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What is a Bullet Journal & Why Keep One

If you’ve spent much time on social media, you have probably already been introduced to the idea of bullet journaling. Bullet journal keeping is becoming a popular way to organize thoughts, to schedule one’s life, and to organize important ideas.

Defining Bullet Journaling

But what is a bullet journal? How can you a bullet journal to keep your life and your thoughts more organized? In answer to these questions and more, below we take a closer look at what a bullet journal is and how you can utilize one in your own life.

What Is a Bullet Journal?

A bullet journal is a customized organization system that uses bullet points and symbols to organize life and thoughts. Unlike a planner, it is not organized by day or month but offers you the freedom to choose your organizational structure. It’s a simple, effective way to keep on track of your to-do list while also having a place to write your thoughts.

What Do You Need to Get Started?

Starting a bullet journal is simple. All you need is a notebook and a pen. The notebook can be as simple as a spiral binder and as fancy as an attractive journal, depending on your tastes.

What makes a bullet journal unique from a weekly or monthly planner is the fact that it is customized to your needs. You don’t have to be tied down to same-size boxes for each day or month. You may have one day with a lot more to do or jot down than another and you have the freedom to do this.

What Are the Parts of a Bullet Journal?

A bullet journal will use a key to make your list easy to understand. The key indicates the symbols that are used for each bullet and what they mean. For example, you could use a dot or bullet for a “to-do” list task, an arrow that shows you are moving a task from a different list, a less-than sign to indicate you have a specific time for the task, and an asterisk that means a note is particularly important. Circles can be used to indicate events and dashes can be used to indicate a note you’re jotting to yourself.

Bullet Journal Key Free Printable
Bullet Journal Key Free Printable

Once you have set your key, you will set up your bullet journal in a way that works best for you. This may include an index section, to discuss different notes and task lists, a future log, where you can jot down ideas for future events, and the calendars themselves. This is where the flexibility comes in. Your monthly and daily calendars can be set up in a way that makes sense to you and you have the freedom to move items from one day or month to the next as you go through each day.

A bullet journal is a customized organization system that uses bullet points and symbols to organize life and thoughts.

How Bullet Journals Help

So how does a bullet journal help keep you on task? Daily bullet journaling, once the journal is set up, is fast. It does not take much time to create your log for the day. You get a fast, visual representation of your tasks and thoughts for the day, allowing you to stay on track. The ability to keep your journal up to date without spending a lot of time is one of its biggest benefits.

Bullet journaling also gives freedom for creativity. If you’re artistic, you can doodle along with your journal, making it beautiful. If you are more linear in your thinking and organization, simply keep it in list form. Let the bullet journal be an outlet for your creativity, whatever form that creativity takes.

Finally, bullet journaling keeps you accountable. If there is a major goal you wish to accomplish, like drinking more water or increasing your daily exercise amount, you can see when you are and are not accomplishing it. If you have a big event to plan, like your child’s birthday party, your bullet journal will help you stay up with all of the little tasks you need to do to accomplish it.

If you’ve found yourself thinking that you don’t have time to journal or stay organized with a daily or monthly planner, consider bullet journaling. It will give you the freedom you crave with the organizational help you need. Stop worrying about your to-do list and the time it takes to organize your thoughts. Grab a notebook and pen and start journaling today with a bullet journal!

More Bullet Journal Resources

Until next time, write on…

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Jill
journalbuddies.com
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A bullet journal is a customized organization system that uses bullet points and symbols to organize life and thoughts.
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