The meat of my Bullet Journal

13 March 2025

In recent posts, I’ve talked about the spreads I put in the beginning of all my Bullet Journals and the ones I repeat throughout an individual journal.

Today I want to talk about what I write in the bulk of my Bullet Journal. I do what BuJo creator Ryder Carroll calls “rapid logging.” Every day, I jot down the tasks for the day, adding more throughout the day as they come to mind. I use a bullet to indicate a task and when I complete the task, I put an X over the bullet. I also jot down notes when I’m on the phone or in a meeting; those entries, which are mixed in the task entries, are preceded by a dash.

I start a new day’s entry right where I left off the prior day, so that I don’t waste any space in my journal. I start each day with a Washi-tape sticker indicating the day of the month. (See my post on my go-to BuJo supplies.) Then I write the day of week the using a colored marker (either a Zebra Mildliner or a Sharpie S-Note Duo highlighter). That becomes my color of the day.

When I fill up a page, I start a new page and draw a line in the color of day and write the date in that line. (That’s why I like to use a highlighter for the day’s color.) Then I keep taking my notes.

If I’m taking notes for an important meeting, webinar or video, one that I know I want to be able to spot easily, I’ll a make a meeting header. Usually that happens in faux calligraphy using the day’s color to highlight the downstrokes. Sometimes I do it bold letters with a highlighter.

Sometimes I’ll have a little project that needs a checklist or I want to reflect on something when I’m trying to make a decision. I’ll often start a new page for that and give it a special header.

Once a week, as part of my end-of-the-week routine, I go through the week’s pages and add pertinent page numbers to the index at the beginning of the journal. And once a week I write a task list for the coming week. Occasionally I’ll write a task list at the beginning of the month, but a weekly task list usually does the trick for me.

As you can see, I don’t put a lot of effort into perfect penmanship or lettering. Bullet Journaling isn’t a creative outlet for me, it’s a very practical, highly productive practice that helps me stay on top of things.

I’m on my 17th Bullet Journal since January 2022 and this system has worked well for me for the past three years. I can page through my current journal and find what I need without much effort. I can go back to old journals and find what I need fairly easily as well (though I don’t need to often).

There is no one right way to Bullet Journal—that’s one of the beauties of it. This is just the way that works for me. I’m hoping this peek into my journaling will help or inspire you if you’re looking to get started with a Bullet Journal!

Tagged with: 2025 bujo series, bullet journal, productivity, task management