Bullet journaling is the best method I’ve found to organize my to-do list and schedule. It’s quite simple in its basic form, but customizable to suit your own needs. For example, I use it to incorporate daily gratitude for mindfulness.

I have been journaling for about 3 years and it has helped me stay on track and keep a positive mindset about work and life. It’s too easy to get overwhelmed with how many tasks and deadlines we all have.

Prior to bullet journaling, I didn’t have a good method for tracking my tasks, and priorities, or reflect back on what I did accomplish. Sometimes I felt like I was productive but other times, I felt swamped and never had a sense I was getting ahead.

Journaling has played a vital role in my life. Not only does it help me track how many items I realistically accomplish in one day, it also adds tremendous value by allowing me to prioritize and reflect on my day. In this post, I will explain my daily bullet journal method and how I use it.

What Is A Bullet Journal?

The bullet journal system is a planning and productivity method created by Ryder Carrol Bullet journaling helps you organize your thoughts and tasks and intentionally plan your schedule.

In your bullet journal, you can log tasks, events, and notes in short-form sentences — aka “bullets.”

You can quickly capture thoughts and tasks at the start and end of your day. Personally, planning and reflecting on the day is key to my overall happiness. The main point is to get ideas out of your head and onto paper. That way, you stay organized and are better suited to handle your busy schedule.

I do my best to keep journal entries to one page per day. Otherwise entries become too detailed and this process becomes a burden instead of a beneficial activity.

My Bullet Journal Method

Below is my bullet journal method. Feel free to take bits and pieces or create your own. Do what works for you.

The Core

The core of my journal method consists of the following parts:

• Schedule

• To-Do / Top Priorities For The Day

• Motivation

• Happiness / Gratitude

Next, let’s break down each section and cover the details.

Schedule

This is a light review of my overall schedule. I write down basic details on what I envision for the day. I typically do not break this down by the hour. Then I go check my calendar to confirm if I need to add anything.

To-Do / Top Priorities For The Day

Instead of making a typical “To-Do” list, I enjoy writing my top priorities for the day. I found myself getting too detailed and adding too many items where I’d never complete the “To-Do” section and then it spilled over to the next day. This whole process created unnecessary anxiety. I started to make an effort to write down my top three priorities for the day. The advantage to this is it allows you to prioritize the most important tasks for the day.

Some people do a hybrid of making highly detailed lists and prioritizing from there. Feel free to experiment with what works for you!

Motivation

I use this section to write down one or two bits to get motivated for the day. Sometimes it is a quote or a reference to something I am currently reading.

Happiness / Gratitude

I take 15-20 minutes to reflect on the day in the evening. I look back on my top priorities and whether I achieved them, write down what I could have done better, and a couple of small notes on things that I am grateful for.

Conclusion

This simple journal method has served me well and I plan to continue to use it going forward. I hope you reach your goals and found this post useful! This process is not set in stone by any means. Feel free to experiment with it and use it as you see fit.

I wish you the best!

If you have any questions, or would like to discuss this topic in more detail, feel free to contact us and we would be happy to schedule some time to chat about how Aquia can help you and your organization.