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If you search for the phrase "Bullet Journal Inspiration" on a platform like Pinterest, the search results can be a bit intimidating.
The page will overflow with the most beautiful two-page spreads. You will scroll past many exquisite artworks containing monthly activity logs, mood trackers, magnificent Harry Potter drawings and more. And you may think to yourself, how am I ever going to do this myself?
But do not worry, keep it simple to start!
Bullet journal notes can involve some amazing artwork, but it's certainly not essential to the technique itself.
So take it easy, and let's take a look at the basic building blocks of bullet journaling below.
Bullet journaling was originally invented by the author Ryder Caroll. His best-seller book "The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future" is also known as "the analog method for the digital age", because most people who use the technique just use pen and paper.
In its essence, bullet journaling is a technique used to become more productive, mindful and focused about your activities. It can help you achieve your goals with less stress. People use it to organise their lives, manage their fitness or even to improve their mental health.
The 5 key components of the bullet journaling technique are:
1. The Key
2. The Index
3. Collections
4. Rapid-logging
5. Migration
Most bullet journals contain a key page at the front of the journal. The key page usually contains one list of symbols, and another list of colours.
- Symbols are typically used in your notes (rapid-logs) to keep track of tasks and events and to mark priorities.
- Colours are typically used to indicate categories, such as school, work, health, etc.
Feel free to keep it as simple as you want.
OR go crazy. It's up to you.
It is useful to keep track of all your collections in an index, because you may want to revisit them at a later stage.
You simply log the page numbers and write a short description. For example, Page 13-14: October Sleep Tracker.
Single notes (rapid-logs) should not be in the index, as these are typically migrated to other months, or removed from the to-do list.
Removing irrelevant or unimportant tasks from your to-do list is an essential component of bullet journaling as it helps keep focus.
Groups of related ideas are bundled together into collections. "Bujo" enthusiasts like dotted grid paper to keep things neat and tidy. But it is not essential. Collections' page numbers get logged in your index.
Collections include:
- Monthly Logs
- Daily Logs
- Future Logs
But could ALSO be mind maps, goal plans, trackers, journaling, sketches, or frankly ANYTHING.
Many bullet journal enthusiasts like to create collections spread over two pages. This is simply called a spread.
Rapid-logging is a fancy word for taking short-form notes. This often happens in the form of bulleted notes.
Key bullet types are:
- Task bullets
- Event Bullets &
- Note bullets
You can add signifiers to mark certain logs for inspiration, priority, or to explore further. You can create as many signifiers as you want and add them to your Key.
And finally, Migration is the act of moving incomplete tasks over to another Collection.
Migration is an essential part of bullet journaling, and ideally you should do this on a monthly basis.
The idea is to mark tasks complete, remove them OR migrate tasks to other months or future logs. Ryder explains it as follows:
If a Task has become irrelevant, strike out the whole line, starting from the center of Task Bullet itself. If the Task still needs your attention, migrate it by turning the “•” into “>”. This signifies that you’ve migrated that Task, then add it to the Task Page of your new Monthly Log or into a Collection.
https://bulletjournal.com/blogs/bulletjournalist/migration
So now you know the secrets of bullet journaling, hopefully it is not so daunting anymore.