Actionable Book Summary:

The Bullet Journal Method

by Ryder Carroll
08/01/2020

Last updated:

The Book In Three Or More Sentences:

The Bullet Journal Method aims to help us become
mindful about how we spend our two most valuable
resources in life: our time and our energy. Basically, the
method presented in this book wants to help you
accomplish more by doing less. All of this by writing
down what’s essential for you and executing on this short
list. This book is a how-to guide for using this flexible
framework (bullet journaling, or bujo in short) to organize
your life.

The Core Idea:

Mainly, Ryder Carroll, the author, wants to help us
organize our lives by tracking the essential things
happening around us. The method presented in this
book, called the Bullet Journal Method, is basically
journaling on steroids. A profound way to sort your ideas
and arrange your life. It’s more of a diary, it’s a system for
tracking what’s happening in your life so you can find
what’s essential for you and focus on doing it.

7 Key Lessons from The Bullet Journal

Method:
Lesson #1: Decluttering Your Mind
Lesson #2: Organization Can Be Distracting
Lesson #3: Perfection Is a Damaging Concept
Lesson #4: Bullet Journaling Key Concepts
Lesson #5: Organize The Mental Inventory
Lesson #6: Create Flow to Gain More Time
Lesson #7: Put Hard Things First

Lesson #1: Decluttering Your Mind

Studies show that we have around 70,000 thoughts per

day. And if we put the amount of thoughts on paper we’ll
have enough information to produce a book every single
day – that’s a lot of content.

However, unlike books, our thoughts are scattered

around the perimeter. Sometimes dull. Other times not so
unique. A lot of times struggling to find meaning. But
there is a way to find clarity in this chaos of thoughts.

Writing things down, as the author explains, is a way to

take control of your mind. Give him context. Stear the
wheel into the desired direction.

It’s easy to drift away and think about vacations and

beaches. It’s hard to think about what needs to be done.
That’s why writing down your priorities, or in general, on
a piece of paper will help in these two segments of your
life:

You can actually see what needs to be done;

You can force your mind to think towards a specific
direction and get into more details.

We think about way too many things all the time. Most of
them don’t really need our attention. However, only when
you write everything down you’ll understand what’s
important and what you can put in the dumpster.

Lesson #2: Organization Can Be Distracting

In a lot of occasions, an organization can become a

cleverly disguised form of distraction. You write stuff
down in your 5-year planner and you think that you’re
making a difference and working towards your goals but
in reality, you’re just writing stuff on a piece of paper.
You’re not actually working on achieving your dreams
while you’re writing them down, you’re just writing them.
Nothing more.

The whole Bullet Journal sequence is designed to waste

you as little time as possible. The author of the method is
well aware that planning, planners, and notebooks can
waste a bunch of our time on this planet. His approach is
minimal and focused on results, not to mindlessly write
things down for the heck of it.
You can spend hours crafting the perfect plan, the
ultimate to-do list. To discard draft after draft till you’ve
got the lines perfectly aligned. But that’s not what’s
important.

The essential thing is way different. It’s not planning, it’s

doing.

Lesson #3: Perfection Is a Damaging

Concept

Most people think that the opposite of perfection is

failure. But that’s hardly the case. The difference
between getting 100% score on your math test and
getting 93% is insignificant, it’s something only in your
mind. Actually, you’ll probably retain more information if
you score poorly. After all, you’ll check what you got
wrong and you’ll learn from your mistakes. In contrast, if
you only get straight-A’s you’ll most probably quickly
forget what you’ve learned.

The same principle applies when you’re starting a

business, writing, painting a picture, taking notes… pretty
much everything in life. Not only that you won’t learn
much if you’re constantly perfect, but perfection often
leads to anxiety. You’ll constantly push yourself to make
everything flawless, which will lead to long hours of work
and most probably creative burnout. Additionally, aiming
towards perfection can be a curse. A lot of people don’t
start anything new only because they’re afraid of
imperfection, of judgments, of being publicly shamed.

But there is another path – practicing imperfection.

Ryder Carroll explains it perfectly in the book:

It’s not about making mistakes on purpose; it’s about

reframing your response to them. In meditation, the
goal, so far as there can be one is to be present. By
disentangling ourselves from our thoughts, we can
view them objectively. Easier said than done. Even the
most experienced practitioners are consumed by their
thoughts from time to time. The key is realizing that
you’re stuck in a thought, and pulling yourself back
out of it. More so, it’s to perceive the wanderings of
your mind not as a mistake, but as an opportunity.
Each time you came back into the present, you ever
so slightly strengthen your ability to focus. In this way,
you begin to embrace a flaw with curiosity instead of
judgment.”

