Here’s how to start a bullet journal this year—and stick to it
Emphasis on the second part.
Are you interested in keeping a bullet journal this year, but you’re not sure where to start? While your journal should be tailored to their personal needs, here is a general guide to help get you started and realistically keep going.
Decide on your notebook
There are endless possibilities when it comes to choosing a notebook. Traditional bullet journaling is done on dotted paper for both creativity and structure, but blank, lined, or even gridded notebooks can be used. Notebooks also come in many sizes, the most common being the A5 (about the size of the average paperback). A4 and B4 are ideal for those who want lots of space, while B6 and A6 are best for on-the-go journaling. Features like number of pages and paper thickness can also be considered.
That being said, any notebook is suited to bullet journaling and your choice of notebook is likely the least important aspect of your bullet journal. Mine is a lined A6 with a premade table of contents, page numbers, pockets, and ribbon bookmarks.
Create your first two sets of pages, known as “spreads”:
a. A Table of Contents or an Index
A table of contents or index is an essential part of a bullet journal because, if a bullet journal is just a series of lists, it’s your list of lists. Without some sort of index, you’ll quickly lose track of where things are and have difficulty maintaining your journal.
This spread can be as easy as writing “Table of Contents” or “Index” at the top, then adding the page numbers on the left and the spread title on the right as you start adding spreads. If your notebook does not have page numbers, it’s best to write them in as you use up pages.
b. A Key
A key will help you keep track of the symbols and color-coding you use in your journal. A good key should be intuitive, so intuitive that you eventually don’t even need it. This means using as few symbols and colors as possible while still creating an effective system. Using too many symbols and colors adds unnecessary complication that might deter you from using them at all.
For example, I typically use just three symbols: a filled-in bullet point for a task, an empty bullet point for events, and an X-shaped bullet point for reminders or thoughts I want to jot down.
Create the following organizational spreads:
a. A Future Log
Here’s where we get into the unique organization aspects of a bullet journal. A future log gives a broad overview of important events that will occur throughout the year, such as birthdays or holidays, by listing out those events in an organized manner.
The simplest of future logs are just a series of pages with the month at the top and an ever-growing list of dates for each month. Mine has each month’s dates written out on the left side of each page, and I write the events on the right side of the page next to the week they occur in.
d. Monthly Log
These spreads serve to provide a closer look into the coming weeks of your life than a future log can. While all of the events from your future log should be transferred to your monthly log, your monthly log should also events in your schedule that may be important for you to know in the short term, but not necessarily in the long term, such as a haircut or coffee with a friend.
The structure of this can be the same as your future log, but just covering one month. Feel free to customize this further by adding short-term goals or positive affirmations.
e. Weekly/Daily Logs
For organizing your day-to-day life, you’ll need a spread to cover each week—or each day, if you prefer. Whether you dedicate a couple pages to one week or a page to each individual day is entirely your preference, so long as you have a convenient space to organize your daily thoughts and schedule.
Regardless, you’ll want to divide these pages into days of the week with enough to list events, tasks, and notes throughout your day in a relatively organized fashion. My weekly log is just two pages where each day of the week is listed with four blank lines for each weekday and two blank lines for each weekend day.
Get creative with other pages
Of course, not everything worth recording in your life will fit into these categories, because not everything is time-sensitive. Whether you have a bucket list to get through, a daily routine to follow, or even a running list of jokes to save for later, consider dedicating pages in your bullet journal to anything and everything that matters to you. Your journal’s not just for productivity—it’s also a creative outlet. For instance, I have a mini-scrapbook within my journal of pictures, tickets, and other memories throughout the year because it brings me joy to look back on.
Use Trackers
External accountability can help you remember certain aspects of your routine, but most people don’t have someone reminding them to do their chores every day. Add trackers to your monthly, weekly, or daily log to be held accountable for your goals without relying on another person.
A tracker is a series of shapes—you can experiment with designs—that are marked with dates. As each day passes by, you color in your tracker based on each day. You could use just one color to track simple tasks, like watering the plants, or you could use multiple colors for tracking variable things, like mood. Yellow could be contented, red could be stressed, etc. A bullet journal tells the story of your life, so use tracking for both practical purposes and as a tool for self-reflection.
The most important thing about your bullet journal is not its appearance, or even its efficiency: it’s how easy your journal is to maintain. Sure, you can decide to create dozens of artistic spreads, but it’s very likely that you won’t feel like doing that later on. With the system I explained above, I typically spend less than five minutes updating my bullet journal every day. Once a month, it takes me about fifteen minutes to set up the next month’s logs. Stay tuned for tips on how to make a bullet journal even more maintainable and why we often struggle to do so.