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Youve heard of this thing called a bullet journal and youve seen the images of them.
What is a bullet journal?
If you cant take the time to write it down, then its not important enough.
Doing this helps to separate the treasure from the junk.
But what happens if you only discover the beauty of bullet journaling after the year has begun?
How do you start your bullet journal then?
If you find you want to start a bullet journal after January, dont fret!
Let me tell you what I would do in this situation.
Lets say you discover bullet journaling in mid-March.
I would then look at inspiration and do some practice layouts before creating the bullet journal ready for April.
Read on and we will show you exactly how to do that.
What do I need to start a bullet journal?
Want to know what you should probably start your bullet journal journey?
These are the basic things to get started.
You will need a pencil if you like to sketch your layouts or designs first.
A pencil is a pencil so I wont go into that much.
Just confirm you dont pencil too hard or too dark.
You will also definitely need a ruler.
It is affordable, has good paper quality, and lays flat for easy journaling.
Besides, who doesnt want free stickers for their bullet journal?!
Look, guys, the artistic side of things will come with practice.
In the meantime, use thesefree printable bullet journal insertsto start you off.
These free inserts will work at each stage of creating your bullet journal as listed below.
So take a peek, get excited, read this article then go back and download some!
They are all free!
How do I starta Bullet Journal?
Remember to read all of this post before you roll.
Dont worry, Ive made sure it isnt complex.
Be sure to number your pages and write the page number and page title in your index.
This will fill up the more you use your journal.
A great tip here is toplan in advancehow much space you want to dedicate to each month.
We will talk more later about other pages you’ve got the option to include.
Again, this is whyI recommend you read the article first before designing your bullet journal.
Key and Symbols
The bullet journal is all about rapid logging.
The same information but with less content.
To remember your symbols you will have a key at the very start of your bullet journal.
There is no rule to how you lay your notes, tasks, or events out.
You dont need to keep all your tasks together or all of your notes together.
If something is a priority you might use an asterisk or an exclamation mark.
if you have an idea you might doodle a light bulb or an arrow.
It all depends on what you like.
Be sure to put your key in the front of your journal as a reminder for your symbols.
it’s possible for you to also add to the key throughout the year as your journaling progresses.
Future log
The future log is where you note important dates and events for the year ahead.
Think of this as a year in view, pages where you see your year at a glance.
For this, you will most likely separate each page into sections covering your year.
If you like this layout, you’re able to download it for freehere.
Things that are certain to happen or have been planned such as a vacation, graduation, or birth.
Collections
A collection is simply a topic that you dedicate space to in your bullet journal.
A collection doesnt have to be more than one thing, it can be a single thing.
I always found using the term collection confusing, so lets refer to them as topics instead.
What kind of things or topics is important to you?
What are your goals?
Lets say you want to start reading more.
This will simply be a page with the title and a list of books and their authors.
Think of your collections of things you want to track throughout the year or month.
Think of them as topics separate from your typical logging or simply a place for you to get creative.
Well look more at collections soon.
Lets look at logging now to see the difference.
Monthly log
The monthly log represents the start of the month that you are beginning with.
If you decide to start bullet journaling throughout the year then you might simply start where you are.
The monthly log is letting you see important dates, tasks, and events at a glance.
It can be a calendar or it can be in a list format.
The monthly log is an introduction to the month ahead.
Consider devoting a page before your monthly log as a cover page for the month.
If you do this every month it will easily differentiate the content per month.
People also tend to choose a theme for every month.
You dont have to put the weekly spread in right after the monthly log.
Design this bullet journal to suit you, add a page with a quote beforehand or something creative.
Right, back to the weekly spread.
The weekly spread is your way of seeing the weekly plan quickly.
These trackers could be sleep, water intake, and mood.
Its also fun to go back to the weekly spread after each day to refresh your charts.
Remember you will need weekly planning for each week, positioned at the start of the week.
This allows you to have as much space as you need for the day.
Your daily pages allow you to get everything important out of your head and into your journal.
A bullet journal isnt the same as a diary.
The idea here is to get things out of your mind but not to elaborate too much.
Short and to the point is what its all about.
Lets quickly recap the structure of the monthly, weekly, and daily pages before we go forward.
Lets say you start in January.
You might have:
Hopefully, this makes sense and helps you understand the structure of your bullet journal.
I used to also write the letter p with a circle around it to signify a period day.
Collection / topic ideas
So lets stick with the period symbol.
Another way oftracking your periodinstead of writing the letter P for five days is to create a separate chart.
This spread can have anything on it.
Think of the collection pages asa place for you to get really creative.
you could dedicate a page toplaces I want to visitand draw a landmark of these places.
Dont just bullet-list these places, this is where you’re free to get artsy-fartsy!
This is where you migrate unfinished tasks to the next month.
People tend to change the symbol of a task which is a dot to a >.
This shows that you have moved this task.
Then you fit the task into the next months section.
Changing the symbol makes it easier for when you look back.
If you simply score it out then it gives the impression that you completed it.
And thats what it is all about, making it work for you in your own way!
There we have it.
If youre still with me I applaud you and thank you.
