Top 10 Bullet Journaling Tips

I’m just 1 person who learns a lot by trying (and sometimes failing). I’ve made a lot of changes to the way I use my bullet journal, including what spreads and trackers were useful to me. Even though I kept a bullet journal for years, I didn’t use the rapid logging method with weekly spreads until this year. Here are the things I’ve learned about keeping a bullet journal during the past three years.

Top 10 Bullet Journaling Tips

1. Your bullet journal is for YOU, not the internet/Pinterest/Instagram. The most important thing is for it to be useful to you, otherwise you’re just wasting your time.

2. There is no wrong way to keep a bullet journal. You don’t even have to use the rapid logging bullet journal method.

3. Track what makes sense for you and frequently evaluate. If a tracker isn’t working for you, stop using it. If you need to change or add to a tracker, do so. Just because others track something doesn’t mean you also need to track it.

4. Give yourself permission to make mistakes. Some ways to correct a mistake are white-out, correction pens, washi tape, and stickers. I’ve also cut a piece out of a page and pasted it over a mistake. But feel free to also just cross out a mistake. You’re not perfect, and your bujo is a reflection of you, so don’t be hard on yourself if you make a mistake.

5. You don’t have to be an artist. Don’t be intimidated by the gorgeous spreads out there. You can decorate using stencils, washi tape, stickers, stamps, taped-in items, paperclips or book darts, sticky notes, flags, photos, cutting shapes out of pages, and more. Even just using colors for a header can perk up a page without the need to draw.

6. Organize to give yourself room for what you want. I like to put all my monthly and weekly logs at the beginning of my bujo and trackers and collections at the end of my bujo so I have plenty of room to add more lists throughout the year. Also consider how much space you’ll need for trackers. If you read a lot, you might need two or three pages for books, for example.

7. Make time to journal. A bujo is useless if it stays closed. Figure out when you want to use it. Do you update it as a planning tool at the beginning of a day? Do you use it as a reflection tool at the end of a day? Do you use it as a mindfulness tool constantly throughout the day?

8. Test your pens and markers before using them. Practice pages allow you to find out if certain pens, markers, and ink bleed through a page so you can better plan how to use your journal.

9. Create a key and color scheme that works for you. If you’re constantly confused by your method, it’s doing you no good. Choose a way of marking tasks or coloring categories/months/trackers that allows you to understand the information in your bujo.

10. Your bullet journal should be a pleasure. If a page starts to become a chore, re-evaluate its inclusion. It’s all right to abandon something that isn’t working or feels like an obligation. But you can also weigh the benefits and figure out if there’s a way to turn work into fun. For example, if tracking your cleaning habits isn’t fun for you, make a game out of it:

Keep in mind that if you’re new to bullet journaling, you might not yet know how many pages to dedicate to a subject or what sort of layouts or keys will work best with how you conceptualize and organize your life. It could take weeks, months, or even years to find a style that works best for you. If you find value in it, keep going. If not, also recognize that it’s okay to walk away and try a new system. Your bullet journal is supposed to be a fun, useful tool, not a stressor!