Starting a bullet journal was one of the best things I ever did to optimize my morning routine. Since then I have done my daily writing pretty much every day and I am not planning to stop.

You might have seen bullet journal ideas on Pinterest or Instagram. And you might have gotten the impression that this is only for artsy people.

But let me tell you, the basic idea and the most important part of it has nothing to do with creating fancy weekly spreads. Nor do you need Washi tape or colorful stickers.

But let me tell you, the basic idea and the most important part of it has nothing to do with creating fancy weekly spreads. Nor do you need Washi tape or colorful stickers.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are so-called provision links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I can earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

What is a bullet journal

So let’s start at the beginning and summarize quickly what a bullet journal is.

As the name implies, it is a form of journal.

But with this type of journaling, you don’t write out all your thoughts in a fluent text. Instead, you only write down short notes.

And this is where the “bullets” come in. The “bullet” part of the name comes from the very clever system of bullet journal keys that are used.

The bullet journal key logic

The bullet journal key logic is super simple and makes it easy to get an overview over your to-do list.

Later, you might expand it with your own bullet journal key ideas. But for now, let’s master the basics!

The bullets you will be writing down can be divided into three categories:

tasks,

events,

and notes.

To make it easy to distinguish between those categories, the symbol or “key” in front of it will look different. Let’s go through those quickly!

The bullet journal task key

As we know all too well, tasks can be in various stages on our to-do list.

Either we just write them down and they are waiting for us to take care of them.

Or we postpone them. (Bullet journaling calls postponing “migrating”.)

Sometimes we have already scheduled when to do them.

And in the best case, the task is completed.

In bullet journal key tasks can look like this:

The bullet journal event key

Events are things you have already planned in your calendar. For example, a party you are invited to. You write events down like this:

Basically, you are just using an “empty” bullet or an “o”.

The bullet journal key for notes

Notes can be anything that you want to write down, that doesn’t fit in the other categories. Ideas, thoughts, learnings… Basically, all the things we think of when we talk about “traditional” journaling.

The bullet journal key for notes looks like this:

And this is pretty much the most important knowledge you need for starting a bullet journal. For more detailed information you can always check out bulletjournal.com.

Why you should be starting a bullet journal

Going through these instructions above, you might be wondering why this is such a big deal. After all, it looks like just a fancy way to take notes.

And honestly, you are right about this. It is simply taking notes.

But take a moment and think about the following: How often do you take notes usually? And where do they end up?

How great would it be to have all of your notes, to-dos and planned events in one place? Pretty great, I can tell you!

Still, the organizing part is not the best part of a bullet journal. At least in my opinion.

What makes this such an integral part of my day is something else. It is the fact, that writing down my goals for the day makes me so much more likely to actually DO the stuff!

You don’t have to take my word for granted, this is a proven fact.

Just googling “writing down your goals” will provide you with a plethora of credible sources. All stating how writing down your goals is THE thing to do. Unless you don’t really want to achieve them, that is.

In my opinion, this is the biggest selling point for actually starting a bullet journal.

What to do for starting a bullet journal

Now, you can collect insane amounts of bullet journal supplies. And it will be amazing fun to use them, too!

But honestly, you don’t need a huge amount of supplies for starting your very first bullet journal.

You will need to pick a notebook that fits your needs.

A pen. (And you really don’t need a full collection of bullet journal pens to start!)

And then I would very much recommend watching this video made by the Bullet journal creator.

The best bullet journal notebook

So, which notebook to pick for your bullet journal?

Many people will say that the Leuchtturm 1917* is the best bullet journal notebook. I think the most important reason for that is the fact that Leuchtturm offers dotted lines. That gives you a lot of freedom in designing your pages and using different layouts.



Since bullet journaling has been around for quite a while and has convinced millions of people of its effectiveness, by now there are also myriads of notebook variations available.

Take a look, but don’t make it too big of a deal either. As long as you can write in it, you’ll be good.

While I see the appeal of being able to draw your own layouts and boxes, you don’t need to be able to do that to start your own bullet journal. In fact, I started out using a simple black Moleskine notebook*. It’s ruled, so layouts tend to look a little less cool.

But then again, most of the times I don’t even make a layout. Instead, I really just use the logging technique described above. And it keeps me on track!

Integrating Bullet Journaling into your day

So what’s the best way to integrate bullet journaling into your day?

Ideally, in the morning, you just sit down for 5 minutes, journal your tasks, events, and thoughts for the day. And in the evening, you can go through them again. Checking them off, migrating and scheduling.

The more you do it, the more you will become aware of what you are really doing in one day.

And after one or two weeks, you will be able to read through that and see if it aligns with your goals.

Related: Learn how to increase productivity to reach your goals

Thank you for reading my thoughts on starting a bullet journal. If you’d like, let me know about your experiences: Have you tried bullet journaling yet? If no, why not? And if yes, which benefits did you see?

*These links are so-called provision links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I can earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.