If you take a look at my home office cabinet you’ll see about 100 personal development books and probably 30 journals and 20 planners. All different. See, I have been running my health and fitness business for over six years and have always been seeking the perfect system. I am sure I am not alone.
There are great planners out there that start great and then turn into big empty pages because either I can’t fit anything in the boxes or the boxes I need are not even there. The planners that have been close contenders have been planner pad or passion planner. It’s like Goldilocks and the three bears. This one is too big, this one too small, but none have been just right!
Since they have been close, not perfect, I always tended to forget to take it with me as well. There’s no doubt planning is 100% worth it, no one can argue that. So, let’s assume that these planners are 100% perfect, you can fill in every bubble and every bubble matches your life, AWESOME!
Now what about all those Post-it notes around your desk, your car, your kitchen? What if I told you, you could plan your life with all your matching bubbles or boxes, have a place where all your notes and journaling are in one place, and you are excited to take it everywhere you go?
I have finally found it! I stumbled upon a term called “bullet journaling”. I will be honest I thought it was a journal you could buy on Amazon. Yep another “almost perfect journal”. Then I started digging into Pinterest and Facebook and found this whole community of bullet journalers. What? It’s a movement? Not a book.
OK, let’s see what the hype is all about. So, I asked the question “how do I get started?” And then my world was now opened. Their advice was practice in an existing journal and see if you like it, and what kind of information you want to put in it. So, I practice for two weeks, creating pages I thought I would use and not caring about how it looked.
What this journal did was allow me to have the freedom of how my mind works, have everything in one place, forced me to slow down, and bring back some creativity I lost in my adulthood.
Here are my tips on how to get started with bullet journaling:
- Take an old journal that still has about 10 to 20 pages left before you go out and buy one. You will want to know if using a lined notebook versus a graph paper notebook is for you.
- Some people choose to drawl on their’s. I like to doodle and draw so I chose to do such a thing on mine. There is nothing wrong with not drying on your bullet journal. You can follow the originators system by going to bulletjournal.com and simply following along that way.
- Test out a couple pens. My favorite so far are the Faber-Castell PITT artist pen and the Staedtler Color Pens
- Create an index page. Create a month page.
- Play with how you want your daily pages to look like, this is where it is personal. It does not have to look a certain way or take out a certain amount of space. You can literally put whatever you want on your days. I choose to keep a whole page to myself because I like to add my thoughts, what would be on Post-it notes, and my to do list.
Here is a practice page I did:
6. Play with categories in your practice journal. Originally, I thought I would keep a tally of certain things, so I created a category page for that thing. Turns out I won’t regularly use that, so I made a note to myself that I would not be creating category pages for that topic in my new fresh notebook.
Another Practice Page
7. Don’t worry about making mistakes you can always use white out or what I do is cross things out and turn it into a doodle.
8. You will find that you will have all of your ideas in one location, and be able to track your life in one spot so that you can always refer back to it in the future.
Comment below if you have used a bullet journal before and how you use it? What have some of your planning struggles been in the past. I’m sure you’re not alone?
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If you take a look at my home office cabinet you’ll see about 100 personal development books and probably 30 journals and 20 planners. All different. See, I have been running my health and fitness business for over six years and have always been seeking the perfect system. I am sure I am not alone.
6. Play with categories in your practice journal. Originally, I thought I would keep a tally of certain things, so I created a category page for that thing. Turns out I won’t regularly use that, so I made a note to myself that I would not be creating category pages for that topic in my new fresh notebook.
I totally agree, I am still experimenting with my setup but love it!
How long have you been doing it Carol?
Been bulleting for JUST over a year and haven’t looked back. I’ve become so personally fulfilled and complimented at work for my notebooks!
I so love that you shared that!!! I have vowed to never go back!
I don’t know, this seems a little overwhelming and too confusing for me… I’ve been wanting to try out the Day Designer because it offers more guidance, but maybe even the best system only works if you come up with it yourself because then you’re the most familiar with it.
