Step-by-Step Minimalistic Bullet Journal for Productivity this year

Feb 2

Welcome! Last few months of the year 2021, I spent time recollecting my achievements, learnings, and failures to introspect. I could think of a few, but I know I had more than that. After I mentioned this to my mentor, she suggested a brilliant way to document each day and plan them so you can live intentionally, achieve more than you would have without planning, and generally have a productive life.

From the get-go, I was a big planner, but I'm also disorganized. All my ideas are scattered across different books, notes on post-its, to-do apps on the phone, reminders on Mac, etc. After talking about this to my mentor a few weeks ago, she suggested that I plan to use a Bullet Journal. Soon, I picked up the nearest one I could find and started setting it up. This new year, I hope this bullet journal will give me a one-stop place to document everything in my head.

I've tried working with planners in the past. These are those fancier ones that my father's company would give out at the start of the year when I was back in my home country. I even tried creating a Notion template. That worked well for a while. I might even go back to it soon, given the ease of the platform. But it's hard for me to keep up with filling everything in it. Regardless, I wanted a more traditional approach to start with, that might not involve using the screen so much. Hence I created this minimalistic BuJo to keep it simple and all in one place. Another thing I want to convey is: if you think the idea of Bullet Journaling is cool, please get started - regardless of the day of the month. Don’t want until the 1st of a month to start planning. You are the master. You can start whenever you want to. Even today.

Note by Anu 🙆‍♀️ : This minimalistic Bullet Journal (BuJo) setup is inspired heavily by Sadia's video from @pickuplimes. She's one of my favorite YouTubers. Please do check her video to know the thought process behind creating one.

Without much delay, let’s start with creating a plan template to get you through this year. This is a step-by-step guide so please feel free to follow along.

Step 0: Things you need

A traditional Dotted Bullet Journal from your nearest stationery shop or any honestly any notebook would work
A pen - ideally a Black Gel Pen
Ruler and Whiteout (cause we all make mistakes!)
(Optional) A washi tape
(Optional) Pencil, Eraser and highlighter

Step 1 : Index

On the first page of your Bullet Journal, create an index page and label it as Index or Table of Contents. The index page is one of the main pages of this template. When your BuJo gets filled with plans of different months, yearly, monthly rolling logs and collections (we will talk about each of them in this guide), its crucial to document them to efficiently flip to the correct page.

Note by Anu 🙆‍♀️ : You can have a simple list design here or even have a tabular or dictionary structure, Whatever sails your boat! 🙂

Step 2 : Key

Next, create a page labeled “Key” that will give you a base idea of a BiJo page you will be working with.

1. Get the length and breadth of the BuJo.
For those who have a dotted BuJo, count the squares formed by the dots both horizontally and vertically. For example in my book, there are 42 boxes horizontally and 55 boxes vertically.
For people who have a general notebook for a BuJo, just measure the length and breadth using a ruler.

2. Standard patterns for planning
These are what I recommend you to follow:

⚫️ Task to do

⤫ or ✅ Task completed

> Migrate to next week

>> Migrate to a few days later

—- Notes

(—— Cancelled/Irrelevant——-) Scratch through

★ Important

Tips by Anu 🙆‍♀️ :
1. Do not miss measuring your page. It will be convenient when dividing your page into different sections.

2. Try to follow a standard pattern while filling out your BuJo. Please try experimenting with what works for you here. For example, I tried working with the key “⤫” for a month, but that did not feel like I was checking off something I did that day. But the key “✅” worked better for me. Ideally, in the BuJo world, the key “>>” is not used, but I invented it to ease my planning. So do what works for you.

Step 3 : Year at a Glance

You got to do this just once every year. As the name suggests, your entire year will be at your disposal in the first four pages of your BuJo. Divide each page of your BuJo into three sections. Remember the 1st tip of Step 2? Get the horizontal page measurement, divide it by 3, and you get to split this page into three sections each. Once you do that, follow the image below and create a calendar for each month. Once the calendar is set, number your section vertically below the calendar you set up according to the dates in the calendar.

What goes in these sections?
Well, you can put in any significant activities, events, birthdays, appointments, or meetings. Anything that you need a glance at to remember goes here. Whenever you hear of an awesome networking event jot it here; if you don't want to forget that tech conference, make a note of it here; or if you want to remember that one-one appointment with your manager, PUT. IT. HERE. It gives you a good glance at what each month of your year looks like "at-a-glance." Neat, right?

Note by Anu 🙆‍♀️ : Optional Section [GOALS]
If you want to set some goals mindfully, you can use the extra space below each section to formally acknowledge the resolution you want to set up for the year. Me, for instance, have tried to set up goals for my health, growth, finances, work, relationship, etc.

