Joe's
Digital Garden

Bullet Journal

The Bullet Journal1 is a popular method of logging and note taking through the day using a dot-grid notebook, pen, and paper. My method for Bullet Journalling follows lightly upon the ideas expressed by the original.

The Journal Itself

The Daily Syntax for the Bullet Journal is used both in my Bullet Journal itself (a Traveler's Notebook) but as my [[software engineering labbook]]. However, a separate note articulates my usage of the later.

The basic structure of my Bullet Journal consists of a title page and index with my name, dates covered, and contact details. A single spread for [[habit]] tracking. One page per day, with the date labelled on the top of the page. A single Goulet Traveller's Notebook can cover four [[pythefnos]]. A passport-sized traveller notebook is useful for notes on the go, or to copy down a subset of tasks to complete when on the town.

The bullet journals work in conjunction with [[todo.txt]] and my [[digital calendar]] which provides a record of done tasks, upcoming tasks, and my quarterly backlog.

Colors

I've started incorporating additional color coding into my dot journals:

  • Blue ink for structural elements. Such as dividing lines, boxes, etc.
  • Red ink for dates, highlight important tasks, and tasks with definitive scheduled times like appointments, meetings, etc.
  • Black ink for tasks and notes

Daily Log Syntax

Monday

• Finish The Two Towers
◦ Dentist appointment @1300
•• Fix restic backups
!x Complete WaniKani lesson 
> Hike Bear Mountain
• ~~Go to store~~ 
+ Phone county recorder

Where

• Task to do
◦ Event
•• Task in progress
x Task completed
> Task bumped to the future
• ~~Striked task~~
+ Future task, prioritize during nightly review

Each line in the Bullet Journal contains a single item representing Task, a Note, or an Event each marked as a bullet. Additionally, I add a forth type: the inbox. The focus is on rapid logging. When an task or event occurs, they are noted down with no particular grouping or ordering.

Task
Represented by a bullet (“•”). These are atomic, actionable items that can be in one of some states: to do, in-progress, complete, struck, or bumped/migrated.
Event
Represented by a circle ("◦"). These are time-based events that either occurred in the day or are scheduled to occur (denoted by "@"). They can be in the states of upcomming, complete, struck, or rescheduled/migrated.
Note
Represented by a dash ("-"). These are any factual observations that we want collated in an easily accessible location.
Inbox
Represented by a plus ("+"). These are new tasks or events, not occurring in the same day that should be addressed during my nightly review.

The tasks and events may enter into several states which are represented by markings either to the left or overtop the initial bullet. They are:

To Do/Upcoming
The default representation
In-Progress
Denoted by adding an additional bullet ("•") to the left of the task or event. These are for ongoing tasks that need tending several timess throughout the day.
Complete
Denoted by crossing out the original bullet or circle.
Struck
If the task or event is cancelled, then draw a line through it
Bumped/Migrated/Rescheduled
If a task is moved to the future, or an event is rescheduled then denote this by drawing a greater-than symbol overtop the original bullet or circle.
Important
An exclamation point added to the left of a task or event denotes that this is an important item to complete today
Brackets or Indentation
I also liberally use brackets or indentation to group together a cluster of related tasks, notes, or events

External References

  1. Bullet Journal, Bullet Journal <https://bulletjournal.com/pages/learn>. Retrieved 2020-11-10.

Linked References