I totally believe in creating your own system. This notebook idea clearly works for her. I ran across a post about carrying a notebook at all times. I think it is wonderful, doodle or make lists in the doctors office or waiting at the car shop. I keep an ongoing shopping list because I write it on a post it and then it is lost forever. The notebook goes to my classroom with me and home, and in my purse so I have it at the store and I can write things in during the school day I need to buy for my classroom. Also, I discovered I often need to bring things from home so I made a list of things from home to classroom for projects. I hate marking up a beautiful planner and you have to do what works. I just purchased an arc planner from staples, large ones are too big to go everywhere so I went for the smaller one. You can easily add pages wherever and whenever. I remember accidentally writing all my bills for sept in october this year and now what??? It was ruined. This arc system you just rip the page out and replace it with a new one. Planners are soooooo expensive. I opted for the notebook and I am printing my own planner pages to my liking. I can easily use the notebook pages for lists. I am adding cleaning lists, password keepers, shopping lists, and creating my own meal planner. Check it out, it was like $15 only downside is buying the special hole punch, got mine on amazon for $20. There are thousands of free pages for junior planner or regular and you just print and hole punch or you can buy many on etsy. I keep trying to fit my life into a $15 planner from walmart each year and it has not been working out. Notes here, lists here, but do what works for you!!! 🙂 I have notebook pages in the back of my planner for doodles, quotes, goals, lists, and I can take them out and rearrange them with others. I love to have layouts for goals and pre-made grocery list formats too. Surprisingly it is much sturdier than a binder with rings which tend to tear. Just a thought if you want something customized for you. I know printing can cost a lot in ink at times but it is worth something that works for me. Convenience of a planner and a binder but it lays flat and looks like a notebook. Leather cover with a pen holder and 20x cheaper than simplified planner, day planner, inkwell press, plum paper, erin condren. Here is the link to an excellent planner review and she found what worked for her. http://kaysepratt.com/2014/12/ultimate-planner-review.html
Hope this helps!!
Hi Sauny, Would you be interested in posting a few pictures of your journal? I’d love to get some ideas for my own.
Thank you Anna, for this post, I had thought of doing my own but was unsure where to start and certainly did not know ‘there was a movement’ : )
I love that you shared that.. .Yes on my agenda this week will be to get a few blog posts up about my journaling with pictures included. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment.
love your page and your draws!
Thanks so much for sharing!! I do this on occasion and I forgot how much I miss doodling. I have an arc planner because I need that structure, but my structure, not anyone elses. I customize my own pages or pick from here and there online for what I want printed for it. However in the back of my planner I have 50 notebook pages and I doodle and write goals. Then I take the page out and move it up in my goal section. So I have a tab for goals, weekly view, monthly view, daily to dos, ongoing to dos, I write down a to do and I move it to the to do section. I find myself drawing and writing quotes so I will add an inspiration section. I need all my to do lists, grocery lists, etc together. I am so glad you found what you like!! Everyone’s mind works entirely different so it is hard to fit your life into a planner designed by someone else. I do a little bit of everything and still experimenting. So far arc planner and notebook pages are working wonders. It is pretty cost effective, no crazy expensive planner, but I print my own pages!!! I think the stickers and washi tape is fun but is expensive and out of hand. THANKS FOR SHARING!! Finding the child in me when I doodle. I see graph paper is becoming the thing. I think I am going to dig some out of my filing cabinet and cut to fit in my arc planner. Thanks again!!
Sauny thanks so much for taking the time in sharing your experience, I find it fascinating to hear what others do with their planning.
This is fascinating and I love your examples! I can’t wait to look into it more!!
So I am interested in this idea. I am always using 3 x 5 cards and writing at the top “If nothing else…” to do lists. So you simply just day by day write/doodle/ list etc? And if you actually have categories, are those tabbed somehow? Or are your categories included in any given page? Please help.
Tami, great question. Ok so I do do a to do list every day for the next day and just turn the page. All pages have numbers at the bottom, so when I do a category page I simply turn the page and create it. Then document the page number on the front index.
