I had a bullet journal before it was popular. I started my first bujo when I finished colleague. I put stickers inside. I made it my daily diary, then a notepad for story ideas and dreams. I reviewed all shows, books and theatrical spectacles I saw there. I doodle in it and listed all to-do’s never in alphabetical order. I’ve never stopped since.

Now, that mix of an agenda, diary and task listing is so popular (search for bullet journal in yt and you will get hundred of results), there are even book written how to start your personal bujo. See for reference:

Bullet Journal: A Practical Guide How to Start A Bullet Journal. Inspirational Examples, Creative Ideas, Easy-To-Follow Illustrations (Control Your Life, Reach Your Goals, Develop Powerful Habits)

The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future

The 365 Bullet Guide: Organize Your Life Creatively, One Day at a Time

So, should you start one?

Will bujo work for you?

Check out below questions.

Do you make notes always on sticky notes or free paper? Are you just not convinced by electronic apps and you always have a small notepad or agenda on you?

 Do you like to doodle?

Do you buy yearly 2 or 3 agendas because there is always something wrong with the one you currently use? It is too big, too small, has too little space or categories never meet with your needs?

Do you procrastinate a lot and needs nice daily/monthly to-do lists to see how much time different tasks take daily and how much time you have left for you hobby?

If you answered yes for more than one question above, you probably will dig bullet journalism.

What bujo offers?

It offers autonomy. You will be the one to decide where and what to write. How much space you need for notes, daily to do’s and other listings. How to make divisions or which notebook to chose et cet

 The most important thing is:

Don’t get overwhelmed!

You probably watched multiple yt videos with gorgeous hand lettering headings and flowery patterns on margins.

But remember, in the first place, it suppose to be your personal agenda! Usually you won’t show it off anywhere, you will use it.

Start small

Try it for a month or two. Buy a medium size notebook that you like. Find a favorite pen and a highlighter. You will need also a pencil and a rubber to plan the potential look. A ruler might come in handy.

Usualy bujo’s have: symbol key and index at the beginning, yearly calendar spread (for marking holidays, birthdays and other important dates), monthly spread, weekly spreads, then additionally any to do lists that you can came up with (books, tv shows, inspiration lists, habit, food, water trackers, cleaning trackers, packing up lists).

Thinking about all of that can get you tired, before you even start to use it.

Again, start small.

Loose symbol key and index – use only two or three symbols, so you can easily remember what they mean. You also will be going through your bujo on daily basis; for first months index won’t be useful.  

Buy a sticker or the cheapest teacher’s calendar at store to get your yearly spread, cut it out and paste into your bujo.

Plan the monthly spread only for the first month. You can lists 30 days in a column, to just check if it works for you at all. Then plan only first week of the first month. Chose an optimal spread for you vertical, horizontal, onepage, multiple pages (see videos linked below to get idea what to chose).

Through first week you will check, how much space you really need. Or if you use agenda regularly, go through it and check how much space you might need.

It will take less time to plan one week than the whole year and you can go through some yt videos to get more inspiration with passing time.

At the beginning I recommend to leave out any fancy drawings. If you find the method useful, you can change it into a little work of art soon enough.

 Just write month/weekdays headings in capital letters. Mark them with highlighter or underline them, if you wish.

After few month, you can add additional categories, lovely doodles, buy more stickers and chose quotes to adorn you bujo. Or go with the minimalism version.

 Check those videos for more information: