The effectiveness of bullet journalling has been highlighted again recently when a client transformed their way of working. Using it to organise their time, increase their productivity and confidence.

I've used bullet journaling for years. I love the simple pen and paper approach to planning, scheduling and organising, so it's a system that works well for me.

As Ryder Carroll, the inventor of Bullet Journaling says - it’s to track the past, organise the present and plan for the future.

Keep it really simple. Find what works for you and adapt it to your daily needs. Include whatever you want without the restriction of a pre-printed journal or scheduler that might not suit the way you work.

Although it takes a little longer to create each page if you're not using a specific bullet journal, it becomes part of your planning and review process.

Start with a plain or dotted notebook (or buy their recommendation).

The main components of a bullet journal are a series of pages starting with:

The Key

What each task symbol means. Use the standard ones, or create your own. Some of these are my personal preference.

• 🔲 or O - Task - use a dot, circle or square
• ✖️ or ✔️ - completed task
• ✖️ or Task - cancelled
• > = migrate/move task forward
• \ = task started
• ‼️ or ✳️ - Important/Priority

Put this at the front of your notebook for reference when you need to.

Index

Your table of contents that you complete from the numbered pages as you go. Keep the first 2-4 pages in your notebook free for this. As you add the following pages, add them to the Index.

Future Log

Next the Future Log page(s) for events, appointments or tasks you need to schedule in the future - projects, birthdays etc. Either a page a quarter or a page spread for six months or a year- depending on personal preference and how much you need to keep track of.

Month Log

A page a month or a two page spread. Include each day of the month and fixed events and appointments. Add goals and objectives, habits, key focus or anything you want to track or note each month.

Weekly/Daily Log

Depending on how busy you are and how much space you need you can have a Weekly Page and or a Daily Page.

The Weekly Page - list out your goals and tasks for the week.

The Daily Page starts with the Day and then the list of tasks for that day. Add each new day below the one above until the page is full, then continue for each day in the month.

Keep this simple - just day/tasks or your can include habits, gratitude, wins, learnings for the day.

Collections

You can add more pages for anything else you want to keep track of in your bullet journal.

• Reading List
• Shopping/Gift List
• Habit Tracker
• Notes - between Weekly/Daily logs as a separate page or as part of your daily log.

Include a page(s) for these at the beginning, after the Future Log or at the back.

Build A Bullet Journaling Habit

Create a habit to use your bullet journal every day. Jot down your day’s actions and review at the end of the day.

Each month review the previous days, your Month Log and update any tasks, carry any forward that need to be placed into the following month. Use this review time to re-assess your priorities and focus on what's important.

Use bullet journaling as a process to organise your life.

More Info

The BulletJournal site gives you a template and basic structure to get you started.

Get creative! Use colour, drawings, symbols to make your Bullet Journal yours.

Take a look at the many YouTube videos on how to set up and use your bullet journal.

Get inspired by the variety of uses and styles from enthusiastic bullet-journallers.

If you already use bullet journalling, let me know how and where you use.

Have you adapted it to a way that works for you or do you use the standard format and layout? Let me know.