My Favourite Bullet Journal Hack 💜 The Alastair Method

The Alastair method 🥳 This is one of the best bullet journal hacks out there, I swear! A great way to organise large lists of tasks and events, with a lot of flexibility as to where in your journal you can use it!

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💜 Timestamps
0:00 – What are we talking about
0:21 – What is this?
1:07 – Why it’s awesome
1:50 – Anatomy of the layout
2:27 – How you can use this technique
5:23 – Alastair method fan-girl

#jashiicorrin

[lauriemyers]

Ok…see…THIS is what I need! My brain works by month, then week, then day. It always stresses me out to have to assign a certain task for a particular day because I don’t know if I’m gonna feel like doing that on that day. I always have a “weekly to do list“ and I go off that to decide what I’m going to do or feel like doing each day. But this is better because it allows you to have a BRAIN DUMP as well! I am very much a person and it completely stresses me out to even do brain dumps. I try to organize my brain dumps! This way I can brain dump and then organize using the left column and finally organize even more by keeping track of what still needs to be done. I can’t tell you how much this is going to help me! Changing my bullet journal today!

[graceliaw]

I've been using this method thanks to Claudia Kai. It's been incredibly useful, especially during the school year, but I also include a due date column.

[virginiamklein]

I will be using this method for my brain dumps. I have monthly and yearly dumps so this will come in handy

[vikkisladen]

I also use it for a habit tracker. The habits go at the top, and tasks below. I don't need a month of habits as much as I need daily reminders and motivations to take meds, etc. I never flipped open to monthly trackers, so having it on my weekly makes more sense.

[thatsallbriwrote]

It was very interesting learning where this method began! I started using the Alastair method for this month's tasks and its been sooo helpful... and now I don't want to go back to my original, more decorative weekly layouts with boxes. I think I need a middle ground for my creativity and productivity.. *cries*

[finnsjournal]

I'm getting into bullet journaling by just doing research. Right now I have an A5 just to put all the different layouts between weekly, tasks and monthly. After doing 6 months of research I came upon this. I was thinking of how can I incorporate my daily, weekly and monthly house chores that I can check off and feel productive. (going through a little funk right now, being 57 and all the kids grown up and all. I need something to ground me to feel motivated and productive. Since I have a lot of time on my hands, especially during the winter months.) I just discovered this today and this is exactly what I was looking for just for my chores list. Thank you for explaining and showing the different ways to use it. I immediately made tasks list in the Alastair method. I believe this is going to work for me. Thank you and best regards.

[acgallan]

Wow, you really hit the sweet spot between creativity and an analytical approach. Not many people have that talent. You are lucky!

[KTCoope]

I use it for my weeklies (combined with a rolling daily) and also a week by week tasks section in my monthly, plus some other categorisation on some of my other lists... I've also found it super useful for things like shopping lists, so I can group all the different sections of the store without having to have thought of what I need to pick up all at once. That project completion spread is so good!

[stargirl]

I was unsure of this method when I started the video, but now I am HOOKED! Especially the project one at the end!

[Potato_in_syrop]

also, your spreads are so beautiful yet functional and not overworked, I'm in love!

[sararobison]

I have to schedule exact times to do things in my daily schedule for work, but I could see using this for routine tasks for work and personal that are consistent with certain days of the week

[ella]

I have seen these spreads but never realized how simple they actually are! Thanks for the breakdown, definitely going to try it out~

[mousegrey]

I use it for my future log, and for my weekly overview in my work bujo- it covers my tasks that I need to do every day so they don’t clog up my dailies unless I need an extra reminder or more notes, it covers the types of tasks I like to keep track of, and I have a line each relating to work hours and health, just to note if something happened that impacted work, then I note the details in the daily log. I leave a section at the bottom that I can use for large, complex tasks that are going to take a while. Sometimes I add an Alistair method table to my monthly, to include reference information with a weekly breakdown. And I keep trying to work out what a GTD style contextualised list would look like for me.

[theyknittoo]

I really like the idea of this method. I think it could be very helpful for me (I'm a teacher too) when task after task pops up in a week. I could then just list it in order rather than squeezing it in on the day of the week and wondering if I got to everything or not!

[April-vrgr]

I’m going to try the method next week. I love the idea of the column just for x’s (completed tasks). Thanks for the ideas.

[kerrydouglass]

I'm still fairly new to bullet journaling (only my second month), but this looks like something I need in my life to help me get organised. I have daily lists of one off things, but this would really help me remember the weekly things I keep forgetting to do.

[draco-lily]

The Alastair Method has been a mainstay in my journaling since October 2020. Even so, TIL about using it in a project variation like your filming breakdown! Definitely using that moving forward. Thank you many Jess!

[MrKlawUK]

coming late to this but will give this a try. As well as task tracking weekly, that second set you show where you break a larger project down into common steps sounds useful. I’m imaging it as a journal equivalent of JIRA/Kanban - ticket states across the top and the deliverables as tasks. may be useful where what is ostensibly a single task has multiple steps due to stakeholder approvals/requirements sign off etc.

[katysvaren]

Hey Jess! I've been a big fan of your videos for a while, even though I haven't been super interactive. I was wondering if you could make a video comparing B5 dotted notebooks (hardcover?)? I'm trying to go bujo shopping because I need a new one for June and want to try the B5 size, I just haven't found very many good options. I like A&O okay, but I'm not always a fan of the embellishments or colors. Leuchtturm 1917 seems to be the only other brand I can find with a hardcover B5. There's not another video like this on the internet (trust me, I've looked) and I would love the help, and I'm sure others would, too 😊
Once again, I love your videos and I love your personality. You're very real with us while also having this welcoming and cheery demeanor. Thanks for your contributions to the bullet journal community 😊❤️

[morganl]

I love this video! I’m watching it twice so it sinks in.

I use the Alastair method in my weeklies to organize tasks. I have small boxes at the top for my weekly events then a a small AM box at the bottom for tasks. It’s changed the game for me but I will start the nesting method you’ve exemplified so thank you!