When bullet journaling first rose to prominence back in the 2010s, I had to try it. To stay organized and hyper productive, I tried journalling, to-do lists on my phone, task reminders in my email (does anyone remember Mailbox that was acquired by Dropbox? It will forever change how I see productivity).

When I first tried bullet journalling, my journal became a glorified to-do list. One of the procedures in bullet journalling is transcribing tasks not done one day to the next day, and soon I found myself transcribing 15 or more tasks every day to push forward onto the next day.

I left it behind after six months or a year, figuring it was too onerous and particular for my more “relaxed” yet productive lifestyle.

I decided to re-try it this past year, seeking more structure, and I’m so glad I did. I realized that the center of bullet journalling is not the daily task list, its the mindfulness and long-term planning. For example, if I had to schedule a dentist appointment, previously I would put it into my daily log and transcribe every day into my daily log over and over until I finally completed it. Now, I put it in a particular month or week’s goals, and I get to pick when I actually place the task in my day. It doesn’t hang over my head – bullet journalling has removed the guilt of not getting enough done every day by giving me a mindful way to slide a few chores into my life every day so it’s never overwhelming.

For those curious about bullet journalling, it is a process that serves long-term organization and planning. It is for those who have many multithreaded processes running through their life, and they need to keep track of different goals. It’s for those who need to set deadlines and like to plan their time. It’s for those who have existing tasks and goals and subgoals floating around in their head, taking up space and distracting the person.

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By writing down my (many) different goals, planning out milestones, and keeping track in a singular journal, I feel that I’ve really freed up headspace that was previously dedicated to just remembering what I had to do. It gives me more room to focus on what I actually have to do to achieve my goals and get stuff done.