The Bullet Journal Method: The ultimate self-help manifesto and guide to productivity and mindful living

by Ryder Carroll

If the journey is the destination, then we must learn how to become better travelers. To become better travelers, we must first learn to orient ourselves. Where are you now? Do you want to be here? If not, why do you want to move on?

Knowing where you are begins with knowing who you are.

Intentionality is the power of the mind to direct itself toward that which it finds meaningful and take action toward that end.

If intentionality means acting according to your beliefs, then the opposite would be operating on autopilot. In other words, do you know why you’re doing what you’re doing?

Leading an intentional life is about keeping your actions aligned with your beliefs. It’s about penning a story that you believe in and that you can be proud of.

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

We need to reduce the number of decisions we burden ourselves with so we can focus on what matters.

When you christen your Bullet Journal, you should do so with only things that you believe are important or will add value to your life. Being intentional about what you let into your life is a practice that shouldn’t be limited to the pages of your notebook.

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

The power of the Bullet Journal is that it becomes whatever you need it to be, no matter what season of life you’re in.

Often all it takes to live intentionally is to pause before you proceed.

There is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency something that should not be done at all.

The only thing you can control is the way you respond. Focusing on things you can’t control allows them to control you. Focus on what you can control.

To be useful, you must become useful, especially to yourself. You can’t improve the world around you if you can’t improve the world within. Choose your friends wisely, and be a friend to yourself. To start this process. . .

Study the good in your life. Achievement is empty without appreciation. If you can’t appreciate your hard work, what’s the point?! It’s important to. . .

Find the music in the mundane. When you believe in what you’re doing, pain is transformed by purpose.

Reflection helps identify what nourishes you so you can make better decisions as you seed the next season of your life.

“Your ikigai is at the intersection of what you are good at and what you love doing,”

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. —REINHOLD NIEBUHR

We can control how we respond to what happens to us.

As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him.

“You can’t change the people around you, but you can change the people around you.”

design. Form should never obscure function.

You can’t manage what you can’t measure.