Relationships July 18, 2019
A bullet journal can also be your best friend.
ENTITY shares how a bullet journal set up can help rearrange your life!Social media is filled with photos of intricate, color-coded, and artistically prodigal bullet journals. We’ve all seen them. But your bullet journal doesn’t have to be an art project at all. If you’re constantly on the go and your thoughts are always scattered, then your bullet journal set up can be your lifeboat.
In fact, Ryder Carroll, inventor of the bullet journal, came up with this journaling method after struggling with his attention deficit disorder (ADD). If your mind is constantly cluttered, the bullet journal is designed to make your life easier.
“The Bullet Journal Method’s mission is to help us become mindful about how we spend our two most valuable resources in life: our time and energy.” –Ryder Carroll
It can be plain and simple for those of us without an artistic touch or for those of us who are always running around. These pillars of the bullet journal can ultimately help you calm and cleanse your scattered mind, quickly and efficiently.
Oftentimes, when we write our scattered and mile-a-minute thoughts on paper, it comes out as gibberish. Rapid logging, the language of the Bullet Journal, is the remedy for those incomprehensible notes.
Rapid logging is writing in bulleted, fragmented sentences. Not only is this method efficient for fast-paced thoughts, but it provides on-the-spot structure for the chaos of our minds. Once you get used to it, it can be a lifesaver.
Rapid logging is organized and strengthened by a few components: topics, bullet categories, and numbered pages.
The hardest part is the first step: start writing! Staring at a blank page can be daunting. If you want to start simple, choose your topic.
Your topic can be as simple as the day’s date – that’s known as a Daily Log. It can also be a list: summer book list, groceries, monthly goals, or more.
Once you put something down on that page, no matter what it is, you’ve already gotten past the hardest part.
Each of the bullets you write underneath your topic can be categorized and symbolized by the following:
Tasks, or things that need to get done, are marked by a classic bullet point.
Notes, or things you don’t want to forget, are given a dash.
Events, important moments in time, are symbolized by an open circle.
Mastering and utilizing these bullet categories can help you organize your thoughts on paper as they come and go. Through these symbols, you can quickly scan your journal and figure out what you need to do, and structure your day.
According to the Bullet Journal Method, numbering your pages is crucial. If you number your pages, you can easily flip through your journal to access certain entries.
Another added bonus is if your pages are numbered, you can add an index to the front of your journal:
Life is messy. Your bullet journal set up should be accommodating when things get shifted around.
“Migrating” your tasks is a way to pinpoint tasks that are either completed or uncompleted. Once you migrate a task, you can either erase it from your brain or add it onto your next list of things to do.
It’s marked by changing the bullet point of a task to “>” indicating that the task has been moved forward.
Once you feel more confident in your bullet journalling skills, you can attempt a monthly log. It sounds intimidating, but the sole purpose is to make your life easier and more organized.
The bullet journal site recommends that a monthly log consists of a calendar page and a task page, as an extra level of organization.
The calendar page can provide an overview of your whole month. You can include birthdays, interviews, concerts, deadlines, anything you think is noteworthy.
The task page serves as a broader to-do list. It can help you prioritize your goals and time for the month ahead, and help you schedule your life far in advance.
Again, the purpose should be to help you organize your thoughts and schedule in the best way for you. Be creative, prioritize your needs.
The Bullet Journal site has examples of a 6-month template for a future log. This is a space to record events that will occur in the next 6 months, for major big-picture planning.
Overall, you should ensure that your bullet journal is serving you in the ways that you need. Whether that’s a mix of creative expression and organization or just plain bulleted entries, it should be your little helper. We get busy, life gets crazy, but hopefully, these tips on bullet journal set up can make your life smoother. So, if you want to be more well-versed in journaling, check out this other ENTITY article for more tips!
