Bullet journal: what it is and how to do it

Being organized is fashionable

Today we want to talk to you about one of the most viral methods of recent years (after the KonMari method and our own CLARA method), it is the BuJo or Bullet Journal method and it is much more than a system to organize your day to day, we could affirm that this method can turn your life around (positively).

But for this you must know it, know how to apply it and get to work. At the end of this gallery you will find examples of everything. Of course, we are sorry to tell you that, although it is an exciting method, it is not a method for everyone since it requires perseverance and organization (a lot of organization). Do not be discouraged if you are not a Marie Kondo of life because there are monisíme agendas to organize your year without so many complications that will lead you on the right track.

Photo @ dolce.mara.creativa

What is a Bullet Journal

The Bullet Journal is a blank notebook that is used as a diary and diary to plan and organize your thoughts examining the past, ordering the present and designing the future.

The main difference with a regular agenda is that it is not pre-designed but you are the one who shapes it according to your needs and a basic structure suggested by the creator of the method, Ryder Carroll, whose fundamental pillars are: an index, a record a bird's-eye view of future events and tasks, a monthly log, a daily log, and a series of lists, collections, or topics that you can add as you like.

And why do we say that it looks like a newspaper? Because a Bullet Journal is not only used to write down appointments or what you have to do, in it you can unleash your creativity by writing down things that inspire you, drawing or making lists that help you organize.

Photo Estée Janssens via Unsplash

Origin of the Bullet Journal

From there, each person who starts a Bullet Journal has the authority to adapt it to himself taking the example of its creator and in turn creating new trends and ways of organizing. Today, thanks to Carroll and his Bullet Journal method, thousands of people have managed to clear their minds and keep their focus on what is important, to live with attention and not succumb to day-to-day distractions.

Photo Estée Janssens via Unsplash

How a Bullet Journal Works

The main thing you should know about how a Bullet Journal works is that you will write your notes, activities and tasks in it, adding a symbol that will allow you to categorize and synthesize them.

Ryder Carroll suggests that this symbol be a period for assignments, a circle for activities, and a dash for notes. Every time you finish a task or activity (or that you no longer consider relevant), you will add an "X" in place of the period. When you have to write down a very important activity, it is a good idea to add an asterisk to give it more relevance. The truth is that each person can choose to choose the symbols they prefer to give meaning to their Bullet Journal by adding different shapes and colors that allow them to understand their annotations at a glance.

One of the most important points of the Bullet Journal, and that you should not forget, is to number the pages to create an index at the beginning of the notebook that contains the topics you write about in an organized way so that you can find them whenever you need them in a just glance. Those topics can be events, important dates, to-do lists, etc.

Photo Estée Janssens via Unsplash

What you need to start your Bullet Journal

To start your Bullet Journal you only need a blank notebook or notebook and a pen . If you want to personalize it and make it more beautiful, they will be useful: markers, post its, stickers … They will be your tools to keep a clear and understandable record of your activities. Try to choose materials that you like and make you happy as they will be your companions for a long time.

Photo Estée Janssens via Unsplash

The structure of the Bullet Journal

Since the Bullet Journal method is customizable, only you will decide where to start and what topics to add. It would be advisable to create a registry in which you can see the current year from a bird's eye view, month by month, in which to write down the most important activities. You can then create a record for the current month, in which to write down the most important things you have to do in it. And so on, you can create a weekly record, to organize by week seen. Until you get to a daily record, in which you detail the most important things of your day to day.

Photo @ dolce.mara.creativa

Topics for your Bullet Journal

To do this, all you have to do after the last thing you have written is to give a title to the topic you are going to write about and unleash your thoughts in an organized, synthetic way and using the symbols that we have told you about at the beginning. . Once you finish writing, remember to return to the index to leave the corresponding footprint.

Photo @the_flower_journal

How the Bullet Journal can change your life

As you can see, the Bullet Journal method is not for everyone, but if you dare to put it into practice you will see how your life is changing little by little since thanks to the method created by Ryder Carroll we manage to clear all the noise and information that is in our mind and capture it in one place, where we will be able to organize it, categorize it, analyze it to carry it out or if we decide that it is not so important, discard it.

