Dot Journaling: A Practical Guide: How to Start and Keep the Planner, To-Do List, and Diary That’ll Actually Help You Get Your Life Together

by Rachel Wilkerson Miller

But I was also sharing my thoughts with my friends via texts, instant messages, and emails all day, and I didn’t feel like rewriting everything in a notebook at night.

(Even when I first started, I told myself I was only going to use my dot journal as a personal journal, not for anything work-related; this approach lasted, like, two weeks.)

I look at being organized as a gift to other people. The older I get, the more I understand that my personal decisions and my overall mood have a major effect on those around me.

usually give myself two or three pages for my index, just to be on the safe side.

I gave myself three pages ... I've used not even half of one.

dot next to things that you need to do.

x over the dot to mark to-dos that are complete.

less-than symbol (<) over the dot to show that a task h...

greater-than symbol (>) over it to show that the task has...

caret (^) over the dot when you’ve started a task.

dash for quick thoughts, notes, observations, or smaller events.

open box to mark big events

slash through any items that are no longer relevant.

because it’s time I’d probably otherwise waste looking at dumb stuff on the Internet, it’s not really time I miss.

A lot of people find it easy to maintain a diary when they are having a rough time (sooo many angsty post-breakup entries!), but aren’t as inspired to write when everything is going well.

If you read my diary and see something about yourself that you don’t like, you don’t get to be angry with me about it.

If you keep migrating the same task day after day in your dot journal and just can’t seem to get to it, you could up the ante and start writing it in a color that you hate, or underlining it with your least favorite highlighter.