Lesson #4: Bullet Journaling Key Concepts

As we already discussed, the Bullet Journal method is

different from the other diary mechanisms. In essence,
the method presented in the book is a way to organize
our lives and waste us as little as time as possible. This is
done with several key concepts:

Index: This is how your journal begins. The first few

pages are used to locate your content in your Bullet
 Journal. By adding topics and page numbers inside
the Index you can later find what you’re looking for
faster;
Future Log: A collection of your future tasks.
Usually, it’s 4 pages and each page stores your brief
tasks, future events, etc., for 3 months;
Monthly log: Provides an overview of the tasks for
the current month;
Daily log: The diary-like section of the journal. The
daily log is a short form description of your days;
Rapid logging: It’s basically a way of writing. Instead
of going overboard with your explanation about how
your day went, you can just use short-form notation
paired with symbols to quickly capture, categorize,
and prioritize your thoughts into notes, events, and
tasks. For instance, the book suggests using “dash”
for notes; “circle” for events; “dot” for tasks;
Migration: This process involves filtering out tasks
that are obsolete or no longer relevant. Since you’re
filling your future log in advance, there is surely
going to be a task, or something else, that’s not
worth doing after a few months. This simple action
helps you to stay on track and not waste time on
duties that don’t need to be attended.

Lesson #5: Organize The Mental Inventory

We take the needed time to organize our closets, right?

Well, why not do it for your thoughts and ambitions also?
The Mental Inventory it’s a simple technique that will
remove the mist from your desires and reveal on what
type of tasks you’re wasting your time. After completing
the exercise, there is a high chance that there will be a lot
of useless responsibilities draining valuable mental and
emotional energy from you.

So, here’s the task mentioned in the book:

You’ll need a sheet of paper. Orient it horizontally and

divide it into three equal columns:

1. In the first column, list all things you are currently

working on;
2. In the second, list all the things you should be
working on;
3. In the last column, list the things you want to be
working on.

Dig deep and be honest with yourself. You want the real
answers.

Your list might look like this:

Working on:

Searching for new people to follow on Instagram;

Organizing a local event;
Clearing my inbox and rearranging folders;

Should be working on:

 Family budget for the next month;
Sending emails to possible prospects;
Weekly priorities list;

Want to be working on:

My own online business;

Trip to Seychelles island;
Learn to code;

Yours will surely be different. The main idea of the list

you’ve just created is to give you a clear picture of how
you’re currently investing your time and energy. Of
course, also give you a direction.

Obviously, you should strive to do more of the things

located in “want to be working on” category.

Lesson #6: Create Flow to Gain More Time

Unlike machines, we tend to procrastinate a lot. If a

certain task can be completed within an hour, the
average citizen of the modern world will need at least 3 –
one extra hour for convincing himself to start working on
the task and another hour for posting his progress on
social media.

Yep, that’s what we do, we tend to get lost in the things

we do by engaging with other things.

But there is a solution if you want to become more

productive – create flow.

The term was coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and it

basically means to be fully engaged. To be into the
present moment. When you’re 100% focused on what
you do you unlock our productivity chakras and creative
potential.

Unfortunately, flow cannot be forced. It should come

naturally to you. The only thing you can do is to create
conditions where flow is more likely to occur. Here’s how:

Time boxing: You basically dedicate a chunk of time for a

specific task and you block everything else. The main
idea is to create a sense of urgency in you. After all, if you
only have 30 minutes a day to write you will make sure to
make those 30 minutes count.

Lesson #7: Put Hard Things First

If some tasks seem boring to you, or they are hard to be

achieved, but they have to be done, put them first on
your to-do list. This type of task-organization is crucial
for reaching faster results.

Naturally, we get exhausted during our days. Our

attention span drains throughout the hours we’re awake.
Obviously, putting exercising as the last task to be
performed before going to bed it’s a bad decision. You’ll
be tired and you won’t put a lot of reps, that’s why it
should be done sooner.
The other benefit of doing-the-hard-thing-first mindset is
that you’re working your way towards the things that
interest you the most. This way, it’s much easier to
maintain focus and motivation throughout the day when
you have something to look forward to.