The process that Carroll proposes to do this is called migration and is very similar to that of Marie Kondo's "spark of happiness." It consists of reviewing our notes, activities and tasks on a monthly basis and deciding whether or not they are still important to continue in our Bullet Journal. There will be many annotations that no longer make sense because you have already carried them out and others that are pending. Decide what to do with the latter by focusing on what really matters to avoid distractions in your life.

Photo Estée Janssens via Unsplash

How to implement migration

Eliminate tasks that are not worth your time and energy from your Bullet Journal by crossing them off, and moving them from one record to another. That is, if the task that you are going to migrate was in the previous month's registry, move it to the current month. Another example would be if you wrote down a book title in your journal and want to put it on your "Books to Read" list.

It may seem like a lot of effort to have to rewrite all these things back and forth, but that's intentional. This process makes you pause and consider each item. If there is something that is not worth rewriting, then it is probably not that important. Get rid of that and your life will start to change.

The purpose of migration is to show what is worthwhile, to become aware of our actions and to separate the signal from the noise. This is exactly why a simple notebook can change your life if you make it your new Bullet Journal.

Photo @ dolce.mara.creativa

Bullet Journal Ideas: Symbols

We start with some practical examples so that you can start your Bullet Journal right away. As we told you at the beginning, symbols and colors will become your best ally to organize everything in your new notebook. You can use the ones suggested by the creator of the method, get inspiration from the Internet or create your own symbols.

Photo @anniesplaceblog

Bullet Journal Ideas: Future Record

This is a good way to organize a bird's eye view of the year ahead in your future registry, but it is not the only one. The creator of the method suggests dividing each page into 3 parts and using each part for a month, until the end of the year and in each month write the notes, activities and essential tasks that you have planned for the future.

Photo @bullet_journal_chile

Bullet Journal Ideas: Plan Your Wedding

If you are planning your wedding, your Bullet Journal will accompany you in this process through lists and specific collections that you can create according to your needs. You can create as many lists as you need: a general one of all the things you have to do, another for music, another for decoration, another for catering … Wedding bells ring!

Photo @mylittlejournalblog

Bullet Journal Ideas: Things To Do

List lovers know that there is no self-respecting Bullet Journal without a good to-do list. Ideal for when you have so much on your mind that you don't know where to start. It does not matter which part of your notebook you go, open a new page for the "pending items", write it all down and you will see how you take a good weight off your shoulders when you see everything written and not going around your head as in this beautiful example .

Photo @the_flower_journal

Bullet Journal Ideas: Spending Tracking

Bullet Journal Ideas: Spending Record

If this year you want to save it is essential that you keep a record of your expenses, by seeing everything in writing you will be able to organize yourself better, not go overboard and finally save money to spend on things that you really need or want.

Photo @bujoandletters

How to be more productive

Now that you have all the tools to start your Bullet Journal, breathe and gain momentum reading our tips to make this the most productive year in your history. You dare?

We are hooked on the Marie Kondo series on Netflix, ready to let go of everything that does not produce happiness in our life, categorize all the objects we have at home, and prepared to live the most organized year of our life. If you share these feelings with us, keep reading, you have come to fruition.

Today we want to talk to you about one of the most viral methods in recent years (after the KonMari method, and the CLARA method), it is the BuJo or Bullet Journal method and it is much more than a system to organize your day to day, we could say that like the method of the guru of the Japanese order, this method can turn (positively) your life. But for this you must know it, know how to apply it and get to work. And we are sorry to tell you that, although it is an exciting method, it is not a method for everyone since it requires perseverance and organization (a lot of organization). Do not be discouraged if you are not a Marie Kondo of life because there are monisíme agendas to organize your year without so many complications that will lead you on the right track.

