The Bullet Journal Method: Track Your Past, Order Your Present, Plan Your Future

by Ryder Carroll

Through trial and a lot of error, I gradually pieced together a system that worked, all in my good old-fashioned paper notebook. It was a cross between a planner, diary, notebook, to-do list, and sketchbook. It provided me with a practical yet forgiving tool to organize my impatient mind. Gradually, I became less distracted, less overwhelmed, and a lot more productive. I realized that it was up to me to solve my challenges. More importantly, I realized that I could!

Bullet Journal system, aka BuJo.

Her trick was to add a tiny passion project—say, 15 minutes of lettering by hand—to every Daily Log, and to do it first thing every day.

I’ve also been inspired by the inventive, resilient, and spirited Bullet Journalists who have taken my methodology and customized it to fit their circumstances.

The Bullet Journal method will help you accomplish more by working on less. It helps you identify and focus on what is meaningful by stripping away what is meaningless.

For most of us, “being busy” is code for being functionally overwhelmed.

Our notebook serves as a mental sanctuary where we are free to think, reflect, process, and focus.

The palest ink is better than the best memory. —CHINESE PROVERB

TIP: I recommend unpacking experiences as soon as possible after the Event, so the details are fresh and accurate. The Daily Reflection (this page) works well toward this end.

TIP: Events that need to be scheduled on specific dates that fall outside of the current month are added to the Future Log (this page). Like birthdays, meetings, and dinners.

Goals give us the opportunity to define what we want.

First, turn to your next blank spread. The Topic for this new Collection will be “5, 4, 3, 2, 1.” Divide the spread into five rows on each page (this page). The left page will be for your personal goals; the right page will be for your professional goals. The top cell will store the goals you want to accomplish in 5 years. In the next cell you’ll have goals you want to achieve in 4 months; the next cell will be for goals to achieve in 3 weeks; the next cell will be for goals to attain in 2 days; and the final cell will be for goals you intend to accomplish in the next 1 hour. Now turn back to your “Goals” Collection and migrate your goals into their appropriate cells.

SPRINT REQUIREMENTS: Have no major barriers to entry (nothing preventing you from starting). For example, to learn knife skills, you don’t have to purchase an entire expensive set of chef’s knives. You just need a basic kitchen utility knife that you may already own or can buy with minimal investment. Consist of very clearly defined, actionable Tasks. Your knife skills might be broken down into holding a knife properly, sharpening, peeling, slicing, dicing, cubing, mincing, and so on. Have a fixed, relatively short time frame for completion (should take less than a month to complete, ideally a week or two). Just making a salad several days a week and mastering a simple vegetable soup recipe would get your knife skills up to speed pretty quickly.

pause and reflect on the experience thus far. For example: What am I learning about my strengths, my weaknesses? What’s working, and what isn’t? What could I do a bit better next time? What value was added to my life?

The Deming Cycle provides us with a four-stage framework for continual improvement: “Plan → Do → Check → Act.”

The hard truth is that we can’t “make time,” we can only “take time.”

The quality of our time is determined by our ability to be present.

Life is so subtle that sometimes you barely notice yourself walking through the doors you once prayed would open. —BRIANNA WIEST

Self-compassion can start by asking yourself a simple question: What would I tell a friend in this situation?

Radiance is a two-way street. So be mindful about the people you surround yourself with, because they will shape you. Their strengths and weaknesses can have a tremendous influence on your own trajectory. It’s critical therefore to be deliberate about who you cultivate relationships with, both professionally and personally.

As Joshua Fields Millburn of the Minimalists once quipped, “You can’t change the people around you, but you can change the people around you.”53 You get to choose who you spend your precious time with. Surround yourself with people who want the best for you.

break-sprints are self-contained micro projects. They’re designed for the sole purpose of helping your mind get unstuck. A break-sprint can be set up in your Bullet Journal the same way as a standard Sprint, but it follows a subtly different set of rules: It should take two weeks or less to complete. You need a break, but you don’t want to lose the thread of your main project. It should be unrelated to the project/problem that’s troubling you. You and your main project need space. You’re not breaking up, but you’re taking some much-needed “me time.” Very critically, it needs to have a defined end (and a clear beginning and middle, too). When we feel stuck, our sense of inertia drains our motivation. One goal of your break-sprint is to give you the satisfaction of crossing off the final Task, of feeling that sense of accomplishment and closure. Reminding yourself what that feels like can quickly refuel your drive.

There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in. —LEONARD COHEN

A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. —ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY

My favorite part of The Wizard of Oz is when the fellowship discovers that the mighty wizard is nothing more than an aging man, pulling levers behind a curtain. Once he’s revealed, Dorothy exclaims, “Oh, you’re a very bad man.” To which the wizard replies, “Oh, no, my dear, I . . . I’m a very good man—I’m just a very bad wizard.”