How to Create Circles in your Bullet Journal
Creating Circles in your Bullet Journal: There are lots of ways to use circles in your journal. I have experimented with a few ways to do it. I have several tools that I’ve purchased (most are very inexpensive – as they’re usually intended for school-aged children). So creating the circles is one thing, but getting the spacing even is another thing. My favorite tool for measuring circles is the Helix tool – because it has each degree marked on the outside so once you have your calculations, just find the number and make your marks.
Creating Circles in your Bullet Journal
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How I use Circles in My Pages
Here are some ways I have used circles in my bullet journal: Weekly logs, Accents for pages, I use it in my Gratitude Log, & Level 10 life my January 2018 Habit Tracker has one of my very favorite circular trackers. I am sure there are hundreds of other ways to use circles. All of my pages for April have a circle theme.
They add some fun to the layout. I know, it’s tricky creating them and getting the spacing right. Keep reading for the tools I use and the calculations to create the circles. I’ve created a circle measurement guide that you can print and keep in your bullet journal for reference. I am working on a printable for those who want to print, stick and go too!
Ready to include some circles? Here are some calculations and some examples to use:
Some Basic Knowledge:
A circle is made of 360 points or degrees, so you take the number of sections you want and divide that into 360.
To Divide by 7:
360 / 7 = 51.42…… well that’s not going to divide evenly. So now it’s time to get creative.
- You could do 51 degrees for each – it will be a little harder to measure – so turn your wheel carefully.
- Using the Helix: make a mark at 0, 51, 102, 153, 204, 255, & 306 the last will be just a little bigger than the rest, but it’s tiny.
- You could do 50 degrees for each and have a little sliver left over – that’s what I did for the penny farthing bike in January.
To Divide by 6:
360 / 6 = 60
- Layout Idea: Combine the weekend into one segment.
- If you wanted everything even and are ok with a combined weekend, that works out.
- You’d make your marks at 0, 60, 120, 180, 240 & 300.
To Divide by 5:
360 / 5 = 72
- Layout Idea: use it ONLY for weekdays and leave the weekend for another location) this makes it a little more complicated, but it’s even!
- Make your marks at 0, 72, 144, 216, 288.
To Divide by 4:
You’re now dividing into quarters – 360 / 4 = 90
- Ideas for this layout: To-Dos, create two circles one with 3 and one with 4 for the week, or two with 4 and have a meal planner
- Make your marks at 0, 90, 180, & 270.
To Divide by 3:
360 / 3 = 120
- Layout Idea: You could have two sets of circles for the week and combine the weekend
- Make your marks at 0, 120, & 240
Other Ideas:
Another idea is to create 7 circles, one for each day and split them in half for to-dos, appointments & meal planning or split it into 3’s. I used one like this for a weekly spread. I liked it! It was different than normal.
Here is one other idea – divide by 12. Think I’m crazy? It turns into a clock. An inner circle is the AM, and the outer circle is PM.
360 / 12 = 30
Make your marks at 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240, 270, 300, & 330.
Multi-Layered Circles for Tracking
Now I’ve opened up a whole other realm. I will do another post about making multi-layered circles for habit tracking and mood tracking – just like the mood tracker in January.
Want a quick measurement guide for making circles? I created one for you.
Save this to your Pinterest board you’ll want it for when you create circles in your own bullet journal. Who knew you’d be reaching back to the time you were in grade school and doing math? I guess those teachers were right. You would use math every day. Well, at least when you need to count out those dots and measure circles in your bullet journal.