I am such a visual person that I am not quite sure what you mean. So lets say you have 3 categories and I understand that you number your pages. So if I write in my “journal” category, then on my index page, I write the number of that entry/page?
OMG Thank you! So happy to learn of this system. I am so going to give it a go. As an avid notebook/ journal filler, i have begun to notice i spend way more time writing than i do ‘doing’ or reading, so looks like a good method for me 🙂
let me know how it goes!!
Great post and enjoyed reading the comments as well. Researching the bullet journal system has been on my list to try out. I’ll admit, I have always been a paper and pen lover as well as a plan on paper person, love to journal and have bought a few planners within the past two years. Wanting everything in one place seems to be the big challenge for me, especially because my life is a mess in every area possible so this makes it harder for myself because I don’t exactly ‘know’ how I want my pages. Even if I did know, I would not know where to start or have the motivation, the discipline or a routine to create personal pages every week, let alone every day. I tried the *ringed filofax first but hated the rings, *still have the arc system from years ago when it first came out – it worked well for work so not giving that up quite yet, *bought a DayDesigner Mini ToDo planner (shortly after buying it the look a likes started to sell at Target 🙁 ) – what sold me on this planner was that it is not dated so when I need a full page for one day it’s a good planner to use & have used one page for 2-3 days as well, *bought a INKwell press planner this year to use next year BUT may sell it because I think I found a new planner that could possibly help me get into a routine as it has everything in one place – it’s called Start Planner (startplanner.com, also on youtube.com) and honestly I’ve been obsessed about it since finding it (it’s worth looking up just to see their daily page set up!).
Last but not least I bought two leather Foxyfix Fauxdori Traveler Notebook covers when she had a super sale and really really like that they can be setup however you wish. A LOT of bullet journalists use a “Fauxdori’s” aka Midori’s of some kind to hold their notebooks. (the original Midori (leather cover) and TN aka Traveler Notebook are made in Japan) They are great for taking out of the house and there are SO many people on Etsy who sell inserts (they print or can print on your own) that are a decent price, same goes for the Notebook Covers. If anyone wants more info on the Traveler Notebook options, set ups, etc do a search on Youtube.com & Pinterest.com – A LOT of examples! 🙂
I started bullet journaling September 2015 – for years I tried so many ways to be organized and none of them really worked for me, always ended up with bits of things here and there, Bullet Journaling changed me FOREVER, the index is the key! If anyone looked at my journal they would wonder how I get things done, but I feel so on top of everything! I use a thick Moleskine and the luscious paper and stitched binding are just the icing on the cake to this great system!
OH I love that you shared that Kim!! I still can’t get down the Index, I just keep writing and writing.. I think when I finish the book I will go back and write in the index for future reference when I need it..
Actually I typed that wrong – I started in September 2014!
I actually use a planner, but I create my own pages all the time, along with my own codes for writing things down. That way, I have flexibility and can keep it all together.
I’m glad you finally found something that works for you. I’m getting tons of ideas just from the photos in this post.
Glad you find the pics helpful!
The index is the key! Number pages and remember to update the index each time you make an entry. The originator of bullet journaling has different icons and pages and spreads, that can be a bit complicated, but if you maintain your index you can always find things no matter how you take notes.
I started September 2015 and for the first time, I am still journaling. I have tried to journal in a cute binder, planner, notebook, any book of paper to be organized. I had three or four separate different logs to keep up with things, but now i use the bullet journal, it is much easier to keep it all in one. I use the same type Moleskine binder. I agree with Kim. Anna,thank you for sharing.
I’m very much still playing with my set-up. Up until January 1st of this year, I was using a daily At-A-Glance (the nice, hardbound, non-spiral book), which worked very well when I was micromanaging my time and worked okay as I wasn’t micromanaging my time…..but I still felt like I was missing something.
