I read that the original bullet journal method was designed for a Moleskine notebook with exactly 189 pages

I was poking around the official bullet journal website last night, reading some of the older blog posts from when the system first started. I found a post from 2013 where Ryder Carroll, the guy who made it, said he built the whole thing around a specific Moleskine notebook. He picked it because it had 189 pages, which he felt was the perfect number for a year of planning and logging without being too bulky. I always just used whatever notebook was on sale, so this was a real surprise. It makes sense though, thinking about how the index and future log work with a set page count. I guess I never considered that the paper itself was part of the original plan. Has anyone else tried setting up their journal based on that specific page number to see if it feels different?

2 comments

2 Comments

king.dakota14d ago

You mentioned the index and future log working with a set page count. How exactly did he split up those 189 pages for the whole year? Like, did he say how many pages went to the future log versus the monthly logs? I'm trying to picture the original layout and if that structure feels forced or actually helpful.

bailey.sandra14d ago

Actually, the original system felt pretty loose to me. Ryder Carroll didn't give strict page splits, @king.dakota, he just said to number all 189 pages first. You make the future log and monthly logs as you need them, so it grows naturally. That flexibility is why it never felt forced for my planning.