Minimalist Bullet Journaling, A Life-Changing Practice

What do you think about Minimalist Bullet Journaling? Bullet Journaling promises to be 10 times more powerful than the best organizational planners, with the power to help anyone get their life on track and realize their goals and dreams.

Did I pour it on a little too thick? Believe it or not, I believe most of that statement to be true.

I also believe Minimalist Bullet Journaling is the most powerful of Bullet Journaling. What It lacks in artistic appearance it makes up in functionality.

Ryder Carroll created the Bullet Journaling method and it is the best example of Minimalist Bullet Journaling by far I believe the practice can easily change your life for the better.

What Is Bullet Journaling?

Think of a journal on steroids. The Bullet Journal (BuJo) can consist of sections for a diary, drawing, to-do, monthly, weekly, daily logs, and of course journaling.

The Bullet Journal is a powerful and flexible planner or organizer. It’s also a great system for tracking your schedule or anything you like. You can track ANYTHING and I do mean ANYTHING!

There can also be sections to jot down notes and track short and long-term goals. Some people, like me, even have sections created to track mental and physical health.

You can create sections to track your workouts, plant watering, what you eat, and feel, and mental health. Anything! Most Bullet Journalers prefer a dotted or block grid notebook instead of a lined paper notebook.

Bullet Journals are created with you in mind. You can create anything you would like. There is no right and wrong. I prefer the minimal approach but if you search Bullet Journals on Instagram you will see some of the most beautiful, creative creations.

Please do not be intimidated by them, remember Ryder Carroll Bullet Journal used a more minimal approach than mine. I believe Bullet journaling is always about function over form but that is not always the case and that is ok.

Your Bullet Journal just needs to be effective and help empower you to meet your needs.

Carroll’s Bullet Journaling video has grown into a global community, with subsets of every variation.

What Are The Benefits Of Bullet Journaling?

Minimalist Bullet Journaling offers many benefits. Minimalist Bullet Journaling works for me because it’s a quick and easy way to stay organized.

Sometimes people get carried away and create these artistic Bullet Journals that can take away productivity.

It takes time to create these monthly spreads and I believe is the number one reason people quit Bullet Journaling.

On the other hand, I believe the larger artsy-fartsy spread something else because of how happy they seem to be when creating them on YouTube.

Minimalist Bullet Journaling is straightforward the way Ryder Carroll teaches it. Because Bullet Journaling is custom and created by the user to serve them, most people add their own flair.

Minimalist Bullet Journaling promises to keep you organized, declutter your mind, and help you reach your goals.

Unlike a planner or organizer, Minimalist Bullet Journal pages are 100% blank and the spreads can be created to be more granular and detailed to meet the user’s needs.

That can also be the biggest cons and pros of Minimalist Bullet Journaling. It requires extra work at the beginning of each month to create a custom monthly spread on those blank pages. As opposed to planners and organizers are pre-printed and ready to go but some people enjoy it.

Minimalist Bullet Journaling also keeps your handwriting skills sharp as we use pen and paperless less in this technology-driven society.

How To Begin Bullet Journaling

Basically, you take your favorite journal, number the pages, and create an index so you can find everything. Then you can list tasks, write diary entries, and build out a productivity calendar.

Here you will need to ask what would you like the Bullet Journal to do for you. That is a very important question. The answer will help you build a Bullet Journal that will serve you the best.

Bullet Journaling can be overwhelming. I suggest beginners start slow. I also suggest they start with a Monthly Log and prioritize their monthly goal.

This is what gives the Daily Log power. This log is the workhorse of Bullet Journaling and will help you reach all of your goals.

I believe rapid logging, the official language of bullet journaling will help you become more efficient. This is where you trade full sentences for short phrases or keywords. This shorthand provides a way to be more productive.

You should create a key that fits your needs, Carroll recommends using these symbols to help you be more productive.

I believe EVERY Bullet Journal should include:

Tasks: • – Represented by a simple dot “•”. We use a dot instead of a checkbox.

Events: O – Events are represented by the open circle “O” Bullet. Events are date-related entries that can either be scheduled or logged.

Notes: – – Represented with a dash “–”. Notes include facts, ideas, thoughts, and observations. They’re used to capture information or data you don’t want to forget. 

Priority: * – Represented as a “*” and not something that is very important.

Inspiration: ! – Great ideas, personal mantras, and genius insights are labeled with “!” symbol.

Put it all together, and begin experimenting to create your Bullet Journal. I love to put the date in the top left corner of my Daily Log page. Next to it, I like to write the day of the week, the weather, and the high and low temperatures.

I like to number the pages of my Bullet Journal on the lower right corner of all the odd pages only. This helps with indexing and navigating around your journal.

I found that noting the temperature helps me understand some of my actions during the day when I look back on my Bullet Journal.

I suggest you title all of your pages in a similar way. For my Monthly Log, Gratitude, Health, and Tracker pages, I just write the name at the top center of the page.

You can do whatever you like. Choose your pages and how you build them. There is no right or wrong.

The goal is to do what you believe will help you be more productive.

Conclusion

I know Life-changing are strong words but Minimalist Bullet Journaling has been that and more for me and can be for you.

It keeps me organized and helps me track some important things in my life. I plan Monthly, Weekly, and Daily activities.

I also track my general Health, Gratitude, Weather, Sleep, Mood, and Stress. The last three are tracked in a graph and provide me with a powerful visual representation.

I also find it therapeutic as I do a weekly wrap-up flip back through the pages and relive my past activities.

There is something about writing thoughts down with pen and paper that sears those experiences into your memory.

Give Minimalist Bullet Journaling a try and enjoy these benefits and more. Please leave a comment below and let me know how things are going.

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