CollectionsĬollections are groups of individual tasks and notes that are joined by a common theme. Create a list of contact information for key stakeholders Then reference those in the index.īut beyond these basic components and your personal preferences for extra info is where the bullet journal comes into its own. You can use other pages in your journal for meeting notes or a brain dump following a conversation with colleagues. We have to stay organized and have an effective way to track actions and not lose anything – the whole system might be analog but it lends itself to work projects and the work schedule that comes with leading a project. You can probably already start to see how the bullet journal works well for project managers. How do you use a bullet journal in project management? It’s an effective productivity system to help keep you focused on the next important task while not losing sight of the bigger picture. Take stock of what’s ahead each day and reassess tasks and deadlines accordingly.

Daily Reflections (which Ryder suggests you do morning and evening).

Rapid Logging – a process of adding short notes to your Daily Log allowing you to capture all that stuff whizzing around in your head on paper.

Two further elements then combine to make the whole bullet journal system work. Instead, it’s more of a prompt for the actions you need to take and important information. This isn’t a daily schedule in the same way that your calendar is (although if you wanted to use it that way, you could). Tomorrow, you’ll have a new page and a new Daily Log. Think of this section as your To-Do list for a single day.

The things you need to do are your next actions. Each is listed with a set of symbols making it easy to differentiate between what you need to do and what you need to remember. The Daily Log works at a day-to-day level to detail specific tasks, events, and notes. Digital tools aren’t really the go-to product of choice for bullet journaling but if you can’t break away from your screen, then take a look around and see what note-taking app is going to give you the closest results as a notebook. The monthly spread is a new idea for me but I use a similar view in Outlook. Ideal when you’re managing multiple projects, which is something you can learn more about here. It is set across a 2-page spread and makes it easy to see where you’ll be busier and where you have time to take on more. The Monthly Log helps you to keep track of what’s coming up over the next few weeks. This acts as both a calendar and a task list for the month ahead. This supports your planning system by making sure nothing falls through the cracks and you don’t forget about commitments or longer-term priorities.

If you have a new project on the horizon, drop it in here, along with any important dates to reference as you get closer to kicking it off. You can add important events, deadlines, and dates which is ideal for long-term projects.

Future LogĪ Future Log is your planner for a quick-to-view look ahead at the next 6 months (or more). Sitting at the front of your journal, the Index page acts as a table of contents, allowing you to quickly and easily find what you’re looking for.ĭedicated indexes can be created separately to manage multiple or complex projects and to make these accessible at a glance. These components combine elements of the essential project management tools – a task list, notebook, and calendar – in one. “The mindfulness practice disguised as a productivity system”.Ī quick Google search for bullet journals presents you with an array of beautifully crafted and decorated page layouts though, and you would be forgiven for thinking it’s just a very pretty (and time-consuming!) way of creating to-do lists.īut, at its most basic level – and that’s where you should start – it’s made up of a simple system of 4 different components: The bullet journal system’s creator Ryder Carroll describes his simple method of daily journaling as

Using a bullet journal for work