My journey into bullet journaling

The major pain area was that I had no single source of truth. Every piece of information I needed to save, did not have an intended home; I would just put it in a place that was convenient to me, at that time. It was all scattered and haphazard.  I knew there must exist a better way to organize things; I just did not know what it was.

From a work perspective, I have always maintained to-do lists: itemized and prioritized, so that I have a view of open tasks as well as the ones that need immediate attention. When it came to meeting notes, I would scribble it somewhere on my notepad; and at a later date would have to hunt for it or pore through multiple notepads to find what I was looking for.

From a personal perspective, anything important or any good quotes that I would come across would be either put in a draft on Gmail or sent to myself on WhatsApp or scribbled in some notepad. It would often happen that when I was really looking for something, I would have a hard time finding it.

During the pandemic, I came across the Instagram account of someone I knew from school who showcased a lot of her art work on a bullet journal. I knew the art bit was not my cup of tea but something about the system intrigued me. I researched; found the system to be incredibly flexible. You do not need to start on the 1^st of Jan as most pre-printed diaries mandate nor the 1^st of a month – you can start it on any day of the year. It does not end with the end of the year; it can end when you run out of pages. The best part is – even if you skip making entries for days, weeks, or even months altogether – you can resume on the next blank page; no awkward blank spaces to remind you of all the time you missed. There are no fixed sections dictating how much can you put in for a day– you can take as much or as less space as you need. You make your own index; you get to decide what all goes in, where it goes and how will it look.

BuJo stuff

I discovered this in late July and after procuring the basic items, I began bullet journaling on August 08, 2020. I started with a minimalistic approach. A future log enabled me to enter items I needed to take care of within a six-month timeframe. One look at my future log and I know that I need to take my two-wheeler for servicing in June, make my insurance payment in August, take a dental appointment in October. It no longer was one of the things I needed to mentally keep a track of.

My future log template

Every month, I migrate into my monthly log: spill-over tasks from the previous month as well as relevant tasks from the future log. In a glance, I have a high-level view of the things that I need to get done that month. I look at it every night to see if there is something I can do the next day. This habit reinforces the things that need to get done. I do a review at the end of the month to analyze all accomplishments, learnings, and setbacks. This helps me understand what works for me, what doesn’t; and celebrate the small wins.

My monthly log template

The daily log is where I get granular – list down my to-dos for the day which includes any events I need to attend, anybody I need to meet / call / email, and any task that I intend to complete. At the end of the day, I cross out the ones I did do, cancel out the ones that I don’t intend to do anymore, migrate the pending ones to the next day or the future log as applicable. This weeds out irrelevant tasks and ensures each day has a thought-through task list.

I started a few collections for organization of linked ideas. For every workshop / class I attend or book I read, I jot down my notes and takeaways. I have a collection of quotes wherein I pen quotes that resonate with me – be it via podcasts, books, thoughts, or conversations. I also list down the books I’ve read along with completion date and a star-based rating. I have a collection of selfcare ideas – whenever I wish to pamper myself, I go to that collection and pick out 1-2 ideas for immediate execution. Collections can also be used for a specific purpose – I have migraine – so I maintain a headache tracker wherein I list the date, intensity, duration, and well as how it got better – medicine, sleep, peppermint oil, combination of activities – which gives me a sense of what works for me.

Notes from a class I took

Somewhere down the line, I started a gratitude practice wherein I list down 3 things I'm grateful for every single day. Even on my worst days (according to me), I am able to name at least one thing I'm truly grateful for. 

My gratitude practice template

Another item I added was the habit tracker, to see how regularly I was doing certain activities that I wanted to turn into a habit. As they say, what gets measured gets managed. There are days wherein the only motivation for me to do something is to get that date highlighted on the habit tracker against the activity. I make it a point to ensure I don't miss more than 2 days in a row. There are times I miss activities up to 10 days in a row but the intention is always to get back to that activity as soon as I can.

Habit Tracker and monthly review sections

I do a yearly review as well. Seeing how much I have grown in black and white (literally, as I use a black pen) has propelled me into taking more risks, trying more varied things and discovering patterns in repetitive actions. The insights thus achieved are truly valuable and actionable.

There is something oddly satisfying about taking a brain dump onto physical paper and not some digital medium. It has made me more mindful and present as I don't have my to-dos, events, obligations in my head but on a piece of paper. It has been an important tool for my mental health.

P.S.: What I used to get started (and still using these)

• Book: Leuchtturm 1917
• Stationary: Sakura Pigma micron archival ink pens, Sakura jelly roll white, Zebra midliners, scale