What is a Bullet Journal

The Bullet Journal is a blank notebook that is used as a diary and diary to plan and organize your thoughts examining the past, ordering the present and designing the future. The main difference with a regular agenda is that it is not pre-designed but you are the one who shapes it according to your needs and a basic structure suggested by the creator of the method, Ryder Carroll, whose fundamental pillars are: an index, a record a bird's eye view of future events and tasks, a monthly log, a daily log, and a series of lists, collections, or topics that you can add to your liking. And why do we say that it looks like a newspaper? Because a Bullet Journal is not only used to record appointments or what you have to do, in it you canUnleash your creativity by writing down things that inspire you, drawing, or making lists to help you organize.

Origin of the Bullet Journal

Behind this unique organizational system is Ryder Carroll , a designer who suffered from attention deficit disorder and who needed to bring order to the chaos of his daily life. After sharing the method with his circle of trust, it went viral thanks to social networks and today it has become a worldwide trend with thousands of followers. From there, each person who starts a Bullet Journal has the authority to adapt it to himself taking the example of its creator and in turn creating new trends and ways of organizing. Today, thanks to Carroll and his Bullet Journal method, thousands of people have achievedclear your mind and stay focused on what is important, to live mindfully and not succumb to day-to-day distractions.

How a Bullet Journal Works

Ryder Carroll suggests that this symbol be a period for assignments, a circle for activities, and a dash for notes. Every time you finish a task or activity (or that you no longer consider relevant), you will add an "X" instead of the period. When you have to write down a very important activity, it is a good idea to add an asterisk to give it more relevance. The truth is that each person can choose to choose the symbols they prefer to give meaning to their Bullet Journal by adding different shapes and colors that allow them to understand their annotations at a glance.

What you need to start your Bullet Journal

To start your Bullet Journal you only need a blank notebook or notebook, a pen . If you want to personalize it and make it more beautiful, they will be useful: markers, post its, stickers … They will be your tools to keep a clear and understandable record of your activities. Try to choose materials that you like and make you happy as they will be your companions for a long time. When you search the Internet about Bullet Journal you find authentic works of art with drawings, colors, shapes … this Bullet Journal has become an art, but don't worry if you don't have the artistic vein awake because each Bullet Journal is unique and It must carry the essence of its author, be it artistic, or on the contrary, minimalist.

From here you can start to formalize your Bullet Journal by numbering the pages as you write and creating the index from the first moment to have everything well organized. In the index you will write the subject on which you write and, next to it, the page number where you can find that information.

The structure of the Bullet Journal

Since the Bullet Journal method is customizable, only you will decide where to start and what topics to add. It would be advisable to create a record in which you can see the current year from a bird's eye view, month by month, in which to write down the most important activities. You can then create a record for the current month, in which to write down the most important things you have to do in it. And so on, you can create a weekly record, to organize by week seen. Until you get to a daily record, in which you detail the most important things of your day to day.

In the same way, by not having a predesigned structure, you can add the topics you want to your Bullet Journal. If you feel the need to write down an important thought, write down your resolutions for the new year, your weekly menu, a list of birthday dates, organize an event or event, or simply make the shopping list, you can do what! To do this, all you have to do after the last thing you have written is give the subject you are going to write a title about and unleash your thoughts in an organized, synthetic way and using the symbols that we have told you about at the beginning. . Once you finish writing, remember to return to the index to leave the corresponding footprint.

You will like the Bullet Journal method yes …

- The predesigned agendas do not suit your needs and you prefer something personalized.

- You're a fan of stationery.

- You are creative and you like to write and draw with your personal touch.

- You prefer that all your notes and writings are in the same place.

- You like the flexibility of not having space limitations when writing, you choose!

You won't like the Bullet Journal method if …

- You consider yourself disorganized and disorderly, because you will not take advantage of it.

- You find it difficult to follow a routine and you always leave things halfway.

- You need a predesigned structure like the one offered by an agenda.

- You don't have a lot of time to spend planning.

- You really don't need to organize a lot of tasks or activities.

How the Bullet Journal can change your life

How to implement migration

Bullet Journal: The Video

If you feel like you have a lot of ideas about the Bullet Journal in your head and you want to sort them out, don't miss the following video, it's all you need to start your own notebook: