If you like to keep up with the latest planner trends, then you may have heard of the bullet journal, also known as the BuJo. The bullet journal is a system of creating and customizing your own planner to get focused and maximize productivity! You may be asking “how is this different from making a to-do list?” or “why would I write things down when I have Google Calendar?” The bullet journal’s popularity lies in its simplicity, customizability, and the wonderful ideas created by its online community!
If there’s any advice I can offer you as a fourth year university student, it’s to never underestimate the importance of being organized! Creating a planner system for myself let me focus my priorities and really helped with my time management. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the school term I started bullet journaling was the term that my marks started improving!
The Essentials
The original bullet journal, created by Ryder Carroll, focused on quickly recording tasks and organizing them from daily to-do’s to events far into the future! The essence of the bullet journal is its “Rapid Logging” system which relies on using different symbols to indicate whether you are logging a task, event, or other item and its status. It also introduces the concept of “Migrating” and “Scheduling” tasks to keep your days purposeful.
Unlike traditional planners, the bullet journal’s monthly view is usually laid out as a list, which gives a simple overview of the month and any important dates rather than a cluttered calendar. The last part of the original bullet journal is the future log, where you can record items (you guessed it) far into the future.
The Fun Part
Yes, the essential bullet journal is a great organization tool, but my favorite parts of the bullet journal are the other customizations you can make! Pages of your bullet journal can be filled with much more than daily logs. And because bullet journals are 100% customizable, you can just use the ideas you like and forget all the rest!
Collections are lists you want to record. Lists of books you want to read, movies you want to see, grocery lists, or even idea dumps! Two of my favorite collections are a list of packages I’m waiting for with the date of order and estimated delivery date and a list of something I’m grateful for every day. As a student, I also find lists of all assignments and tests for every course I’m taking extremely useful to keep on track!
Bullet journals are also a great tool to track and encourage self-improvement with ideas like the habit tracker, the Level 10 Life tracker , and a personalized budgeting system. You can even use it as a normal journal. The possibilities really are endless!
And that’s the bullet journal! It can be as quick and simple, or it can be super fancy! It’s up to you to find the planner that works for you.