5 Tips to Organize Your Day With a Bullet Journal

What is the best way to organize your day with a bullet journal? Continue reading this article to learn more.

What’s your typical day like? Well, if you’re anything like me, and probably most humans for that matter, then the answer to that would be SUPER BUSY! 

(Cue eye-roll).

On any typical day, I have a long list of to-do’s for the day, ranging from work related activities such as content creation for my website & social media channels, as well as personal tasks like house chores, getting my workout in, walking the dog…etc.

So, how well do I manage these tasks on a typical day? Actually, pretty well! (but not always easily). What’s the key? Staying organized & on-task with my BULLET JOURNAL! 

That’s why today I’m going to give you a little peak into my world of bullet journaling and share with you my 5 little SECRETS and TIPS to organize your day with a bullet journal - and max out your productivity at work, school, or home. 

EXCITED?! I hope so!

Let’s hop right into it.

1. Optimize your setup 

The first step to take if you are really looking to organize your day with a bullet journal is to OPTIMIZE your setup. 

Your preparation or readiness for any activity can pretty much determine the outcome. I have found that when I have my tools, strategy, and mindset on point and primed for any goal (whatever that may be), I experienced a significant increase in speed, efficiency, and outcome. 

After all, they say a workman is as good as his tools! (or his readiness, I’d like to add).

It’s NO DIFFERENT when it comes to bullet journaling and your set up. What tools and resources do you use for your journaling? Little considerations like this can determine how WELL you can organize your day… and how productive it eventually turns out to be.

Personally, I absolutely need a high-quality pen and my Daily Grind bullet journal. Having the right planner is ESSENTIAL if you are looking for the best way to organize your day with a bullet journal. 

After all, it is your best ally and the main tool that will truly make the difference…

Come to think of it – I’m trying to organize myself so that I can SAVE TIME and have a more PRODUCTIVE day, right? Managing emails, setting up and honoring meetings & appointments, leading my team, preparing a report… think about what tools will work the best for you.

In addition to getting a bullet journal, you may also want to get some stickers and highlighters to help you unleash your creativity and imagination. Seriously, planning and organizing doesn’t have to be boring or something you dread … make it fun dude! When something is fun, we want to do MORE of it!

So, do consider your journaling set-up (FIRST!). Very important. 

2. Plan the day before

Do you ever get to the end of the day and wonder to yourself – “what the heck did I even do with my time today?” Do you often find yourself jumping from one task to another without anything significant to show for any of it? Can’t prioritize or focus on tasks? 

It’s time to try something different, so that you can hit the ground running, go home feeling more relaxed, and when your head hits the pillow at night you can actually feel accomplished from your day! 

This time, I’m recommending PLANNING AHEAD daily, and ideally the day or evening prior to the next.

My personal practice is to create tomorrow's to-do list every evening before. Before I get up from my desk at the close of work any day, I quickly review and map out a bullet plan for the next day. This is why I find it so beneficial:

• It helps me focus MORE on “the present”. Knowing that I have tomorrow already mapped out, I find time to focus on other personal priorities and enjoy my time outside of “work-mode”. 
• It helps me separate my work life from my personal life, even if I’m doing both under the same roof.
• Helps me create an “after-work” routine that boosts my motivation. Planning for tomorrow means that I have successfully completed today’s tasks, and I find it rewarding whenever I come to this routine after work.
• I can figure out how much time I have overall and be able to allot the right amount for every single item on my list.
• It allows me to mentally prepare for the day ahead, this way I don’t have to stress about prioritizing the day morning of!
• Cuts down decision stress and helps me hit the ground running the next morning. 
• Plugs me into the next day's demands really quickly, since I have the roadmap already visualized.

Now, it’s your turn! Flip out your bullet journal and note down the tasks that you need to accomplish the next day. By doing so, you can go home to enjoy your time without thinking about work, and knowing that tomorrow will be easier and more productive.

Still don’t have the perfect notebook? Check out my tips on choosing the best bullet journal for your goals. 

3. Workflow matters 

Workflow matters if you are looking to organize your day with a bullet journal in the best way possible. 

Okay, you’ve gotten your setup established and figured out how to stay ahead of the game with your daily plans using your journal. This is AWESOME progress dude! Now, it’s time to talk about how to REALLY utilize your bullet journal. 

