My Bullet Journal
Prompted by Hyde's post A new logbook, I thought I'd do a similar walk-through of what I use for my bullet journal, and how I use it. I may not be as detailed as Hyde's post (definitely fewer pictures) but I hope this will give you a sense of how I use mine.
The Notebook
I've tried several different notebooks for my bullet journals over the years, but the one I keep coming back to is the Leuchtturm1917. The one I'm using for this journal is the thinner paper (Hyde is using the 120gsm paper, which is really great and I highly recommend it); I found the notebook in a package of other notebooks for less than $10; the Leuchtturms tend to sell for something like $25 so this was a steal and a no-brainer.
My particular journal has the French word faire (translates to "to do" or perhaps "to make") stamped on the front. I was undecided of whether or not I was going to cover it with stickers, but I decided it was fitting. I may stamp my name or initials on the cover but as I don't generally see the cover very often I'm probably not going to worry about it.
I am a staunch supporter of the A5 notebook size for bujos, and I have a folio that I keep the book in that fits A5 notebooks; the folio originally came with a small notebook that I bought from Staples, but they don't seem to sell this folio anymore! Which is a shame, because it is in slight disrepair and I'd like to replace it. I'm on the hunt, but it's not urgent. Yet.
How I use it
I have an index page built-in to start the notebook; there are two pages' worth of room but I will never fill the whole thing.
After the index, it goes in this order:
- Goals / To Do for 2025
- A few blank pages to account for more goals / to do items for the year
- Future Log for 2025 - mainly lists birthdays, and events I know of in the future but haven't recorded anywhere yet
- January monthly pages (2 pages)
- January daily pages (currently 4 and counting, starting January 4th)
- The rest is blank except for pre-printed page numbers
The Key
Ryder Carroll, who popularized the Bullet Journal system, has a standard set of symbols he uses to represent different things. He has a lot of different tools in his kit, but I stick to these simple symbols:
o: Denotes an event, appointment, or could even be a birthday.-: A simple note or comment. Sometimes I include the time I write the comment if it provides some context.- •: A simple dot for action / to-do items. For example, I'd use one of these dots for "do the laundry".
X: A dot becomes an X when it's complete>: I don't use this very often, but this means that it's been moved ahead...somewhere.something crossed out: Most often this is a to-do item that's no longer relevant (whether it's because it was done by the time I wrote it, or turns out to be something I didn't need to do, etc.).
Monthly Pages
I've gone back and forth with different ways of putting it together, but the method I'm currently stuck on - and have been for a while - is to print out an A5 calendar and paste it in the book. I found a reliable website that does the trick for me: 7Calendar. Just make sure you set the start of the week to the correct date (Monday).
On the opposite page, I have a list of things to do for the month. Some of that comes from the overall 2025 goals/to-do items, some come from things I think about while I'm setting up the month. It's a mixed bag. So far I've completed three out of 12 items. Not bad, I'm just dragging my feet on some of them. I have two days off coming up in the next two weeks so I have no excuses.
Daily Pages
The meat and potatoes, I guess. My daily pages vary in size needed on the page so I don't write out the entire week ahead of time - I know that some bujo users do this, but that's really only helpful if you know exactly what your days look like or maybe you don't write comments in them too.
The general format for a day looks something like this:
Friday January 17, 2025 250.4
o Dad's Birthday
o 11:10a - Blood Donation
o 5p - Personal Training Session
• Random to-do thing
X Random to-do thing that was done
- 11:45am - Hey that was my 30th blood donation!
Simple. The 250.4 number is my weight from my morning weigh-in. It's not always there, as sometimes I don't weigh myself. I keep track of that in apps but sometimes it's helpful to have it written down for reference in case I forget to add the info later.
Conclusion
That's actually my system in a nutshell. Not very complicated, it does what it needs to do - helps me remember things and I can reference them later (as long as I know which book to look in). I've actually been meaning to look up some things I talked to my neurologist about a couple of years ago - but it's in an older book. Like, two books ago I think?
I think more people should post about their bullet journals, or planners, if they have them. Make it the new "blogging about blogging".
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