The Illustrated bullet journal Write It Down, Make it Happen, was designed essentially for those that are not artsy fancy or have time to draw designs but still wish to have beautiful spreads. Each monthly has a unique theme, so nothing will be boring or monotonous.
The illustrated bullet journal system can be a bit intimidating, but don’t worry! This guide has everything you need to get started today!
This bullet journal (or bujo) is a planning system that consists of several key elements: the key, monthly log, collections, and a future log. This guide will provide an in-depth example of each of these elements.
Essentially, the bullet journal is a highly customizable planner system that allows you to plan for the future and track the past while making the most of the present.
IT’S IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT the illustrated BUllet journal IS NOT A DIARY, BUT RATHER A FORM OF PLANNER SYSTEM THAT IS MEANT TO HELP KEEP YOU ORGANIZED AND BE MORE PRODUCTIVE.
TERMS TO KNOW
There are certain words that you’ll hear as you begin digging into the
bullet journal system. Here are a few important terms and what they mean!
MIGRATION
One of the core principles of this system is the ability to move tasks forward to new pages. This is called migration. If you find that a task didn’t get accomplished and you still want to keep it on your to-do list, you migrate it to your current daily page to keep it relevant.
SPREADS
A spread is often said to describe the pages in a bujo. You often see monthly layouts and collections referred to as spreads because they sprawl across two pages.
COLLECTIONS
A collection is a category page in your bullet journal that covers a specific problem or topic. This can take the form of a tracker, log, or simply a list. Collections allow you to better organize your bullet journal without worry about it getting too disorganized and scattered.
TRACKERS
A tracker is a spread used to track certain information for a period of time. Trackers can span a week, a month, a year, or anything in between.
RAPID LOGGING
Rapid Logging is the term used for the act of quickly capturing information in a bulleted list. Essentially, when you sit down and quickly jot down your takes in your daily spread, you are rapid logging.
Essential Supplies
Before you run out and purchase a ton of stuff, I have some good news, you can start with any pen!
Really, that’s all you need.
THE BASIC PAGES
Let’s walk through each of the basic functions of the bullet journal and go through how to set it up. In this journal, some collection pages have been set up for you in line with achieving your annual plans. You are able to set up any others you feel the need to with the use of the dotted pages provided. To set up a collection, turn to the next blank page or spread. Then add a header to the page to explain what the collection is about and add the information you want to write down.
These include a key, goal setting pages, goal assessment pages,
expense budgeting, daily gratidude challenges,as well as mood and
habit trackers within each weekly spread.
USING THE KEY
The writing style encouraged is of a bullet and rapid nature. For this reason, a key may be used to explain any shorthand used in the journal for example differentiating icons to distinguish important tasks, appointments or even anniversaries.
YEAR AT A GLANCE / FUTURE LOG
With this pre-designed planner, you can easily flip six months ahead and jot down an appointment. Basically, this is just a page where you can write down any future appointments or dates for a month you haven’t set up yet. That way you can easily reference it to see if there’s a dentist appointment coming up or a deadline sneaking up on you. As you get an appointment or note you want to remember, flip to your future log and jot it down. Then, when you’re setting up a new month, you can check your future log to ensure those notes get added to your calendar! The future log is a great tool to help you remember important dates.
MONTHLY OVERVIEW / MONTHLY LOG
This is where you keep your month at a glance. Any appointments that were set up ahead in the future log are brought forward to enable you plan the weeks and days in more depth.
WEEKLY SPREAD
Basically, you can plan out the week in detail with one spread. Each week is designed to begin on Sunday to allow you prepare for the work/school week the day before. Each week also lays flat to allow you review the whole week together.
HABIT TRACKER
I’m not being dramatic when I say that the habit tracker changed my life. As someone who has always struggled with building positive habits and shedding bad habits, this has been exactly the ticket for making a big difference. In a habit tracker, you write down the habits you want to focus on — good and bad — and you track them daily for a month. Every night, you sit down and color in a box to indicate if that habit was present that day. For example, if you’re tracking your exercise habit, you can fill in the box if you exercised today. If you didn’t exercise, the box remains empty. After weeks and months, you can watch a pattern emerge and see exactly how often that habit is present in your life. Once you see that information, it becomes 10x easier to make changes because you remove any guesswork.
MOOD TRACKER
Whether you are battling mental health problems or you simply want to encourage a brighter attitude, a mood tracker is an amazing way to see your mental patterns. This bird’s eye view of your mood can help you see patterns you might otherwise miss. Once you understand your own personal patterns, you can account for that and take steps to make sure you are healthy all year long.
