How to Mark Priorities in a One-Pen Bullet Journal

Keep the entry type and priority mark separate

In Rapid Logging, the bullet tells you what kind of entry you wrote. The official Bullet Journal guide uses a dot for a task, an open circle for an event, and a dash for a note; it also uses changes to the task bullet to record states such as completed, migrated, or scheduled. These marks already do distinct jobs, so leave them intact. How to Bullet Journal

For a one-pen priority cue, put a small * immediately before a task bullet: * • Send the revised draft. The asterisk flags priority; the dot still identifies an actionable task. This is an adaptation of an existing signifier, not a new priority scale: Bullet Journal’s own Index guidance suggests using an asterisk to flag priority collections. Applying the same mark to selected task entries is a practical extension of that example. The Basics of Bullet Journal Indexes and Ways to Modify It

Keep the two marks visually distinct. Write the asterisk in the margin or just before the bullet, with a narrow gap between marks. Avoid turning asterisk, circle, underline, box, and number into competing meanings. If a mark starts to look like part of the bullet, give it a little more room or use it less often.

Choose what earns an asterisk

A priority mark is useful only when it helps you decide what to do first. During a quick review, ask: “Which task would I choose to act on next if I had time for only one?” Mark that task, and perhaps one or two others if they are genuinely the next actions you intend to make room for. This is a suggested working limit, not a rule of the Bullet Journal method or a productivity guarantee.

Choose from current, actionable tasks. “Book the room for Thursday” can be acted on; “organize the whole project” may need breaking into a next step before it can be meaningfully prioritized. An event is date-bound, and a note is something to remember, so neither automatically needs a task-priority mark. If a note suggests an action, write that action as a separate task and decide whether it merits the asterisk.

A short example might look like this:

* • Confirm the print deadline

• Pick up paper

○ Call with the print shop, 2 p.m.

– Print shop prefers the heavier stock

Only the first task is marked as a current priority. The event stays visible through its circle, and the note stays a note. The difference comes from a second cue attached to an actionable entry, not from changing what the original bullets mean.

Use spacing as the second visual cue

With a single ink color, spacing can carry some of the page structure. Keep the priority mark close to its task bullet, and keep the task text aligned with other task text. Leave a little extra space before a new group, such as a short “Today” priority block, or between that block and the rest of the log. The marks remain consistent while the extra space helps distinguish the group.

This layout choice follows established design guidance: contrast can come from spacing as well as color or size, and proximity helps signal which elements belong together. For a handwritten log, that suggests a simple approach: use a repeated mark for the priority cue, alignment for readability, and modest gaps to separate related groups. CRAP Principles – DesignLab – UW–Madison

You do not need to draw a box around every priority or leave a blank line after every marked task. Too much spacing fragments a running daily log; too little makes a marked task hard to distinguish in a dense list. Start by adding a small gap before a short priority group, then adjust after you have used the page for a few days. The aim is to find the marked tasks quickly while still reading the rest of the log naturally.

Try a small layout before redesigning the page

On a fresh daily or weekly log, try this sequence:

Write entries as you normally would, using the task, event, and note bullets consistently.

At a brief planning moment, scan the actionable tasks and choose only the ones you intend to move forward now.

Add a small asterisk next to those task bullets. Keep the mark in the same position each time.

Separate the priority group from the remaining entries with alignment or a modest gap, if the page is crowded.

When you finish a task, update its task bullet using your usual completion mark. Leave the asterisk legible if it helps you review the day, or strike through the entry if that is how you record completed tasks.

This is an example layout, not a required Bullet Journal spread. Rapid Logging is designed to let tasks, events, and notes be recorded as they occur, and the official guide describes the daily log as a flexible place for those entries. How to Bullet Journal

Review priorities instead of carrying every mark forward

A star is a snapshot of what you considered important at a particular point; it should not become a permanent badge attached to every unfinished task. During a daily or monthly review, check whether a marked task is still relevant and actionable. If it is, decide what the next action is and where it belongs. If it no longer matters, cross it out or remove it from the active list according to your normal practice.

The official Migration guidance describes reviewing incomplete tasks and choosing which are worth moving forward; it uses > to indicate a migrated task. That review can also reset your priority marks: when you copy a task into a new log, reassess it there rather than treating yesterday’s asterisk as a standing instruction. Migration

This keeps priority separate from task status. The asterisk answers, “What deserves attention in this view?” The task bullet and its changes answer, “Is this actionable, and what happened to it?” Migration then provides a natural checkpoint for deciding whether an unfinished task still merits space. How to Start a Bullet Journal for Beginners

Adjust the system when scanning feels unclear

If a page is crowded, first check whether too many tasks carry stars. Remove marks from tasks that are merely open rather than especially current, then add a little space around the small group you do want to notice. If you keep overlooking stars, standardize where you write them and make them slightly larger. If you cannot tell a star from a task bullet, move it farther into the margin.

If nearly every task seems urgent, pause before adding more symbols. Make the list more actionable by rewriting broad items as concrete next steps, then choose among those. You can also leave tasks unmarked: an unstarred task is still a task, not a lesser kind of entry. Priority is a temporary selection for a particular day or week, not a judgment about the task or the person writing it.

Start with the existing bullets, one small asterisk, and enough space to distinguish the priority group. After a few logs, keep the arrangement that lets you identify both the kind of entry and the task you want to act on first at a glance.

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