So you’ve decided to take up bullet journaling, but you have no clue where to start — well don’t worry, because we’ve got you covered. Here is ByteSized’s Official Student Guide to Bullet Journaling.
Before you get started, it’s important to understand the fundamentals of bullet journaling. The bullet journaling method, created by designer Ryder Carroll, was designed to act as a personal hub. Essentially your bullet journal is meant to act as an extension of your entire life — whether it be personal goals, finances, to-do lists, calendars, academic planning, your bullet journal has the potential to hold it all. When done successfully a bullet journal is meant to help organize and track everyday tasks in a way that reduces stress and promotes productivity.
The first thing you’ll have to do is gather some necessary supplies — obviously because this is your personal journal you can utilize whatever products you deem important but here are just some we think will help get you started.
1. A Solid Notebook
First things first, you’ll need a notebook. What you’re looking for is something that is sturdy, well bound and appropriately sized. You want to make sure that whichever notebook you get isn’t too big or too small because this notebook will likely be travelling with you everywhere and you don’t want to have to worry about lugging it around all the time. Pro bullet journaler users will recommend many different fancy notebooks specifically designed for bullet journaling but we recommend that you start off with whatever works for you. Especially because your first bullet journal will likely have many mistakes and act as a trial run. In terms of the inside of the notebook, you will find that most commonly bullet journals are either blank paged or dotted, and few are also lined. We’d recommend that you go with either dotted or lined — because those help with spacing when it comes to mapping out your pages.
2. Good Quality Pens
Now that you’ve got your bullet journal foundation, we can move on to arguably the most important tool in your bullet journal journey — good quality pens. It cannot be stressed enough just how useful these will be for not just your bullet journal but also in your everyday life. Aim to find something with a fine tip to help with precision. Personally, I would recommend an ink pen rather than ballpoint because I find that they write smoother and neater. Some of my favourites are the PaperMate InkJoy Gels and the Zebra Ink Pens but many people also rave about the Muji pens.
3. Perfected Pencil Case
Other than the notebook and some good quality pens, you will also need a few basic items to build a cohesive bullet journal arsenal. For example, your favourite pencils, a good eraser, a ruler, etc. After you have all of the basics and necessities, you can start to have fun with it and begin personalizing your bullet journal. Commonly, people like to use markers, highlighters, brush pens, and even washi tape but again it’s all up to you.
After gathering all your supplies you can finally get to starting your bullet journal. The great thing about bullet journals is that they are totally customizable and you can handpick all the different types of page layouts and spreads you want to use. But in case you’re struggling, here are 5 ideas we think could help you.
- Index — starting off your bullet journal with an index can be super helpful in maintaining consistency throughout your journal. In the index you can jot down the page numbers for all the important spreads in your journal as well as create a small legend to keep track of the different types of symbols you may use throughout your journal (i.e. an empty circle to represent a task or a checkbox to represent an appointment).
- Year at a Glance — a year at a glance page can be beneficial in holistically planning your year. You can mark in all the important dates or events you know will be going on throughout the year, for example, birthdays, appointments or exam periods. And this is a page that you can always flip back to when planning and creating your monthly spreads.
- Trackers — there are a variety of different trackers that you can implement into your bullet journal on both a yearly and monthly basis that can help you with organizing your life. Some of the more common trackers people use are habit trackers and mood trackers. With a habit tracker you can keep track of how often you’re performing healthy habits like drinking enough water, taking vitamins or even exercising. And similarly, mood trackers help you document how your day goes throughout the month, these tend to be a really great mental health check.
- Yearly Lists — using your bullet journal you can also make various year long lists. You can use these lists to keep up with different hobbies or even to help you set goals. Many people will make a master list for movies that they want to watch or books that they want to read or even places that they want to visit.
- Budget Breakdown — a budget breakdown page is something that you can use on a weekly, monthly or even yearly basis. Essentially the goal of this spread is to help you plan out your expenses and savings and guide you in allocating your money to spend it wisely. It can be a very small breakdown that is simple or you can factor in every part of your budget — once again, totally up to you.
The world of bullet journaling can be intense when you first start off and no matter what you see on social media your bullet journal does not have to be perfect. You don’t need a theme for each month or tons of different stationery. You simply have to make sure that your bullet journal works for you. We hope that these tips can help you get started!
Happy bullet journaling!