So, I picked up a couple different types of notebooks/journals, got me some new fancy pens (it appears I favor a .03 rollerball, though I have .04, .05, and .06 as well), got me some fancy new markers, and today I actually picked up some Crayola colored pencils because the markers weren’t working so well for this purpose.
It’s still a work-in-progress but it’s working out much better. Currently, I’m using a 5×8 (A5, roughly) Moleskine grid notebook (the ones that come in the 3-packs; not the fancy $20 ones), and it’s working pretty well. I may wind up favoring the dot grid but we’ll see when I get there. I’m one of those people that hates wasting things so I’ll stick it out until I fill this notebook and try something different. I might like it more, I may hate it, I may be ambivalent, or I may feel the same. We’ll see 🙂
Also, it helps that I have a love of stickers because the cover is boring…
I love this idea, traditional planners have never really worked for me, and electronic ones are overwhelming and not my style. I kind of already do something similar, I carry a small journal with me all the time and keep everything in there, I’ve just never thought to dress it up. It reminds me of the “smash book” concept in a way but less expensive though I suppose this could be as cheap or expensive as you choose as well. I think I will give my current journal a makeover for the new year.
To be honest, I don’t really understand all of the excitement. These journals are around for centuries already, and they’re called planners. They have the same sections, and they are sold in many shops, with printed dates and calendars. So these people just told you “use our system”, and “we created marks for you” (I mean all the dots and arrows), and “write it by hand”, and “you can doodle here!” – and this is something new to you? I can show you pics from a printed notebook that I used in much the same way, with doodles and crazy notes, like, 6-7 years ago. So this is so old that it became new again? It reminds me of the hype about the thinness of mobile phones – when they will be paper-thin, the companies will probably “invent” the thick phones again and say “by these, they have a weight to them!” This is seriously crazy. What else do we have to explain to each other? How to use the wheel? This just makes me feel stupid that I thought all of it obvious and didn’t start this ‘explanation’ business first.
I started the year with “bullet journal”. I just want a place where all my ideas, thoughts, quotes that caught my attention, appointments, etc. basically, all of my stuff in one notebook. Like you, there are so many planners out there that doesn’t really suit me. I used the regular diary ones, doesn’t really work out for me since, i skip most days.
When i learned about the bullet journal, I said “why not?” it’s basically just taking notes – nothing else. I can do that. So I use a plain notebook (spring notebook).
It actually works well for me. I started with plain old pages and plain old notes. no categories, nothing, just bulleted tasks which i check when completed / done…
now, i can doodle, write in calligraphy, do categories. It’s been weeks and I don’t have trouble with it – yet! and i hope i don’t get to have any. But i like what i started and i will keep it up.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Love the idea of using practice sheets to find my style and groove and allowing me to be ok with making a mistakes.
Yep there really is no perfect page — keep on practicing!
I took an inch and a half binder, some inexpensive dividers and took to Pinterest. They have some amazing FREE printables on anything from meal planning to emergency preparedness. (I was really lucky because of homeschooling I already had a three-hole punch, awesome pens/pencils and stickers.) Truly, the only items I bought was some really cool washi tape. And I must say, I absolutely adore this “planner” I constructed. It works just great for me because it was MADE for me, BY me. 🙂
Thank you for this awesome post! It’s my style and really helped me! 🙂
So glad you found it helpful!
I am loving the Bullet Journal System! I do agree that it facilitates the way my mind thinks as well…it is simple, yet genius…or simply genius. 😉
This is interesting! I walked into the world of planners this year (taking it more seriously anyway since previous attempts to use a planner flopped) and I am loving it. So far, it fits for me now that I’ve made a conscious effort to use it. BUT (ahh yes, there is a but), I am always open to other ideas.
I’m thinking of trying this concurrently to see how it works for me. I struggle with thinking of what to write in my notebooks so this would be a good way to incorporate my jumbled thoughts without messing up my planners.
I use a composition notebook. Cheap and then I make the cover pretty. If I get very ambitious I add pockets on the inside cover and back for miscellaneous papers.