit https://hiran.in/notes.
