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

My daily setup I write the date at the top of the page with a colored pen (usually gray, but I’ve been known to go wild and use olive green or navy blue), and then write all my work-related tasks and events on the left side of the page in black pen. Just to the right of the center of the page, I write my nonwork tasks and events for the day, also in black pen. (Occasionally, I do my daily tasks as a single column and write work items in black pen and nonwork items in gray pen—again, I’m pretty wild!) The page functions as my to-do list throughout the day and helps me stay organized and focused. Then, at night, I skip a couple of lines after my last task, write “Notes” in the same color pen as I wrote the date, and log more diary-like notes below that, using the “—” symbol. Once I finish writing my notes for the night, I go to the next blank page, write the next day’s date at the top, migrate the tasks I didn’t get to, and start the whole routine again.