The bullet journal is a personal planner system designed to work with ADHD brains
A personal planner system originally designed by Ryder Carroll to help him manage his ADHD symptoms. It combines to do list, notes and forward planning in one notebook, and utilises a specific set of bullet points to keep track of things.
The main attraction of the bullet journal is that you start with a blank notebook, meaning that not only is it endlessly customisable, but you, since you're working one month, week or day at a time, you always have sufficient space for your notes.
The bullet journal method combines its key bullet points with a concept called rapid logging to jot down tasks, appointments, events and notes that you want to remember.
Key concepts in Bullet Journaling
Rapid Logging
Rapid logging utilises a system of bullet points combined with short sentences to record notes in a way that is both fast to write and easy to understand at a later date.
If the daily log is where keep your thoughts in a bullet journal, rapid logging is how you keep your notes.
The basic bullet notation is as follows:
- Note
- Task
○ Event
X Task complete
> Task migrated forward (eg to next day)
< Task scheduled (in future or monthly log)
- Task no longer relevant
/ Task started but not completed
Many bullet journal users add their own custom bullet points, but these are sufficient to get started.
Tips and Tricks for rapid logging effectively
- use nested bullets to add additional information. Breaks up the block of text and makes it easier to read
- start notes and to dos with a verb wherever possible
- use acronyms and abbreviations to make notes more concise eg DOB for date of birth or w/o for without
- you could even include some shorthand for frequently used words such as a long dash for the
- look into something like sketch notes. It's often easier to convey information in an image that in words.
Migration
Migration is the process of moving tasks etc between your future, monthly and daily log. It is a process that leans heavily on mindfulness to help you determine whether something needs to be migrated.
For example:
During the course of your day, someone invites you to a party next week. You write down the date and time in your daily log. Later on, you remember about the office team building exercise in June, which also goes into your daily log. Every task that comes to mind that day also goes into your daily log.
At the end of the day you sit down to migrate the tasks to the appropriate place. Since the party you were invited to will happen in the same month, you migrate it to your monthly log. The office team building exercise gets migrated to your future log, since you don't have to worry about that yet.
Next you go down your list of tasks and cross off any that have been completed. Any with deadlines beyond the current month can be migrated to your future log. Tasks that are no longer relevant can be removed.
Now you write the next days date on the next blank page. Looking down your list of uncompleted task you migrate any tasks that need to be done that day, as well as any you would like to do.
If you find yourself migrating the same task again and again, ask yourself whether it really needs to be done, or if it really aligns with your personal goals. If the answer is no to either question, cross out the task and stop migrating it.
Important pages in a bullet journal