Meet the analog method for the digital age that will help you track the past, order the present, and design the future. That is how bullet journaling is usually presented and marketised. Let’s find out if there is more to it than a catchy motto. One could argue about productivity of writting notes by hand. However, there is something there that cannot be percieved and evaluated at first. Veiled connection between hand and a brain seems to add something to the combination. A written word helps you to save it more sturdy. At first with our mechanical requirements it could feel old, slow, unefficient but it was natural way to store informations for generations of our ancestors.
Philosophy
Bullet journaling is just a term that gathers journaling, writing and daily organization. Rules do exist, but the canvas is still blank. You have freedom to do whatever you want to and how you want to do it. I will not go into much explanation and details about reasons why would you want to use pen and paper, we could go a long way on discussing but lets stay with the main idea. Remembering now forgotten, underrated skill of writing using pen and paper and realising it has much more value than initially percieved. It is simple, easy and you can try it almost freely. You do not even need a notebook, just a plain white paper.
Okay, now let’s get to action. I will just explain the ways that I have work through in my experience. Of course, they changed over time and they will continue to change but the point is that we grasp idea behind them. I have various documents written on paper but there is only one main book that I keep as a reminder/journal that I use on daily basis and I will explain the usage in the following concepts.
Key
Basically, the journal key is a little legend, roadmap that explains what all your rapid logging bullet symbols stand for. For example, you can use your own symbols, colors or letters to signify your own note-taking. It could be useful to put it on front or the back of your book or have it printed in paper until you know it by your heart.
· Task
× Task completed
· T̶a̶s̶k̶ ̶d̶e̶l̶e̶t̶e̶d
> Task Migrated
◌ Event
- Note
! Important
+ Prompts
· Tasks: things you have to do.
- Notes: things you do not want to forget.
◌ Event: noteworthy moments in time.Monthly Log
Here you can map out specific events as well as write down the things you’d like to do over the course of the month. Additionally, the monthly log also serves as a way to log noteworthy moments that happened. This way you can get a bird’s eye view of what happened or what is scheduled during the particular month.
Here is my monthly log. I just check in the holidays, important events in advance, to get a glance of a month to come. I write it usually on last weekend of the month.
Notice: It is good to leave one page blank behind. I use it to add ideas, events I’ve collected over following month. I also repeat this for the daily/weekly log.
Monthly log template
Daily log
The daily log is designed for day-to-day use. At the top of the page, record the date as your topic. Make plan for your day, simply rapid log your Tasks, Events, and Notes as they are predicted to occur. If you don’t fill a page, add the next date wherever you left off and you’re ready to continue.
Notice: Don’t set up daily logs way ahead of time. Create them as you go. You never know how much space you may need any given day. I am doing them together for each week. Weekly setup of daily logs. And I do not leave much space, as it helps me to keep tasks simple and numerous. Also I leave one page per week blank to add ideas, notes that came to my mind during following week. When week is coming to its end, I do a review of it and make plans for new one ahead.
Daily log
Six days across two pages. On the next one is daily-log for Sunday and one empty page. So 4 pages for 1 week. On the left side is day of the week. On the right side with cooresponding date containing also mini habit-tracker underneath. Below are notes and tasks for particular day which I have blured slightly.
Habit tracker
As a dear friend said, disciplines aquired become assets. One can think that he has a habit, but until you track how much, how long, you are only guessing. Exercise, reading or cooking, it is good to keep a track to know where you really are. Do not use it to add a burdain and overflow yourself with habits. A few simples ones but important to you just to keep comfort at bay and to check how much is actually being done of what you think it has been done.
Habit tracker
Habit tracker is a just a simple matrix where is a cell containing value considering whether a habit on particular day of the week is completed. Here is excerpt from my old notebook, obviously converted in digital form. Rows of the matrix are days of the week while columns are habits. Now, I do simpler version in my journal where I keep only minimal tracker of particular work being done. I do have seperate digital file for tracking habits over a course of month which I make printed every week and keep it in the notebook. You can make a template in your spreadsheet software in 3 minutes and print it out for every month. I did not include it here because it is a little bit out of the scope, but if you are interested, feel free to contact.
Additional
I leave a dozen of pages at the back of the book blank to fill out the content which does not fit into regular journaling but it is useful for your daily life. Couple of recommendations could be an index for your journal, cheatsheets, recipes.
Freedom
At first these concepts can be seem to be too much if taken all at once. Do not overwhelm yourself. Keep things simple. At first I also did not use all I have mentioned here. It builds up naturally, so now it does not feel like doing much. Few minutes in morning, few in evening, and little bit more at the end of the week is all I put in now in my notebook. Do not overthink and burden yourself with notes, make it useful to you and let the notebook change along with you.
You can use it to as a calendar, to keep simple tasks, track habits, collect recipes, log calories, draw sketches, do as you please. Or even make a combination of laid out ideas to fit desired use. At the end of the day, it is only yours.