How To Make An Ugly Bullet Journal

The bullet journal: a simple, adaptable system that helps you to manage your time and your to-do list.

Sounds nice and friendly, right? And yet, when you google how to actually engage in bullet journaling, you are immediately presented with approximately 16 kaskillion pictures of elaborate, color-coded notebooks that look as if they were designed by Rembrandt. You’re also bombarded with a lot of unnerving terminology – “future log,” “collections,” “signifiers,” etc. A few minutes of skimming pages like these can easily throw you off the whole idea of creating a bullet journal.

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Author’s Note: I’m not knocking people who take the time and effort to make artistic-looking bullet journals; so there’s no need to send me angry letters written in breathtaking calligraphy and framed in washi tape. However, I think it’s important that people feel free to make ugly bullet journals. The bullet journal system really is a fantastic productivity tool, but some people can use it more effectively when they don’t set out to make it look nice.

So, without further ado, here’s The Ugly Bullet Journal Method (patent pending). Oh, and just so you know, the abbreviation of “bullet journal” is “BuJo.” Sounds ridiculous, but it saves wear and tear on the vocal apparatus.

Step 1: The notebook.

[image error]You can turn any notebook into a bullet journal. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or expensive. That being said, some notebooks have design features that make bullet journaling easier. The best one is the Leuchtturm1917. You don’t have to bother learning how to proununce that, but if you’re interested, it’s LOY-schss-ttt-oyyym-NYNE-tien-seh-vahn-TIENN. The useful thing about this one, from a BuJo perspective, is that it’s got a ready-made index and numbered pages. These things are important elements of the BuJo system, so it’s more convenient to not have to make them from scratch. The Leuchtturm comes in lined and dotted editions. Dotted is better if you want to sketch or do other creative stuff in your journal, but lined works just as well.

You’ve got two choices of vendors for the Leuchtturm – Amazon and BulletJournal.com. If you buy from the official BuJo website, you get a black or green notebook with “Bullet Journal” embossed across the front and with a guide to the BuJo method printed inside. This model also has three bookmark ribbons, unlike the regular Leuchtturm, which only has two. This version costs $25.

The extra bookmark, however, is the only really thing the “official” notebook has going for it. I’ve deviated from the original method extensively, so I don’t need the guide, and neither will you if you use my method. Also, the store on bulletjournal.com seems to run out of notebooks pretty often – as of today, they’re out of stock again. Amazon, meanwhile, offers a more standard Leuchtturm for $20, in a variety of colors. Like I said, if you don’t want to shell out that kind of money for a notebook, it’s not essential. But the features of the Leuchtturm do make things easier.

For this post, I’m using photos from my Bullet Journal (one of the officially-branded Leuchtturms) and from a Moleskine cahier notebook. Moleskine cahiers are really too small for bullet journaling, but I’m using one as a prop because if I show pictures of everything in my Leuchtturm, you’ll see spoilers for the Beaumont and Beasley series. Trust me, you don’t want that.