Step 4: Yearly Brain Dump

If you are a millennial software developer, like me living in a foreign land and trying to make an identity, learn, take care of yourself, be socially active, you would know all the different things you have categorized in your mind. At this age, you constantly have essential tasks to accomplish. This is somewhere hidden in your brain, intertwined with trivial tasks.

How do you declutter your mind so that it has the space to categorize and classify? The best way to do that is to jot it down somewhere, and in BuJo world, we call it the Brain Dump section. I love this section - mainly because this section does not have to make a lot of sense to you at this point. The idea here is to write down EVERYTHING on your mind - how much ever insignificant, anything, and in any order.

Note by Anu 🙆‍♀️ : That being said, I would not recommend adding anything that can be achieved in a few weeks time in this section - we have a monthly brain dump section where you can add things like grocery lists.

Step 5 : Projects for current year

Achievable projects in the year and monthly check-ins

This section is where things get interesting. Go back to Step 4, and think of six things that you think you can achieve by the end of the current year. These can be as involved or surface level. It is up to you how you plan them. But having that compartment in your brain and acknowledging that such an item exists is the first step in achieving them. Categorize it as such:

Priority 1: two items that shoud be done by the end of the year. Ex: Promotion to Sr. Software Developer or Saving up for the downpayment for a house purchase.

Priority 2: two items of lower importance but good to have by the end of the year (EOY) .Ex: Increasing salary by 10% by EOY, losing 10 pounds by EOY.

Priority 3: two items that you can do without if not accomplished, but it is extremely good to have. Ex: Learn guitar, travel to Paris.

Now everyone's priority in life is different, and this guide will not go over how you should prioritize the tasks from the brain dump section in the previous step. You are your master. Take a few days, think about what you would like to achieve and what is critical to you and your future, and write them under this section. That being said, life is not always how you plan, so have some space handy to fill out things you did not plan for, which you find out later that year.

Okay, so now you have some action items or "projects" that you decide are critical for you to achieve. These projects will need to be carefully split among the next 12 months or how many months you have remaining in the year from when you started planning. We will get to that in just a bit.

Note by Anu 🙆‍♀️ : Optional Section [MONTHLY CHECK-INs]

If you observed, I also have a monthly check-in section here. This is something I felt I needed - where I can intentionally note down what I am feeling before going into the next month. The section is completely optional. If you need a safe space to write your monthly affirmations; where you stand emotional, physical and spiritually start of the month make a note of that here.

Step 6 : [Optional Section] Rolling Monthly Log - Yearly Scan

This is an entirely optional section. However, I highly recommend it. While I was experimenting with the idea of BuJo last month, I did not have this section here; I added it this month because I thought it would help me organize the thoughts in my brain a bit more efficiently. That is the beauty of BuJo, you could add anything anywhere and add this section in the index at the start of your BuJo, and you can navigate it here at any time.

Rolling monthly log for entire year at a glance

In this section, I divide the BuJo into sections of six on each page. Use the vertical measurement you had in your key to calculate this. Also, please the image above to get a sense of what I mean. This will give you an entire year at a glance, split into sections of months. Now, if you recall, we have already picked out six projects to get done by the end of the year. In this section, we will mentally envision my entire year. What does the year look like to be ideal? Would any significant deadlines come up in a particular month that I need to plan? How can I distribute my Priority1 and Priority2 items in the spread of the coming twelve months? At the same time, I try to think of shorter tasks that need time to accomplish my priority tasks.

Then using a pencil, I try to place that item in each month. For example, say my priority is to find a new job as a Software Developer. I would put in Leetcode practice in February-March; Apply to jobs in March-April; Interview from March - June; Sign a new job offer in July. This is just an example and can be high-level, but I hope you get the idea. Make sure you have a goal and traverse backward to get all points that need to be checked to read your goal.

Step 7: [Optional Section] Month at a Glance

Again, this section is optional. This section adds an angle of retention. The idea of this section is to carry over any events you have noted down in Year at a Glance page that you created in Step 3 on this page. You can also use some washi tape to create a bookmark for this page so that it is easier for you to navigate each month instead of flipping through the pages to find any month. Also this page is the official starting page for the month, and it succeeds with the monthly essentials and weeks of the month. Some people like to decorate it, and others like a calendar. You can customize it however you want.

Step 8 : Monthly Brain Dump

Remember how we mentioned in Step 4, that we would be having another brain dump section for each month? Well, this is it. This is your chance to elaborate more on which priority item you plan to take up this month. You can get as detailed as possible here. Make bullet points about how you want to structure your things. Which week of the month do you want to finish the item. Go wild! It's a safe space for your to express all your thoughts, however disorganized it might feel for you at the time. I picked one of the priority items from the rolling monthly log, and wrote the bullet points that need to be completed to achieve my goal. In pencil, I registered which week I should dedicate to that goal. If I have taken up two items, I plan which week for each goal I picked.

