Rapid Logging: What it is and how to do it

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If you’ve ever watched Ryder Caroll’s intro to Bullet Journal video, you’ll notice 2 things. The first is that his is NOTHING like the bullet journals that you see on Instagram and Pinterest and he does something called rapid logging that no one seems to talk about.

So what is Rapid Logging? How does it work? Is it the right way to bullet journal?

Yours truly decided to investigate and rapid log for a whole month in order to answer these questions and more.

So what is rapid logging?

Before I write a whole post on rapid logging it’s important that we figure out what in the heck it actually is.

According to bullet journal.com, rapid logging is the language of bullet journaling. It’s the short, handwritten lists that boil down the information from your day.

In essence, it’s the simple jotted notes that you make to yourself while categorizing them with your bullet journal key. For example, as an event comes up you jot it down with your event icon. Or if you have something you need to remember you’ll use the note icon and maybe a star to signify that you need to remember this.

Rapid logging functions as a way to dump your brain consistently. This is something I really like since I used to spend a lot of time trying to remember whatever it was that I needed to remember.

Since I now have the place to write it down and a key to identify it, I use way less time and energy doing that wild goose chase around my head.

• Related: How to Create a Custom Bullet Journal Key
• Related: How to Set Up a Bullet Journal for Beginners

The benefits of rapid logging

I often recommend rapid logging at a great starting point if you’re just learning how to bullet journal. It’s so simple, there is no set up required, and you can start immediately.

It’s a great tool to use if you’re also unsure of how much space you’ll really need for daily bullets as well.

When I was setting up my first journal I honestly thought that I would need an entire page every day. But as it turned out, I only needed a third of a page.

I used the rapid logging method as a way to use my space efficiently. Nothing bothered me more than empty space in my journal. So by having a lot of flexibility with this, I was able to make as many or as few bullets as I wanted without the worry of miss using space in my bujo.

Rapid Logging is also a great way of learning how to just write everything down. It’s a habit builder. You don’t need to be discriminatory since you have all the space you need. So go ahead! Just write everything down.

This is a great exercise for learning more about what sort of things you really care about. Are you making a lot of notes about meal planning? Maybe you should try out a weekly meal planning spread.

Are you constantly writing about how you’re feeling? Maybe make yourself a mood tracker so that you can correlate what makes you feel good or not so good.

By writing everything down and noticing patterns you can learn a lot about yourself and what sort of spreads and trackers you might like. You can also figure out a good starting point for creating more defined weekly spreads if that’s something you’re interested in.

The drawbacks

There are a lot of good things about rapid logging, especially when you’re starting out with a bullet journal. But there are a few drawbacks.

The first thing is that without a good comprehensive key it can be hard to identify your bullets and which are important or need to be revisited.

The second thing is that since you’re writing everything down it’s necessary to go through it all at the end of the day (or beginning of the next) and checking things off and then migrating tasks that still need to get done. This can lead to a lot of rewriting your tasks as you carry them forward.

Some people who rapid log complain of needing to carry a task over day after day and it just ends up taking up a lot of time and space. My question for these tasks would be is it something that really needs your attention? If you just keep migrating it maybe you should just accept that you’re not going to do it. Delegating or cancelling the task might be the best course of action.

Rapid logging can also be a bit challenging for those that want to have “pretty journals”. While you can definitely doodle as you rapid log, many of us like the look of a well-ordered spread and that’s hard to get rapid logging.

• Related: Why you should use a Ryder Calendar
• Related: Everything you need to know about creating a Future Log

My experience rapid logging

As I mentioned I have rapid logged on a few different occasions.

I started bullet journaling by rapid logging since I wanted to know how much space I needed and I wanted the process to be quick and easy. Doing it this way gave me a good idea of what I needed to include in my bullet journal – and what I didn’t.

After I got in the habit of writing everything down and really using my bujo I started to create weekly spreads. But I still kept boxes or bubbles where I could just jot things down when I needed to.

After my first few months of bullet journaling, I settled into a pretty reliable pattern of weekly spreads. But when I started to think about writing this post I wanted to revisit this bujo technique.

So over the past month, I went back to Ryder’s video and did my set up pretty much exactly as he did. Just a simple “Ryder Calendar” on the right and a list of tasks on the left then I rapid logged for the whole month.

Here’s what I found

Saves space

First, I think that December was an excellent month to try this. With being away and having so much going on, it was nice to not have to worry about setting up my week.

Doing this, I fit a ton of stuff on each page. The whole month took up a little over 7 pages whereas I usually use closer to 15 or more.

Rapid logging is definitely a space saver.

Where to put things

I did find that I had some trouble figuring out where to put things that needed to get done but that I didn’t have a specific time to do. I also had trouble writing out focuses for the week. If I had just written a header at any point then wrote these things in, much of this would have been solved. But for some reason, I didn’t do that.

I did make a couple of little lists and reminders for myself in the margins and I did end up writing a “Still need to do” list eventually but it didn’t command my attention the way that boxes typically do in my spreads.

Style

The other thing I missed was having some colour or any sort of visual appeal.

While I liked not having to spend the time doing it, drawing my spreads is something I really enjoy. I like sitting down and laying out my week. I like to exercise my creativity and get in touch with that aspect of my personality.

And I missed doing that during this month.

My journal also just didn’t attract my attention the same way it usually does when it’s open to a beautiful page.

Colour

Now that it’s January and I have my first colourful spread open in about 6 weeks, it has been made apparent just how much I like this aspect of bullet journaling.

With my January spread, I’m constantly looking at it and the more I look at it, the more productive I am. It’s easier for me to find my priorities and it’s easier to see what I need to be doing.

Will I be continuing to rapid log?

Moving forward I’m definitely going to be moving back to my weekly layouts. I like having designated spots to put things. Having a set system for myself really helps keep me organized. But I do think that I’ll try to remember to rapid log more freely inside my dailies.

After all, the bullet journal is about getting it all out of your head so that you can see it on paper. Once it’s on paper you can easily focus on getting your to do’s done.