Career

How to create a bullet journal

create a bullet journal

How do you create a bullet journal and what is the best way to use it? Our guide outlines the simple ways to start a bujo and how to divide it up.

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The Bullet Journal is conquering the world and we have fallen for it too. It is customizable and can be used as a to-do list, notepad or diary. We’ll show you what a bullet journal is exactly and how you can create a bullet journal and best use it for yourself!

Even today, in the digital age, many still swear by classic, analog appointments. However, they have the disadvantage that they often don’t have enough space to write down on the very busy days – and too much for that on other days. In addition, they only offer space for appointments. Notes or to-do lists end up on some pieces of paper that disappear in the Bermuda triangle of our handbags.

Of course, there are also countless organizational apps that promise that you can get everything under one roof and still save time. But all of these apps have one thing in common: They provide the structure and are even less customizable than the classic appointment calendar.

If you are looking for something that perfectly suits your needs, you have to search for a long time and in the end you are usually satisfied with something that only partially fits. But this is exactly where the Bullet Journal comes in.

What is a bullet journal?

At the beginning the Bullet Journal (also “BuJo”) is nothing more than an empty notebook. However, it is gradually filled and thus develops into an appointment calendar, planner, notebook and even diary all in one. 

The American Ryder Carrol created bullet journaling, his main concern was efficiency. The term “Bullet Journal” is made up of the English term “Bullet Points” and the “Journal”, ie the diary. In the BuJo, every day consists of many individual key points that include appointments, to-dos, notes and inspiration.

That is exactly the nice thing about the Bullet Journal: Everyone can create a bullet journal and adapt their Bullet Journal to their own needs. It starts with the size, from A6 to A4 and beyond, there are no restrictions. And there are no limits to creativity when it comes to optics – everything is represented, from minimalist to artfully decorated. 

How to create a Bullet Journal: the structure

The Bullet Journal system can be divided into six sections when you create a bullet journal. Of course, you don’t have to take on this in the same way, but for the beginning it is a good frame that you can shimmy along. After a while you quickly learn which points best suit your own organizational style and can adapt your bullet journal accordingly.

1. The key

The first page in the Bullet Journal contains a legend of the symbols used. These can be hyphens for notes, asterisks for appointments, periods for to-dos, exclamation marks for particularly important tasks, etc. Experienced bullet journal users do not need an explanation of the symbols, of course, but it can be very helpful to enter a key for the first bullet journal.

2. The index

The key is usually followed by the index, i.e. the table of contents. The first 3-4 pages of the BuJo are reserved for this and all pages are numbered. The index is largely empty at the beginning, as not much has been entered in the BuJo and the filled pages are therefore manageable. 

But the more you fill your BuJo, the more helpful the index becomes, as you can quickly find events or notes that may have been months ago. It is therefore important that the index is expanded for each new topic or each month that is closed.

3. The future log

The Future Log is an annual calendar. It follows the index and is about a third, or half, of a page per month. Appointments or to-dos are entered here that can be foreseen months in advance. These lists are also gradually being supplemented with new tasks.

In contrast to conventional diaries, you can start the Bullet Journal at any time and don’t have to wait until January. Even if you only join in August, the only thing that changes is that your future log is getting shorter. You don’t have all the blank pages at the front of the planner like you would with an appointment book.

4. The Monthly Log

After the annual overview, you start with the actual rapid logging. This is the name given to the bullet-point entries in the to-dos and appointments in the bullet journal. First you start with the monthly log. So with an overview of the current month.

To do this, all to-dos and appointments for the month are entered. This means that both new tasks and unfinished tasks from the previous month and entries from the future log are noted here. At the end of the month, the Monthly Log can also be used as a control instance to ensure that all to-dos for the month have been completed.

5. The Weekly Log

Many also omit the weekly overview, since a daily and monthly overview is sufficient. However, it can be helpful to reserve at least half a page for the Weekly Log at the beginning of each new week. In this way, larger tasks and goals can be easily divided into smaller, concrete stages over calendar weeks. If you still don’t want to use a weekly log, you can skip to the daily log.

6. The Daily Log

Bullet journaling unfolds its full splendor in the Daily Log. Here you can enter every task that the day has ready for you at short notice, note all dates, assign priorities and at the end of the day also check immediately whether you can tick off every item on the list, or whether certain tasks have changed or are on have to be pushed the next day.

The symbols that you noted down in the key beforehand also come into play here: You can mark tasks that have to be postponed to the next day with a less than symbol, you can tick or cross out what you have done and you can even how note down your most beautiful experiences of the day in a few key points in a diary.

Most of the time, the Daily Log only covers a third of a page, so that the days of the week can be accommodated on two pages. If a week extends over a double page, one speaks of the weekly spread.

There are many wonderful templates and ideas for the Weekly Spread, but it is advisable not to enter the days of the week in advance so that you remain flexible with the space. Especially as a bullet journal beginner it is often difficult to estimate how much space you will need per day. People with a lot of appointments who like to note down small to-dos may need one full page per day of the week, others may need a third and others only do their BuJo from Monday to Friday.

The extras: bullet journal ideas

The Bullet Journal can not only be designed optically as you like, but you can of course also adjust the content. In addition to the basic structure, which aims at pure efficiency, a whole bullet journaler community has now formed, which integrate various trackers, challenges or beautiful hand letterings into their BuJos.

By the way, artistic hand letterings can be painted with so-called brush pens. Even beginners can use it to create beautiful fonts.

Sleep, habit, mood and many other trackers

The trackers are supposed to record and check a specific course. With the sleep tracker, for example, you can note how many hours of sleep you have got every day and check at the end of the month whether you are satisfied with the development. The same principle can of course be applied to many other areas. The mood tracker records your mood and the habit tracker takes care of certain habits. Be it whether you drink enough water or whether you have managed to get up at a certain time. There are no limits for the fanatasy.

Challenges

The name says it all: It’s about challenges. A personal goal is often set, such as a flat stomach. Then exercises for 30 days are noted that have to be performed.

This can also be extended to many areas: Bullet journalers make relationship challenges that are intended to give a love affair a breath of fresh air, fitness challenges, but also personal challenges such as a mental challenge that focuses on positive thoughts or reducing stress.

Attention! The problem with bullet journals

If you see the beautiful templates on Pinterest and generally like to let off steam creatively, there is a high risk that you will be overwhelmed with bullet journaling. At some point you lose track of all the trackers and challenges, so that the real sense of the BuJo is lost. Then there is also a great risk that the Bullet Journal will not be continued. In the long run, filling out all the trackers can also degenerate into another to-do. So at the latest, when you get the feeling that the BuJo is doing more work than it saves time, shift down a gear and concentrate on the basic structure again.Notice24 Minimalist Bullet Journal Layouts That’ll Get You HardBuzzFeedHey girl heyyyy

However, if you take it slow, concentrate on the essentials at the beginning and expand the BuJo with the current day-to-day business, creative gimmicks come along all by themselves and are then also fun. And one day, when the bullet journal is full, you have a wonderful memory of the past year, which you like to keep and look through with joy years later.