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In the most connected time in history, we’re quickly losing touch with ourselves. Overwhelmed by a never-ending flood of information, we’re left feeling overstimulated yet restless, overworked yet discontented, tuned in yet burned out.
When we talk about mindfulness, we’re typically talking about a heightened awareness of the present.
Mindfulness is the process of waking up to see what’s right in front of us. It helps you become more aware of where you are, who you are, and what you want.
The rush of our busy lives can quietly carve out a gulf separating our actions from our beliefs. We tend to follow the path of least resistance, even when it leads away from the things we care about.
It can require a lot of ongoing effort to effect the change we seek.
Like building muscle, we need to train our intentions to make them ...
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The Bullet Journal method acts as a bridge between your beliefs and your actions by integrating into the nitty-gritty of your life.
do you know why you’re doing what you’re doing?
Thanks to Bullet Journaling, I have a handle on my life.
I know what’s coming. I have built in moments to reflect and make sure I’m actually focusing on the right things.
Leading an intentional life is about keeping your actions aligned with your beliefs.
We need to reduce the number of decisions we burden ourselves with so we can focus on what matters.
what would happen if said item just didn’t get done. Ever. Would there be any real repercussions?
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
Writing by hand helps us think and feel simultaneously.
Topics actually serve three functions: They identify and describe content. They serve as an opportunity for you to clarify your intention. They set the agenda for the content.
Often all it takes to live intentionally is to pause before you proceed.
Lastly, a good Topic turns your Bullet Journal into a more useful reference.
Tasks can have five different states: Tasks: Entries that require you to take action. Completed Tasks: Action has been completed.
Migrated Tasks: Tasks that have been moved forward (hence the right arrow) into your next Monthly Log (this page) or into a specific Collection (this page). Scheduled Tasks: A Task tied to a date that falls outside of the current month and is therefore moved backward (hence the left arrow) into the Future Log (this page) at the front of your book. Irrelevant Tasks: Sometimes the things we task ourselves with end up not mattering anymore. Their meaning simply expires or circumstances change. If it no longer matters, then it’s a distraction. Strike it off your list. One less thing to worry
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TIP: When you notice a Master Task spawning a lot of Subtasks, it can indicate that this Task is growing into a project.
If you notice that a Task is turning into a project, but you don’t have time at that moment to set up a new Collection, just log a Task to remind you to set one up later:
That’s the most important part: to have a record.
Event bullets allow you to put a pin in an experience, to temporarily offload it from your mind, so you can refocus on other priorities. This way you have a record safely stored in your journal, ready for you to revisit whenever you have more time, perspective, or wherewithal to sort out your emotional bureaucracy.
an objective account of your experience can be a powerful tool in helping you move through life.
you can nest Note bullets (this page) under an Event bullet if there are important/interesting details that you want to capture about an experience for later use. Again, keep it brief:
Represented with the “–” dash, Notes include facts, ideas, thoughts, and observations.
By keeping your Notes short, you’re forced to distill information down to the essential.
Being both strategic and economical with your word choices forces you to engage your mind. By asking yourself what’s important and why, you go from passively listening to actively hearing what’s being said. It’s when we begin to hear that information can transform into understanding. A main focus of Bullet Journaling is to get better at hearing the world around us as well as the one within so we can begin to understand.
Keep your future self in mind. Your Notes will be useless if they can’t be deciphered in a week, month, or year from now. Do your future self a kindness and don’t sacrifice clarity for brevity. It will keep your Bullet Journal valuable for years to come.
SIGNIFIERS AND CUSTOM BULLETS
The portfolio of Collections—also known as your Stack—that
four core Collections: the Daily Log, the Monthly Log, the Future Log, and the one Collection to rule them all, the Index. These will serve as the foundational structure for your notebook.
BuJo is less concerned with structure than it is with intention.
The Monthly Log is set up on a spread of facing pages. The left page will be your Calendar page; the right page will be your Tasks page.
Calendar Page
TIP: Keep your entries as short as possible, as the Monthly Log is designed for reference only. TIP: For some added clarity, you can add lines dividing the weeks.
We rewrite things until we get them done or they become irrelevant.
The Future Log stores entries that have specific dates that fall outside of the current month.
The Future Log lives at the front of your Bullet Journal, right after your Index (
So how does this work in practice? During the day, just continue to write everything down in your Daily Log (this page), even future Tasks. Again, the Daily Log is there to prevent us from having to waste time thinking about where to write things down. It’s a catchall, designed to hold our thoughts until we’re ready to sort them out. When that time comes—like during Daily Reflection (this page)—you’ll transfer any bullets with a future date from your Daily Log into your Future Log. Once you do, be sure to mark the entry as scheduled “<” in your Daily Log. This way you will know that it’s been
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Remember, for everything you say yes to, you’re also saying no to something else. Yes means work, it means sacrifice, it means investing time into one thing that you can no longer invest into another.
During Migration, we transfer content from one place in our Bullet Journal to another by rewriting it. This may seem like a lot of effort, but it serves a critical purpose: It weeds out distractions.
Monthly Migration The main Migration happens at the end of every month, when you’re ready to set up a new Monthly Log
Don’t worry about getting everything right or perfect. Every master starts by picking up a tool for the first time. This is just the first step in a process that will continue to evolve as long as you Bullet Journal. Be patient with yourself, and remember, do what works for you.
This applies to spiritual growth too.
Like most thoughts, they fade over time, especially if they remain abstract and don’t play an active role in our lives. Even the most fervent beliefs or helpful lessons can dissipate unless they’re actively applied. What if you could put your beliefs into practice on a regular basis, test-driving promising ideas and measuring their impact on your life when put into action?
Step by step, we’ll close the distance between what we’re doing and why by defining how to live an intentional life, one that’s both productive and meaningful.
Don’t let fear dilute your life.
There never has been, nor will there ever be, another like you. Your singular perspective may patch some small hole in the vast tattered fabric of humanity. Uniqueness alone, however, does not make you valuable. If you don’t do, if you don’t dare, then you rob the world—and yourself—of the chance to contribute something meaningful.
