What is a Bullet Journal?

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The bullet journal system can be a bit intimidating, but don't worry! This guide has everything you need to get started today!

Bullet Journaling is a personalized organization system to collect your thoughts, goals, ideas, and plans for the future. Each journal entry is a record of your life that helps you focus on staying productive and keeping on track. Bullet Journals also provide a sense of control by outlining the steps you need to take to reach your destination - while still celebrating your accomplishments along the way. The Elisi app takes the process one step further and moves the paper-based BuJo system into a powerful digital app.

Simply put, BuJo is the ideal way to simplify planning, improve focus, and add variety to your task and goal setting routine. And Elisi is the perfect digital platform to complement your efforts.

Elisi Brings Bullet Journaling to A Digital App

With so many ways to approach Bullet Journaling, it's easy to get overwhelmed. However, Elisi makes the process easy by transforming BuJo into an intuitive digital application. An online planner, habit tracker, notebook, and to-do list merged into a single easy-to-use package. Future upgrades will bring more pre-defined templates for better bujo-ing.

Digital

While Bullet Journaling has traditionally been an “offline” activity, Elisi brings the same power of productivity to the digital world. Best of all, our digital BuJo app does much of the legwork for you.

• Pre-made Templates - digital journals put an end to messy handwriting or having to map out charts and graphs on your own. Elisi designs your calendars and recurring tasks automatically for each new month. Saving typical users hours of time in manual drawing and formatting alone.
• Habit Tracking - input the habit you want to track and its recurring frequency. The app takes care of the rest. Even automatically adding these habits to your calendar as daily tasks.
  Elisi monitors the number of habits you complete and provides an indicator to show where you stand. These visual reminders serve as motivation to keep going and prevent you from breaking your streak.
• Calendar Integration (coming soon) - merge your Google or Apple calendar with Elisi to automatically import events and tasks directly into your BuJo environment.
• Easy Updates - revise, drag, drop, and edit until your heart's content. No more erasing and starting over or worrying about moving data from one field to another. Flexibility provides ease of use and a clear path to accomplishing your goals.
• Always available - electronic journaling means never having to worry about lost or forgotten notebooks. Plan on your desktop, record on your tablet or phone, and stay in sync wherever you go. With Elisi, your data is stored safely both in the cloud and locally so they are accessible from anywhere.

Digital BuJo apps offer advantages that traditional analog systems simply can't match.

Design

Besides saving time and effort, the right BuJo app makes the entire process easier. Creating a natural flow between modules and displaying information in a logical format.

• Continuity - quickly and easily drag items between fields (notes, lists, planner or anywhere else). Copy and arrange data in the way that best suits your needs.
• Feedback - as you check off completed items, the program automatically tracks your wins and provides a customized status bar of your progress. Earn trophies and watch your habit tracker streak continue to grow.Unlike other digital Bullet Journal apps, Elisi keeps your finished tasks visible. Helping you see not only what's left to do, but how much you've already accomplished.
• Perspective - traditional notebook planners limit your view to a few months or a single year at a time. Elisi's unlimited time frame options let you go as far back (or forward) as you want. Plan for the long-term - work in the short-term.
• View - use the Planner mode for time-based tasks and List entries to manage project-based activities. Either of which can be conveniently toggled on or off depending on the data you want to see.
  These two dimensions work together seamlessly to help you manage your goals from all angles.
• Focus - utilize tags and take advantage of Goal Hunter mode. Once entered, Elisi displays only the notes, planner, and list tasks that are associated with that specific goal. Removing outside distractions to make your plan more concrete.
• Simplicity - each week comes as a blank page (until you modify it). Thereby reducing the anxiety from having to plan (and review) an entire month at once.

With so much automation and easy-to-configure options, Elisi makes goal setting and tracking a no-brainer.

Smartly

Bullet Journal App

A system like Elisi is customizable enough to use in thousands of different ways. But if you're having trouble getting started, here's a simple use case to get your creative juices flowing.

Think about the steps that might be involved in planning a road trip.

The destination itself could be your annual plan. The place where you ultimately want to go once everything is said and done. Using your GPS to get there? Think of that as your monthly plan to choose the best route.

Your weekly plan is the car's steering wheel - allowing you to make minor course corrections to avoid going off track. And the daily plan? That's the gas pedal - the more you push it the faster you'll get there.

The beauty of Elisi is focusing on a single week at a time. This sweet spot helps you make actionable plans to reach your long-term goals. Yet, avoid getting bogged down in the minor details of daily implementation.

