The Almighty Dot

The bullet in the Bullet Journal

The dot, where everything starts.

Now that your bullet journal is all set up, it's time to use it. Actually use it. Like every day use it. Especially if it is your daily or weekly planner.

That brings us to the Almighty Bullet.

In the bullet journal, all task, meaning any action that you need to do is assigned a dot in front of it. That dot is your action signal, it indicates that something needs to be done.

When that action or task is completed, the bullet graduates to an X. If by chance you have to move that task to the next day, the bullet then becomes a PacMan or >, signifying the migration of the task to another time.

These little icons, or signifiers, play a huge role in organizing your bullet journal.

Other signifiers typcially used in bullet journals are circles and dashes. Circles are placed in front of events and dashes are used to indicate notes, thoughts, or reminders.

Beginner Signifiers
• Task
X Task Completed
O Event
-- Idea
> Migrate to tomorrow

But the fun part, you can add signifiers to whatever you want, and you can dictate their look and meaning. Dont be afraid to get creative with them either, you can even use different colors to signify work task versus personal task, or organize events for each of your children.

Planner Tip

1. Create a key that lives in the front of your bujo. I typically use the back of the cover page, somewhere that I see easily and dont have to flip all around for it.

2. Be consistent. Use the same signifiers through the bujo. Dont switch it up in the middle.

3. K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Yes, you can make it whatever you want, but dont get carried away. Too many signifiers defeat the purpose. If they are too complicated, it ease and quickness of added them in the first place. After ten years of using a dot, I have now upgrade to a box.

4. Interact with it. Either when the task is completed or at the end of the day, go back and update the bullet. That is the most satisfying part, add the Xs to everything you accomplished that day. I keep my bujo open during the day and I cannot wait to fill in my boxes after Im done with a task. At the end the day I add the PacMan to whatever needs to be reschedule or mirgrate to the next day. Getting in the habit of interacting with my bujo makes me use it more. So dont forget to update it, check it, change it, use it.

Go forth with the power of the bullet, and make every dot count.