A bullet journal also known as BuJo is basically mix of planner, organizer, to-do list, a personal diary. BuJo is a form of time management created first by Ryder Carroll.
So why is it called bullet journal, what makes it different from a noraml journal? Bullet journaling is a method of writing that uses a special kind of paper that has small, numbered holes punched into it. This allows the writer to use the paper as a kind of grid to track events and appointments. This makes it easy to write down tasks, and it helps the writer stay organized.
Table of Contents
What is bullet journal and what it is comprise of?
A bullet journal comprises of fairly complex modules:
- Index
- A monthly calendar that helps track appointments, to-dos, achievements, notes.
- A 3 month calendar to be used as a tracker.
- An yearly calendar tracking month to month achievements, appointments
- A weekly log or daily log for tracking notes and deadlines.
What is bullet journal index?
Whether its a journal or a bullet journal, an index plays a vital role to finding things in a BuJo and shows structural overview of it. A bullet journal index is like table of contents. It holds the record of spreads with their corresponding page numbers for ease of access.
A noraml bullet journal comprises of more than 150 or 200 pages. It may seem quite easier to track your spreads in the begining but as the number increases with time it becomes quite overwhelming. That’s why an index is needed which holds the record of page numbers, if the BuJo isn’t with numbered pages, you can number them yourself.
Other components of BuJo
BuJo also incorporate different bullet journal symbols and organizational sections such as daily or weekly log, notes, lists and collections, goals, appointments etc.
Benefits of bullet journaling
So the question arises that why one should use a bullet journal in this digital age when there are so many other planners and organizers available especially the digital planners etc. The reason is that bullet journal has its own benefits and not all organizers and tools suit everyone.
It gives a sense of control over your life
You get a sense of satisfaction and calmness when you know where you are going and how you are progressing towards your goal. Thus it keeps your life simple and organized. A sense of gratitude emerges when you are journaling about gratitude and daily mood swings.
It provides time management
Rather than relying on multiple resources to manage your time, bullet journal can combine all the time management stuffs in it. Such as many people are using calendars to track their appointments, others sync between different devices to keep track of their meetings and then there are people who put sticky color notes on their desktop. All of these can be single handedly organized by a bullet journal.
It helps in improving your memory, writing skills and creativity
Writing has its benefits. When you are writing down tasks, it helps in remembering the task better. When you are writing down notes, it helps in improving your writing skills. When you are writing down appointments, it helps in improving your creativity.
It can help in improving your productivity and reducing procrastination
If you are planning your day ahead, you will be able to focus on your work and be more productive. You can easily find out what is the best time for you to work on a particular task. You can even go through your bullet journal and see how you have done with your goals and plans. You will feel great when you see that you have completed most of your tasks.
It helps in reducing stress
It is a very calming thing to know that everything is well planned. And when you are getting stressed out, knowing that you have planned your day perfectly can really help you. When you are keeping a record of your food intake, you can easily make a note of what you eat and when you eat it. This can help you in improving your health.
It can help in creating a new habit
If you are trying to create a new habit, bullet journal can be a great tool. It can help you in breaking the old habits and replacing them with new ones by regularly using a habit tracker in a BuJo.
How to start a bullet journal?
When you start a bullet journal, you need to decide what type of bullet journal you want to start. Naturally, you can start with a simple one but if you want to be successful, you need to get a professional one.
So the next question is how do I start my bullet journal? There are many ways to start a bullet journal. You can start with a blank one, a pre-made template or even download a ready made template. If you want to make it simpler, you can start with a blank notebook and then start adding pages to it.
However, the most popular way is to start with a pre-made template. There are many pre-made templates available online and offline. You can choose from them based on your needs and preferences.
The pre-made templates are quite easy to use.
What to include in bullet journal?
Although there are tons of bullet journal spreads that can be included which varies from different kind of trackers to other personalized spreads such as ‘Books to read’, ‘Monthly cover pages’, ‘Daily planner’, ‘fitness tracker’, ‘habit tracker’, notes, and other organizational spreads, etc. But there are some other very basic and important modules/spreads that need to be part of a functional BuJo. Such as:
An index: It is a page similar to page of contents which plays a fundamental role in tracking your spreads in a BuJo.
A daily plan: It is a day to day list of to-dos, notes, meeting reminders.
A weekly/monthly plan: A monthly calendar to track your goals and achievements, plus a complete overview of appointments.
A future insight log: For a list of long term projects and goals, that you can track along to track your progress and productivity.
Personalized Spreads: There are so many personlized spreads that can be added to the BuJo. For example, habit tracker, fitness planner, birthday reminder list, password list, monthly cover pages, contact list, books to read list, gratitude page, monthly budget tracker, no spend challenge tracker, etc.
