6 Different Ways to Future Plan with Your Bullet Journal
In a conventional planner there is usually a yearly calendar set up, where you can plan and schedule things. However, when starting a bullet journal all you have in front of you are empty pages, and that can be very intimidating for some. A lot of people are puzzled on how to future plan with a bullet journal, while others are worried that the system is not going to work, and that this will have as a result them missing important appointments and events.
I admit that, even for me, when I was first introduced to bullet journaling, one of the things that concerned me the most was future planning. On a system that you create your days as you go along, I wanted to make sure that I would be able to schedule ahead during the year.
While all the above are valid concerns, I can assure you that bullet journaling is a very efficient and organised system, that when done properly, leaves no place for mistakes or missed appointments! It also allows you to future plan as many months/years ahead as you want!
In this post I'm going to talk about the 6 different ways that you can future plan with your bullet journal.
Ryder Carroll's Future Log
This is the original bullet journal method to plan future events during the year. You can set up your Future Log by arranging the pages by the amount of months you need.
For example, you can have 3 months per page, with two equally spaced horizontal lines across the pages (as shown in the picture above). If you think that the space underneath each month is not going to be enough for you, then you can use only one horizontal line across the pages and have 4 months on the spread instead of 6. Or you can even have one month per page if you're really busy!
The Monthly Log
This log allows you to plan for the month ahead. Therefore gives a more limited timeframe for future planning. There are various ways you can set up your monthly log in your bullet journal.
In the picture above you see the original way, where you have the Calendar on the left page and the Task List on the right. However, there are many ways you can vary this set up, and I'm going to share some pictures here for you to see how I've changed my monthly log during the past year, and get inspired.
As you can see there are endless ways you can set up your monthly log and adjust it to your needs.
The Alastair Method
This is a method to future plan in your bullet journal for the next 6 months. It was created by Alastair Johnston, who basically came up with a way to plan future events by adding them to a separate container that is easily adaptable and quickly to read.
In order to recreate this method in your bullet journal, you write the 6 months you want to future plan for, the way it's shown in the picture. You can plan for less months than that, if you have a lot of events/appointments and you think that you might run out of space.
Then with a vertical line you create a different section on the right. In there you simply add all the future events with their exact date, and then you put a dot in the column that represents that month. That way it doesn't matter if the events are not added chronologically.
Each time you need to move these plans to your monthly planner page, all you have to do is to quickly scan down the column of the month, find the dots that signify entries for that month, and then migrate the events to their dates in the monthly log.
Future Log
This is a combination of Ryder Carroll's Future Log and Alastair's Method which I found in Veronika's Instagram account. Basically, you write down the monthly tables for the next 6 months on the top of the page.
Underneath the month tables, on each page you then create one long table. The first 3 columns are one for each month and are titled with the first letter of the month. That's where you write the date that refers to that spefic month for each event you want to note down. Then you create a column for the event/appointment with all the information, and another one for the exact time of the event. Lastly, you create a small column in the end, where you can tick off any events/appointments that have already taken place. Of course you can add any other columns that might help you with your future planning.
For more information about this type of Future Log, you can check this blog post.
Calendex
The Calendex method was created by Eddy Hope. Essentially a Calendex is a hybrid of a calendar and an index - that's how it gets it's name :) So you have a calendar of events and an index of page numbers with those events. You can use this method to schedule tasks and events that are planned months in advance.
To set up your Calendex you'll need to use a double page spread. On each page you easily fit 6 months, by creating 6 columns and on the left hand side you write the numbers 1-31 creating 31 rows that are representing the days of the month. You can also break down the months by weeks with separation lines in each column. That makes it easier to plan. Also some columns have lined boxes at the bottom, because not all of the months have 31 days.
So, for example if I happen to have a future event, I will note it down on my daily spread and I will have a coloured box according to the type of event next to it. In this case it's light green because it was a kids' event.
Then I will note down a light green box on the day of the event and on it I'll write the number of the page of my daily spread that I wrote all the information on.
I have a detailed post for Calendex if you want more information about it :)
The Sticky Note Method
This is a more simple way to plan a few things for the near future.
You basically have a sticky note where you write all the future appointments/events that you need to remember, and you move it along as you create your dailies. Once you approach the date that an event is due, then you transfer it in that day's daily spread and you cross it off your list. Simple!
As you can see there are quite a few ways that can be used in a bullet journal in order to ensure that everything is properly planned and nothing gets lost through the pages. You may think that some of the above methods are complicated, but you just have to try them out to see that they're quite simple really - even Calendex!
I've created a printable for the Calendex to share with you, because I think that is the most intimidating of all the above. That way, you can print it and start using it before you apply it in your bullet journal, to see if you like this way of planning and if it suits your needs.
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Which method(s) of the above are you using in your bullet journal? Share with us your pictures!