Starting the middle allows both freedom and structure, but in just the right amounts of each. A typical planning session might go something like this:

1. Notes - brainstorm everything you need to get done that week (including the time required to do so) and input them into your notes. Review your list and analyze which tasks are most important.
   If they fit within the time constraints you have available, move on to the next step. If not, review the list again and pick more activities to remove.
2. Planner - transfer you remaining notes to the planner. Single and urgent tasks go in the first few days of the planner. Long-term tasks become habits. And related items form lists you schedule for other days during the month.
3. Assessment and Motivation - as you complete tasks, Elisi's built-in tracking and reward system displays your progress. The more you get done, the faster your achievements grow.Reminding (and rewarding) yourself of your accomplishments, keeps you focused, engaged, and motivated to continue moving forward.

It's important to note that you'll likely stumble along the way. Misjudging time commitments, trying to do too much or too little, and straying from your path every now and then.

But that's okay.You'll learn and get better as you go. Just remember not to be too hard on yourself or give up on the process too quickly. Mastering Bullet Journaling takes time - but the results can be profound and incredibly satisfying.

Conclusion

When it comes to digital Bullet Journaling Elisi strikes the perfect balance. Staying true to the core principles of BuJo while adding the ease and convenience of a digital app. Now your goals, habits, notes, and ideas stay with you wherever you go and fit neatly into your purse or back pocket.

Elisi helps you become a better version of yourself - one task at a time.

Ready to give digital bullet journaling a try?

Create your FREE account today to get started!

Now that we have shown you the basics of Bullet Journaling, let’s talk about Bullet Journal Templates. There is no right or wrong way to set up your bullet journal, but there are many things you can do to make your bullet journal your own. Creating or using manufactured templates ( also known as “layouts”), can really get you in the mood for planning, writing and getting creative!

First, it’s ok to be different and original. One day you might feel like drawing out your template and a day later you might decide to use a “ready- for-you-to-use” template. The point is, since bullet journaling is so flexible you have the ability to change it up. You don’t have to have the same template throughout your planner but I do recommend that you have one. Templates keep your bullet journal clean and in order (whatever that looks like for you) and will keep you from looking at your planner and feel like you are staring at hieroglyphics!

Here are a few Ideas to get you going if you want to free form. If you don’t, that’s ok too. We have a few things that will help complete your BUJO planner in our shop.

Since your key is a core element of your bullet journal, making this page awesome and functional will not only help you to do quick glances at your planner, it will actually make you want to use it. Creating (or using) the right combination of symbols and colors will always get the productive juices following. You can do something simple like just tilting your page and writing down what each symbol means in a “clean” font or you can go all out and start bringing in stencils to add design. Here’s how the I Heart Planners team created our key:

And here are a few examples from other Bullet Journalers:

@loashleydoodles

Your Index is another top page that deserves a template. You are always going to refer back to it, so the least you can do is make it look great, right? You can do a 2-column template where everything is big and bold, you can do a 4 column template where you can fit everything that you need on one page or you can free form. Look at these examples for inspiration.

There are multiple ways you can set up your Future Log Template. If you only like to write out big events to remember you can do something like this:

If you would like to have a monthly calendar for reference you can do something like this…

Or you can create a Calendex …

@showmeyourplanner

The calendex is my favorite template because it’s an adorable yet functional way to see my future plans at a glance.

This is where you can change your mind at any time. One day (or week) you might feel like a butterfly theme is what you need, the next you might feel like staying informed on what the weather will be like for the week so that you know what to wear while hanging out with friends.

@boho.berry

Using an awesome template for your monthly view is ideal as well. You can create a monthly template that resembles the calendex mentioned above or you can create a “List-Style” template like this one…

Or a two page spread like these epic Bullet Journalers!

@plantosucceed

Everyone’s bullet journal is different. We all have different lifestyles and things that we want to stay on top of.

No matter where you are in life, everyone has a goal in mind and good habits that they are trying to stick with. Creating or using a standardized template for either of these will help to keep consistent.

Bullet Journal Barnes And Noble

Want to reflect back or release some energy? Create a mood mandala! You use a standard circle template, flowing patterns or a combination of the two. If you are not an artist, that’s ok. You may just have to use stencils to get the mood mandala you are looking for.

@sheenaofthejournal

Bullet Journal Programmer

If you love to memorize scripture and or read in your spare time, these two pages are a must! Creating a template for both can be simple and it will be worth it when you have a visual at the end of a Bible study or are excited to show off your list at the next book club meeting.

@librariana

Bullet Journal Programs

I hope you can now understand why bullet journaling is so awesome and how bullet journal templates can really add flare to your planner. I can’t wait to see yours!