There is a small dividing line through the page on the right side if you observed. So I have this to categorize my WHY for each item I plan (yeah, even while doing a brain dump!). This sets the right motivation to get the task that you are dumping into the paper.

Note by Anu 🙆‍♀️ : Now having a Why factor is extremely beneficial. It almost forces you to think if a goal you set is important enough for you. So please have this additional section to record your WHY factor.

Step 9 : Goals/Projects of the Month

In this section, we extend the Step 8 and note the top three goals of the month. You can be as creative you want in this section. I added three goals and made four boxes next to that goal - one for each week. Whenever I have completed the task, I check the box for that week.

Step 10 : [Optional] Goals Retrospective

This an optional section. The idea here is to reflect on your month in general and think on - How much you accomplished? What went right? What went wrong? What could have been done better? What do you hope to continue? What do you not want to continue?

Step 11 : Next Month Log

Life happens, and you may need to move things to the following months from time to time - nothing wrong it that. But having a section that lets you put that item is an enormous help. I did not have this section in the first iteration, and I regretted it. So this time, I added it.

Step 12: Gratitude Journal

In the first half of the page, have a space to jot down things you are thankful for throughout the day - each day of that month. I would suggest you make it a point to write three things that you were grateful for from the day every night. This is an excellent exercise that will help you shift your focus even if your day did not go well.

You will be pleasantly surprised how many things you are thankful for when you check back on this page at the end of the month. You can just see this page whenever you are having a bad day. I promise it will lift your mood at least by 1%.

Step 13: [Optional] Habit Tracker

As the name suggests, have a simple Habit Tracker that will track a long-term habit you want to build. I recommend only tracking 4-6 habits and not forcing yourself to complete every habit each day. But intuitively plan your day such that at least four habits are being checkout, with the highest priority habit being part of the four habits you track per day. Take it easy, and don't beat yourself! The point of the tracker is for you to build a good habit, not blame yourself for not completing one.

Step 15 : Week at a Glance

This is where the magic happens! This section needs two pages, and make sure both pages are at the same eye view - so you can visualize each day of the week in one glance. There are plenty of week-at-glance templates you can pick. I was inspired by most of them and made one on my own. Please refer to the image when I talk about my intuition behind each section.

Header sections:

1. Goals of Week: Here, make sure to add 3 top goals you want to get done. You come up with the three items by looking at your monthly brain dump section and monthly goals section and picking out the top three items you need to do in that week. You can add minor tasks to get done in notes. Don’t clutter your Goals section.

2. Weekly Retrospective: This section is similar to the monthly retrospective section, where you reflect on your work on Saturday or Sunday and fill in how your week went. How much did you accomplish? What went right? What went wrong? and all that good stuff.

3. Notes: In this section, you put in any small or miscellaneous tasks you think need to be done that week.

4. [Calander] Optional: You can have this calendar to visualize where you are in your month.

Now, use the key and divide each page into three sections right below the header. Put labels Monday to Friday and an additional section for the weekend (Saturday and Sunday clubbed into one). This section uses the key prompts from Step 2 and lists three main items that need to be done that day about the goal you have set for that week. Then you can add any additional points that are of lower priority.

Under each day, there are two extra sections. This is optional. I added this to reflect on each day’s work and make notes of the things that I would need to remember from that day. Please feel free to improvise. What works for me might or might not work for you. It’s all about making your life easy.

And just like that - you are DONE!

FINAL STEP - How do I use this BuJo?

If you have made it to the end, Kudos to you for reading such a long blog. Pat yourself in the back; you deserve it! It's the first step to changing your life for the better.

Alright, now you have made this template, and your question is - how do I make this BuJo work for me? Well, I follow this 5 step process. Every night before I go to bed :

1. If you have already planned for a day, review your day and write your feelings in the retrospective section. If you don't have a day planned, check the 3rd point below.

2. Review your notes section for the day and see if you need to migrate that as a task to the next day.

3. Then check your goals, see if you are in line with them, and make a plan for the next day using the keys defined in Step 2.

4. Go to the gratitude section and fill out three things that made your day. As small as eating a healthy meal or talking with a family member can go here.

5. Check out the habits you have accomplished for the day, but don't fret over those you could not. We are all work-in-progress.

Woohoo! We made it. Go live the life you deserve. Much love ❤️

BuJoBullet JornalProductivitySecond Brain

Anushree Ankola