So, no matter what type of tasks awaits you, put the

hardest, the most unpleasant task that needs to be done
first on your to-do list. Call your boss, write that article,
record that video, write that email, whatever it is, do it
before doing anything else.

Love taking notes? Download the worksheet:

Worksheet

Actionable Notes:​
Create a goals collection: Daydreaming about the
future is something we regularly do. We can spend
hours roaming through our thoughts and hoping for
a brighter future. But let’s do something better, eh?
Let’s capture our ideas on paper so we can make
them a reality. Get a piece of paper and start writing.
Big or small goals, it doesn’t matter. The idea here is
to have them all clearly stated. This collection serves
as a menu of sorts, listing your potential futures. The
only thing you need to do next is to start making the
most appealing goal a reality.
Sprints and Tasks: A goal can be composed of a lot
of things. To make things simple, and keep the
momentum going, it’s best to break them down into
smaller self-contained Sprints and Tasks. Losing
weight can be a bold goal, especially if you’ve
struggled with this for years. However, simply stating
that you want to “lose weight” doesn’t mean
anything in particular. There are other things, smaller
things that need to be performed, daily, if you want
to achieve your goal. For instance: What type of food
you can stop eating? When you’re going to exercise?
What type of thing you’ll stop doing in favor of
working out?
Daily reflections: It’s easy to lose sight of what’s
important and waste an entire day doing
unimportant tasks. Not if you reflect daily on your
actions though. Take some time at the end of the
day to write what you did. Spot things/tasks that
don’t bring any real value in your life and do your
best to remove them.
The 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Exercise: The 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 exercise
is designed to give us context to our goals. To put
them in a timeline. Use a sheet and give it a name:
“5, 4, 3, 2, 1”. Divide the spread into five rows. The
top cell will store the goals you want to accomplish in
5 years; The next will be for what needs to be
achieved in 4 months; In the next cell add goals for
the next 3 weeks; The following one is for the tasks
that have to be done by 2 days; The last cells is for
the goals you intend to accomplish in the next 1 hour.
 You can use this method for whatever tasks or
projects you prefer.
The Deming Cycle: Iteration sounds more
complicated than it is. In general, it means “the
process of doing something again and again, so you
can improve from the previous experience.” This way
of thinking is the foundation of the Deming Cycle, a
four-stage framework for continual improvement:
“Plan > Do > Check > Act.” Let’s break that down:
Plan: Recognize an opportunity and plan a
change;
Do: Put the plan into play and test the change;
Check: Analyze the results of your test and
identify what you’ve learned;
Act: Act on what you’ve learned. If the change
didn’t work, go through the cycle again with a
different plan. If you were successful, use what
you’ve learned to plan new improvements. Rinse
and repeat.

Commentary and My Personal

Takeaway
I’ve tried journaling before. I promised myself that I’ll write
stuff down. Keep a diary so one day I can read it and
laugh out loud. Unfortunately, I rarely kept my promise for
more than a couple of months. After a while, I simply
forget doing it or I run out of ideas. To be honest, I didn’t
find it valuable to write stuff like “I’m blessed that I woke
up today and that I’m alive…”

The Bullet Journal method works for me because it has

low expectations. The focus of the system is to give you
more time doing what you want to be doing. Rather than
spending time writing pointless things on a notebook
costing $30.

Even though you can go wild and do write every day,

describe every tiny detail of your boring day, the main
idea is to keep it short, simple and aimed to help you
track the past, order the present, and design the future.

The book and the system are definitely worth further

investigating. The following video will give you all the
essentials to start: LINK.

Notable Quotes:
Inevitably we find ourselves tackling too many things
at the same time, spreading our focus so thin that
nothing gets the attention it deserves. This is
commonly referred to as “being busy.” Being busy,
however, is not the same thing as being productive.”

In the most connected time in history, we’re quickly

losing touch with ourselves.”

The more content you try to capture during a lecture

or a meeting, the less you’re thinking about what’s
being said. You burn through most of your attention
 parroting the source.”

What to read next:

Actionable Book Summary: The Now Habit by Neil
Fiore
Actionable Book Summary: Essentialism by Greg
McKeown​
Actionable Book Summary: Ego is the Enemy by
Ryan Holiday

Actionable Book Summary: The Bullet Journal

Method by Ryder Carroll