Bullet Journal

I've used a bullet journal or "BuJo" for my physical notes since 2016. My favorite tome is the Leuchtturm 1917 dotted notebook, though I also like those by Moleskine. I find that A5 is the right size for me. I pair those with a fine-tipped pen like the Uniball 207.

Journaling gives you a place to unload your heaviest emotions, celebrate the good stuff, and discover who you truly are. It also relieves you from tracking and remembering minutia. At the start of 2026, I had 20 bullet journals, with older log-style journals extending before that.

It's a pretty flexible format. I tend to keep things simple. Some people decorate their journals, use lots of colors, and so on. See Bullet Journal Hacks and The Bullet Journal Method for more.

To the right is an image with some common notation keys that people use.

My key

• Colors:
  • ⬛ black for work items
  • 🟦 blue for personal items
  • 🟩 green for volunteer work like Agile Denver or [redacted]
• Outlined textbox (❑) for tasks, to-do items, etc.
  • I half-shade boxes (◪) when they are in progress
  • I finish filling them (▨) when tasks are complete
  • Triangles (▷) like arrows for delegated work I'm monitoring.
    • I used this much less frequently now that I don't manage people.
  • Some people differentiate between tasks and events. I found that using the separate types of checkboxes didn't deliver enough value to me.
• Modifiers to boxes.
  • I use an arrow through them (like ❑→) to defer them.
  • I add ❗️ before urgent items (❗️❑ buy tickets).
    • Every time I recopy an item from a previous page, I add an exclamation point. I consolidate to-dos every few days.
  • I add ＊ before important items (＊❑ reschedule eye exam).
    • Some items get both urgent and important notations.
  • I add 🕓 before items with a deadline (🕓＊❑ file taxes by 4/15).
  • I add❓before items I'm considering not doing, (❓❑ tango class).
• Bullet (•) for unordered list items
• Dashes (-) for 2nd level and below.
• Double angle bracket (<<) for side notes in the margins (the rightmost 7 boxes or so)
• Events, big tasks, and other groupings are underlined
• 👤 ] to mark phone and video calls (• Staff meeting 👤])
  • That right bracket is supposed to invoke a telephone receiver 📞.
• 👤👤 to mark in-person meetings (barely used since Covid).
• 👤💻 to mark lecture or presentation notes.
  • The icon I draw looks like a podium, but I can't find the right symbol.
• 🎥 to mark audio or video notes (• Atlas of the Heart 🎥)

I also do a monthly Agile Retrospective, usually using the Starfish retrospective format. I've tried various habit tracking schemes, but I find I don't stick to them.

I've observed that when I was working in an office, I would write a lot of research notes in my journal. Now that I work from home, I tend to input those directly into Obsidian.