Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Bish Clow

A guide to bullet journaling for designers and people who want to get stuff done.

Keeping organised is tough, we were only given one brain and we have to cram all our thoughts, experiences and notes into our head while trying not to forget the important stuff. So what do we do? Give ourselves a second brain.

A place to record your past, work in the present and plan your future can be helpful. It allows us to de-clutter and focus on one task at a time while not forgetting all the other stuff we need to get done. I’ve tried all the productivity and organisation apps under the sun, Evernote, Onenote, Wunderlist, you name it and I’ve tried to make it work, but I keep resorting to the analogue ways: Pen and paper, a system called bullet journal. Here’s how I do it:

“The Bullet Journal is a customisable and forgiving organisation system. It can be your to-do list, sketchbook, notebook, and diary, but most likely, it will be all of the above. It will teach you to do more with less.” — Ryder Carroll

1. Choose your weapon.

I use a Leuchtturm 1917 A5 notebook, dotted, not lined. Dots are useful for quick sketches such as wireframes, don’t get lined, squared will do, but dots are best. They have plenty of colours available and there is some handy features such as page finders and a pocket at the back to keep post-its in.

2. Plan your future.

The future log allows you to get a general Idea of what you need to get done over the next few months. By putting big tasks in here it keeps you looking at the wider picture, I’ll then break down these tasks later on. Write out each month of the year and leave a section in-between so you can write the tasks down. For example, in my February section I’ve written “portfolio”, as at the time I had to get my portfolio completed during February.

3. Meet your deadlines.

The monthly planner is like your whip, it keeps you in semi-panic mode by visualising all the deadlines and events that are happening throughout the month. At the beginning of the month I’ll sit down, draw out my grid and write down any deadlines and events for the upcoming month. I use coloured sticky dots to categorise everything I write down in there, It means I can easily find things at a glance.

4. Start planning for tomorrow.

Writing down your daily tasks and goals is really the core of bullet journaling, it uses a system of bullets to show you tasks, events and goals. I start off every task I write by drawing a small box followed by the task, I then use a system of symbols to organise the task at the end of the day:

Completed — Pretty self-explanatory… it’s the most satisfying one.

Migrated — Didn’t manage the task today, I’ll write it down on tomorrows list.

Nope — In the end I didn’t need/want to do that task.

Event — Any events that I need to keep an eye one.

Important — An exclamation mark catches the eye so I don’t miss anything essential.

I would highly recommend getting into the habit of planning your daily tasks the evening before. It allows you to evaluate your day and migrate any tasks you haven’t completed to tomorrows schedule. Leave it as an open list so you can add to it during the next day and also write the date at the top so you can keep track.

The beauty of bullet journal is that it is customisable. This is what works for me and it took me well over a year to figure it out. Adapt it, accommodate it for your own needs and let me know how you get on. My one piece of advice would be to keep it as functional as possible, don’t bother getting your handwriting perfect whilst making sure your daily ‘Starbucks caramel latte with whipped cream’ monthly tracker is perfectly colour co-ordinated….seriously, its just a waste of your time.

Enjoy

Bish

Please get in touch through Instagram and check out what else I’m doing at the moment.

@bish.clow.design

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My Second Brain

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