One of the biggest barriers to bullet journaling is efficiency — especially for those of us married to our digital calendars and to-do lists. Could an analog bullet journal really be worth the extra time it takes to write things down?
Yes, it can be — and that extra time is often the point! But it depends on what you want your bullet journal to do for you.
In this post, I’ll share what works (and what doesn’t) with analog, digital, and hybrid bullet journals, based on my experience using all three.
Let’s get clearer on which one fits your life — and why.
If you’re new to bullet journaling, this guide takes a simple approach to getting started: How to Start a Bullet Journal (Simple Guide + Rapid Logging Explained)
Analog vs. digital bullet journals
A bit of a spoiler: this is a creative reclamation blog, so if your interest in bullet journaling has anything to do with creativity, hobbies, capturing inspiration, or self-discovery, analog is the clear winner.
But not everyone comes to bullet journaling for the creative aspect. Some are searching for a mindful productivity tool, a more engaging way to stay organized, or a system that is ADHD-friendly.
Of course, a digital-analog hybrid can also be a great solution, but there are countless ways to set one up. To find the right hybrid system, it helps to get clear on which aspects of analog and digital bullet journaling are most important to you.
So let’s start with the basics!
Why choose an analog bullet journal?
The physical notebook sits at the heart of the bullet journaling method, so it’s often where people get started.
There’s something grounding about putting pen to paper, and I don’t think it’s just about enhancing memory. It’s as though the paper makes it real.
I was purely analog for many years. When I finally caved and started using a Google Calendar for the first time (gasp!), I found it oddly hard to trust. My analog calendar and monthly spreads were tangible, permanent, and couldn’t be taken out by a tripped breaker.
If you’re interested in bullet journaling as a creative practice, you might enjoy: Why I Always Recommend Bullet Journaling for Busy Creatives
Feel:
- A calming, tactile experience, like picking up a physical book over an e-reader
- More tangible, grounded, and complete as everything is housed in a single notebook
Fit:
- Invites you to slow down and consider what you’re writing and why
- Moves you away from screen time and other distractions for a few moments per day
Fantastic for:
- Memory and clarity of thought, thanks to the pace and experience of writing by hand
- Creativity and freedom to use and embellish the blank page however you choose
Caveats and common struggles:
- Time required to set up spreads and really use the journal when life is already full
- Cost of new notebooks and journaling supplies (if you partake)
- Flipping through multiple notebooks to find an older idea
- Many invitations, events, and articles arrive digitally, and it feels easier to keep them that way
- No automatic reminders, so you need either a consistent routine or duplicate digital reminders
- A physical notebook can be cumbersome to carry around
Go analog for creativity, reflection, and mindful productivity — especially if slowing down is part of the experience.
Why choose a digital bullet journal?
A digital bullet journal is great when you want privacy, accessibility, and synchronization with your existing digital systems and calendars. So much of life is already digital — adding a digital bullet journal can be a seamless next step.
I started using a digital bullet journal solely for work for many of these reasons, the most important being confidentiality. I used a simple desktop Excel spreadsheet as a bullet journal to keep track of everything (except for meetings, which were in my Outlook calendar).
Feel:
- An elegant and smooth experience, since many of us type faster than we write
- Efficient — no need to copy down digital invitations or re-write tasks
Fit:
- Typically accessible anywhere, on multiple devices, without having to remember a physical notebook
- Often works with your other digital media (calendars, photos, and links — depending on your setup)
Fantastic for:
- Synthesizing many ideas over a large time span (e.g., using search functions or tags)
- Focusing on staying organized, efficient, and on top of everything — in less time
Caveats and common struggles:
- Your entries are up in the cloud, making you less likely to flip through them casually
- Distractions from notifications and ease of jumping into another app or task
- Less cohesive experience wehn using multiple apps (e.g., a Google Calendar and an Excel Spreadsheet)
- Fewer mindfulness benefits — the process of digital bullet journaling is almost too quick
- Additional screen time is often unwelcome
- You typically won’t fill a digital journal (filling a page or a notebook is so satisfying!)
- Digital bullet journals tend to feel less ritualized, making it harder to establish a consistent routine
Go digital for efficiency, accessibility, and staying organized with minimal friction.
More on digital bullet journaling → Digital Bullet Journaling for Busy People: Simple Ways to Start
If you truly are just looking for a more productive organizational system, you might also consider using a planner. This post might help you decide if that’s what you need: Bullet Journal vs Planner: Which One Works Better for You?
A quick test — analog vs. digital rapid logging
It’s easy to get carried away with the logistics of analog vs. digital bullet journaling and miss the most important part: how it actually feels to use. Ideally, you’ll use it every day, so it should be something you enjoy returning to.
Rapid logging is at the core of your daily bullet journaling practice, so why not try out some bullet journaling by hand, and then digitally, and compare how it feels?
