Book notes: The Bullet Journal Method

Ryder Carroll

I was on my way to independently inventing this system. After describing it to my sister’s boyfriend Christian, he said “Oh, have you heard of Bullet Journaling?” I had not, so picked up a copy of the book to figure out what I was missing out on.

The fundamenentals:

• Get a journal. My current one is 8.25” x 6” and works well for me.
• Collections (pages dedicated to a topic) are tracked in the front index. Number the pages as you go. Suggested collections in the book:
  • Index
  • Monthly log. A record of what you did (not a plan of what you will do), good for retrospectives.
  • Future log. A place to put future tasks.
  • Goals
  • Reading list
  • 28 easy things to do to make things better, so simple you will actually do them (1 each day for 28 day).
  • Gratitude log
• Daily logs for todo lists and notes, not tracked in the index.
• Use “rapid logging”:
  ⋅ task
  o event
  - note
  * ⋅ task with signifier
  Never gonna do it
  > Copy task forward
  < Migrate to future log
  X Task complete
• Reflections:
  • PM reflection: A time to review. Count your wins.
  • AM reflection: A time to plan.
  • Monthly reflection. Migrate tasks forward. Ask: Is this worth my while? What would happen if this task didn’t happen?
  • Yearly reflection. Start a new journal each year, regardless of progress.
• Live an intentional life. Stay curious. Get in the zone.

That gets you 80% of the way. You can pick up a few extra tips and tricks by reading the book. It’s a quick read, and very skimmable in parts. I’ve read a few self-help books now, and I’m noticing similar, repeated advice from book to book. A good rule of thumb is probably not to read more than one self-help book per year, and have a lifetime cap in the single digits.

Bullet Journal Method seems like a clever plan. I’m going to try it for a while and see how it goes!