Bullet Journal Rapid Logging
Every part of the bullet journal involves rapid logging
but, what is that?
What is rapid logging in bullet journal?
- Rapid-Quick, fast
- Logging-written record
Rapid logging is the essence of a bullet journal which involves a quick note or journal entry.
It basically has 4 main components:
- Topics
- page numbers
- short sentences
- bullets.
The idea of rapid logging is to capture the important things as it happens
Ryder Caroll, the creator of bullet journal emphasizes the simplicity of it that gets misunderstood quite often.
And many people quit bullet journaling as they claimed to be overwhelmed by the complexity.
Irony huh?
Rapid logging is a concise sentence or phrase paired with keys or symbols for the task, an event or a note
If you want to start bullet journaling, check out this post. And get the best Bullet Journal Notebook to start your journey
This is one of the best bullet journal notebooks you can use. It follows the original Bullet Journal concept from the creator, Ryder Caroll.
This notebook is made up from recycle material and 100% Vegan certified!
How to do rapid logging in a bullet journal?
The Rapid logging method
Its quite easy
With simplicity in mind, do your rapid logging with these 3 simple steps
1. Add a topic on top of the pages
Like any other notes, you need a topic so that it will be easy for you to review later on.
The topic can be the day and date of the entry
Or, The title of the note you are taking
2. Add page number
Add page number to make it accessible later
If your bullet journal has been numbered, you can skip this step.
If you are keen to get a bullet journal notebook with numbered pages, here are some of my recommendations.
- Value for Money: PAPERAGE Dotted Journal Notebook (160 Pages,100 GSM Thick Paper)
- Crowd favourite: LEUCHTTURM1917 (203 Numbered Pages with 120gsm)
3. Add your content or input
To add your content, use simple sentences and key or symbols
Other things to be remembered, the original method of the bullet journal is to log something that is happening
in real-time
It is not a glorified, extensive to-do list
How to write clear and concise in rapid logging
- Use abbreviation
- Use short form
- Remove unnecessary word
4. Bullet Journal Rapid logging keys or symbols
Logging your entry using short phrases and keys or symbols
The symbols are for Task, Event and note
- The solid bullet (•) represents a task
- An (x) task completed.
- A struck-through task (
task)is one that’s no longer relevant. - empty bullet (◦) corresponds to events.
Most people including me, have this misconception of entering the tasks and events ahead of time.
This is how we end up with a long pile of to-do lists. And it doesn’t really help much.
Write down the task and event but not ahead of time, do it in real-time
What difference does it make?
Bullet Journal Rapid logging tips
1. Do the bullet journal entry in real-time
In an interview with YouTuber Wheezerwaiter, Ryder Caroll mentioned..
“When we do it in real-time, the entry will be more like registering or logging compared to planning.
Its an entry about the things that happened or happening at that time”
He later adds
“ In bullet journaling, we dont usually plan ahead, if you need to plan ahead you can create a collection for that
..because bullet journal is what happens in real time
Interesting huh?
I feel like the majority of people including me might have done it wrongly
Or maybe different than what Ryder Caroll originally did in his bullet journal
But it does make sense, if I want to plan things, it’s easier to use google calendar.
So you do rapid logging of things as it happens to you, or any idea that captures your attention and dumps it in the bullet journal.
If you want to listen to the interview with Ryder Caroll, do check this YouTube.
*Bonus, this dude is hilarious!
2. Do a quick daily reflection
Once you do reflection at night time, you find the home for the idea and decided what to do about it
To pursue?
To make it part of your content?
Or have you decided it’s not that worth it?
This idea of capturing and finding its home afterwards is a simple but very meaningful part of a bullet journal.
As someone with lots of thoughts, overthinking and over analyse of things, this part of the bullet journal might help me tremendously
Bullet journal is designed to help me cope with my ADD, for very quick thinking, with very little patience
..so rather than spell everything out, i just write down everything I feel quickly..very short and tactical sentence”
The bullet journal is quite the same as traditional journaling but more concise and structured
So you don’t have to spend lots of time on it. And you actually do something as part of the reflection
Related articles:
- How Doing Reflection Will Help You Re-Direct Your Life
- Try These 65 Self-reflection Prompts To Begin Your Journaling Journey
Learn the actual Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Caroll, himself!
3. Use consistent bullet journal key and symbol
Use the simple symbols as mentioned earlier and make sure the same key is applied in the bullet journal
I have written in length on bullet journal key in this post
Why does bullet journal rapid logging work?
It provides simplicity and flexibility as we journal
Rather than leaving our journal just as a mere brain dump, the element of reflection helps to view our thoughts more clearly
So in a way, it gives some upper hand compared to the traditional journaling
But, if you feel too overwhelmed and need to vent out your thought on a piece of paper, brain dump journaling will help you with that
Rapid logging examples
Here are some examples I curated for your inspiration
*All credit goes to the owner
Photo by @menwhobullet via Instagram
Photo by @supermassiveblackink via Instagram
There you go!
The essence of rapid logging. Try this method and let me know what you think!