Have you been able to find the best way to reach PEAK productivity with your bullet journal? What exactly do you use it for or how do you plan to? It’s a no-brainer that how you set up your workflow goes a long way in determining your speed, efficiency, and outcome.

Luckily, your notebook is UNIQUE to you and you can set it up however you’d like. 

While there are guidelines and structures already established for bullet journaling, notebooks like The Daily Grind Planner also have extra blank pages to allow enough creative freedom on how you can organize into this one simple space.

For your to-do's, make a list of tasks you plan to accomplish for THAT day. 

This could be anything that matters and helps you have a productive day – send the emails, create content, a quick visit to the doctor’s during break time, prepare a report, workout, and so on.

Now here comes the super fun & SATISFYING part – cross off COMPLETED TASKS as you go through the list one after the other. This simple act offers a deep sense of accomplishment and extra motivation to achieve more. 

Three down, seven more to go! Catch my drift? 

Discipline is needed to focus on and actually execute tasks, but we CAN’T always control circumstances so it is totally okay to shift or even cancel tasks… stuff happens and sometimes we just have to roll with it & pivot the plan!

However, be sure to categorize these appropriately (by name, symbol or color-code) as MIGRATED TASKS or CANCELED TASKS… basically, just be sure to label it appropriately so you remember you’ve shifted it!

As the name suggests, migrated tasks are small or non-urgent to-do's that you push over to the next day or to your future log/collection, for some reasons of convenience.

When you have a properly arranged workflow like this and some freedom to decide what’s best for your bullet journal goals and personal health, life becomes easier.

Speaking of workflow, like I mentioned in Point-#1, your bullet journaling set-up (tools and resources) are part of that and are REALLY important. So, if you want to organize your day with a bullet journal, I can’t stress enough on the importance of doing this step right.

4. Keep a short list

The prime purpose of a to-do list is to keep you focused and organized. When you are sure that you aren’t forgetting anything, you become more comfortable and confident.

It’s a totally different feeling when you have a long list. A long list of to-do’s potentially ruins your sense of control and triggers frustration, stress & overwhelm! No thanks!

It can completely demotivate you and affect your focus. Imagine having to handle a hundred tasks in a single day; how would you be able to prioritize? Hard to decide. In the end you end up doing a little here and there, with nothing truly significant to account for.

Best solution?

Keep your list SHORT – simple.

The shorter the list, the easier it is for you to focus and prioritize. Also, the idea of having even fewer items from striking off completed tasks is a major win and mental boost. So, keep a short list of REALLY important tasks to be at your peak productivity and mental state.

5. Time factor

When it comes to setting goals for productivity, time is a big deal in organizing your day with a bullet journal. Your goals should be achieved within a timeframe to avoid WASTING time, so you can max out results.

What I usually do with my bullet journal is to allot time for each of the items on my list, making sure that there’s actually enough time for each task. I try to hold myself accountable by being really honest, realistic, and disciplined.

I am the one who set these goals and I’m responsible for making them happen. It’s not easy, to be honest, especially when it comes to writing. I hit the infamous writers' creative block all the time, but since I improved my time-management skills, there’s been a HUGE (really huge!) change with all that.

One psychological trick I love to use is to set out the early hours of the day for SUPER important tasks… basically the ones I really cannot skip. I remove myself from all distractions and focus on these first. Once those are out of the way, everything else becomes a little more easy breezy.

Remember…

There aren't always enough hours in a day to do what we must do or what we love to do, so be accountable for how you spend your own 24 hours.

But…

Do also keep in mind that you may not always be on-point with timing, so do give yourself a little grace sometimes when you’re behind schedule or can’t bring yourself to accomplish a task on your list.

In such a case, it’s okay to rearrange your list, migrate a task to tomorrow’s list, or simply just cancel, if you can afford to. I don’t necessarily advise making a habit of this, as it can be unhealthy for your productivity, at times, but you SHOULD remember that sometimes things just happen, and you gotta do what you gotta do to make it work … and that’s OKAY!

Summary

So that’s it! We draw the curtains here on my top 5 tips to organize your day with a bullet journal. These are my personal hacks and practices on a single day, and I hope you find them useful.

Have your own ideas? I’d love to hear and possibly adopt them. Why not? Please, share in the comments!