If you don’t have a bullet journal yet, you can experiment with this worksheet. It’s a bullet-journal inspired practice I call the “5-minute reset”. It’s essentially what I used to do in my bullet journal to feel less frazzled and more grounded and clear as I stepped out of mom-mode and into accountant-mode on weekday mornings.
Download it here: A Grounding, Bullet Journal-Inspired 5 Minute Reset
(There’s also a link to a blog post that expands on this practice if you’re curious.)
If you need a primer on rapid logging, it’s at the top of this post: How to Use a Bullet Journal: Key Spreads & Basic Methodology
Once you’ve got the download:
- Try it digitally: Use a PDF editor to try rapid logging on the reset worksheet. Or, simply use it as a guide and rapid log in a Word document.
- Try it by hand: Print out the worksheet and give it a go. Or, use it as a guide and rapid log on a scrap piece of paper.
Digital gets the job done quickly. Analog brings the mindfulness and grounding.
Which felt best to you?
The hybrid solution to bullet journaling
There are countless ways to create a hybrid system — it all depends on why you’re going hybrid.
Often, hybrid bullet journalers want the practicality of a digital system with the mindfulness and creative freedom of an analog system. We’re trying to merge the best parts of both solutions into one cohesive system.
Of course, this itself creates one speed bump: you don’t have an “all-in-one” tool.
Having everything in one notebook or one Excel spreadsheet is a huge benefit of bullet journaling — everything that goes in is placed in context with everything else in there. Flipping between an app, a digital calendar, and an analog notebook can start to feel scattered, which breaks the system down a bit.
That may just be me, though — and honestly, despite this, I’m currently a hybrid bullet journaler. I’ll share my current system in a future post.
In the meantime, consider:
- Why do you want to bullet journal — what are your main goals? To be more in touch with your creative side? Mindful productivity? To have a single place for all of your notes?
- What do you want most to keep digital? Is it your notes and inspirations? Your calendars? Your to-do lists?
- Will you still meet your bullet journaling goals while keeping these aspects digital? Which parts of the bullet journaling system will be foregone, and is it worth it?
Once you know this, you’ll be able to handpick what stays digital and what stays analog, and create systems and tools that work around each.
Why I moved through all three solutions (and what worked)
I started bullet journaling back in 2017. At the time, I was fully analog (without even a Google Calendar). For me, bullet journaling was the hidden first step on my path toward creative reclamation — something creative I could do that also felt productive, and legitimately helped me feel like I was on top of my life for the first time.
I loved bullet journaling so much that I decided I wanted one for the office to help me manage my many clients, projects, meetings, and deadlines. But I couldn’t just carry a book around with client names and projects in it — this is a security and confidentiality issue. So I started using an Excel spreadsheet on my office desktop like a bullet journal, in conjunction with my Outlook calendar, and it worked wonderfully for me. I continued to use that the rest of my career.
Want to try my Excel bullet journal? It’s now available to download! → The Excel Digital Bullet Journal That Kept Me Sane at Work
Toward the end of my second maternity leave, while preparing to return to work, it struck me how full life had become. Wonderfully, excitingly full — but full nonetheless. I had my career, my young children, and my creative pursuits (such as this blog) to juggle. At that moment, efficiency became more important, and so I developed a digital system for my personal life using the Google suite of productivity apps: Calendar, Keep, and Tasks.
Of course, it wasn’t long before I realized how much I really missed the mindfulness aspect of bullet journaling that a digital tool could mimic — but not match. So I flipped open a paper notebook again, and started doing my reflective rapid logging there (much like in the 5-minute reset).
And now? Honestly, I would prefer to be back in an analog bullet journal, but I’ve also developed my creative career around my digital productivity tools, and I’m not sure that I could go back to a purely analog system. I will always have my Google Calendar, but I may make a more concerted effort to bullet journal in a physical notebook in the near future.
Parting words
All three options have their merits, and they’re all effective, depending on what your goal is.
If you’re really motivated to start a new mindful productivity system, or you’re here for a new creative outlet, starting out analog while you learn the bullet journaling method is the best bet. Get a cheap notebook (you might even have one lying around), a pen, and get started.
But if you’re just wanting to dip your toe in, you’re very much dependent on your digital systems, or you’re mostly here for the productivity aspect — absolutely give a digital method (or a hybrid method) a try, and see where it takes you.
Happy journaling!
Want to continue the conversation? I write a monthly letter to stay connected with each other — and with our creativity. Join me there, say hi, and let’s connect! Kindling for your creative spark – right to your inbox
Further reading:
- If you’re a busy human who is brand new to bullet journaling, you might like my guide: The Busy Creative’s Guide to Bullet Journaling (Start Here!)
- In case you missed it, here’s more on: The 5-Minute Reset: A Simple Routine to Declutter Your Mind and Refocus Your Day
Or explore your next creative chapter: Choose Your Creative Path
