You may have heard about this new trend called a bullet journal. It has been gracing Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook with its colorful perfection and organization. You may be wondering what exactly a bullet journal is and how do you make one. Hopefully things will be clearer after you read this!

From the name, you may have guessed that a bullet journal is in fact a journal. You are not wrong, but it is so much more than that. A bullet journal is a journal, planner, diary, and a way to track progress, inspirations, dreams, fitness goals, and just about anything. You start with a notebook with dots in a grid pattern. Then, you add headings, lists, or whatever you desire.

There is a specific bullet system used to distinguish between types of tasks. This way, you can simply look in the lefthand column and tell if you have places to be or things to do. To start out, don't get crazy about color coding because that can make things complicated quickly. Instead, pick your colors by day or month so that in case you lose your pink pen, you can still continue journaling without having to buy a new one immediately.

People often start their journal with an index very similar to the table of contents found in a book. This way, you can simply look in the front for a topic, date, or any type of list that you create to find it easily. Just don’t forget to number the pages as you fill up your journal!

How you fill up the rest of your journal is up to you! Many people add in a future log of upcoming appointments, big things to do, payments to make, and deadlines in order to have important things in a single place.

You can decide whether you want to divide your journal up into days, months, or pretty much anything! You can track weather, temperature, special events, and mundane daily tasks. Add in journal entries of special events or a really great day so that you can remember every detail.

Map out long-term goals, what you are grateful for, motivational quotes, and monthly logs to track habits. Writing everything down helps in one place helps keep you accountable for things that you otherwise could easily forget or ignore.

Writing down what you are thankful for can help remind you what is truly important when you get stressed out and need help prioritizing tasks. Setting several important goals can keep you focused when your to-do lists seem a mile long.

How you fill out the rest of your pages is completely up to you. Googling different ideas or starting a Pinterest board will give you so many different ideas and so much inspiration. The best part about bullet journaling is that you start with blank pages and you decide how they are filled. If you try a layout that you don't like, there is nothing forcing you to do that again! For more directions, visit the bullet journal website here and get started!