How to Build a Bullet Journal
in an A5 6-Ring Binder
A journaling system lasts longer when it does not require every page to be filled. You should be able to use the pages you need and skip the ones you do not. The Soontancheojeol A5 6-ring setup is designed so pages can move as your life and your volume of writing change.
The Soontancheojeol 6-ring system follows this structure: Future → Monthly → Monthly Review & RE-PLAN → Optional Weekly → Flexible Daily → Lists. Monthly pages set direction, Weekly pages are used only when adjustment is useful, and Daily Log pages have no fixed length.
The Main Advantage of an A5 6-Ring Binder Is That the Pages Can Move
Your records do not have to fit a fixed format
Some days end after only a few lines.
Other days contain more tasks, events, thoughts, and unexpected changes, so you may need several pages.
If the space for each date is fixed in advance, you have to force your writing to fit the planner.
A 6-ring binder works the other way around.
If the Daily Log needs more room, add another sheet. If an insert is not being used, remove it.
Let the page fit the amount you actually need to record.
Divide the Binder into Six Functional Areas
Organize by role, not by how many pages each section has
Use the Future Log for Distant Direction and Upcoming Commitments
It is a reference point you return to, not a page you use every day
At the front of the Soontancheojeol setup are the Project Schedule and Future Log.
The Future Log is where you view future commitments by month and keep important dates or longer-term projects visible across the year.
This is not where you record everything you did today.
Instead, place distant appointments, future deadlines, and larger items here, then return to the page whenever you build a new Monthly Log.
The Monthly Log Is the Basic Center of the System
You can run the system with Monthly and Daily even if you skip Weekly
Soontancheojeol does not require a Weekly Plan every week.
The basic structure is simpler:
Record real life in Daily.
The Monthly Log holds the month’s important dates, major tasks, project milestones, a Habit Tracker, and areas that later connect to Monthly Review and RE-PLAN.
Use it to see what matters during the month, while the actual movement of each day stays in the Daily Log.
Skipping Weekly does not mean the system has broken.
Monthly and Daily should be enough to keep the record moving.
Place Monthly Review and RE-PLAN Directly After the Monthly Log
Keep them close in the binder, but use them at the end of the month
In the binder, it is useful to place Monthly Review and RE-PLAN immediately after the Monthly Log.
That makes it easy to see the month’s plan and its results together.
But this is only the page order, not the order in which you write.
You use these pages after a month of records has accumulated.
At month-end, review what repeatedly remained unfinished or became a recurring point of friction.
The RE-PLAN Review then checks Reason, Essential, Purposeful, Limited-time, Actionable, and Net Value before deciding whether to execute, reduce, postpone, wait, move to ideas, or delete.
Page order and writing order do not have to be identical.
Keep Monthly Review and RE-PLAN beside the Monthly Log, but use them after the month has produced enough evidence.
Keep Weekly Plan Small and Optional
Fit three weeks on one page to reduce the burden of weekly planning
Using a full page for every single week can become unnecessary work during quieter periods.
Soontancheojeol uses Weekly Plan as an optional mid-range adjustment tool.
Divide one page vertically into three sections and give each week only a compact area.
Top 1–3 _________________________________
Important dates _________________________
Minimum action __________________________
Top 1–3 _________________________________
Important dates _________________________
Minimum action __________________________
Top 1–3 _________________________________
Important dates _________________________
Minimum action __________________________
For Week 4 or Week 5, use a second Weekly Plan page only if needed.
It is a quick checkpoint for what you do not want to lose sight of.
Weekly Review Can Also Hold Three Weeks on One Page
Use it as a short joint into the next week, not a long report
Weekly Review does not need a full page every week either.
The purpose is not to explain the entire week in detail. It is to briefly check what worked, what got stuck, and what should continue.
處 · What got stuck ______________________
節 · What to carry forward _______________
處 · What got stuck ______________________
節 · What to carry forward _______________
處 · What got stuck ______________________
節 · What to carry forward _______________
Do not try to determine the final cause of every problem during a Weekly Review.
Mark recurring problems and reconsider them at month-end through RE-PLAN.
Keep the Daily Log as the Most Flexible Space
Do not force every day to use the same amount of space
The Daily Log is the most open-ended page in the Soontancheojeol system.
Record tasks, events, notes, and Emotion in whatever amount the day actually needs.
Three lines may be enough one day. Another day may take more than two pages.
A Daily Log is not a page for filling predefined boxes.
It is a space for leaving as much of the real day as you need to understand how it actually unfolded.
Move Things You Are Not Doing Now into Separate Lists
Do not keep every idea and unfinished item inside the Daily Log
Soontancheojeol separates some items from the active execution list.
Park ideas that may matter later but do not need to become plans right now.
Separate items that depend on an outside response or condition, together with the date you should check again.
Hold items that may still matter but are intentionally outside the current priority.
Build a Success Board for Small Wins
Turn good actions into visible evidence instead of leaving them to memory
We tend to remember failure and unfinished work more easily than small things we actually accomplished.
That is why Soontancheojeol keeps a Success Board in the Lists section.
The wins do not need to be dramatic.
Made the phone call you had been avoiding, or started exercising even for 10 minutes.
Returned to journaling or planning after a few days away.
A small behavior or habit you repeated several times.
The purpose of the Success Board is not to count achievements competitively.
It is to accumulate evidence of what you actually did and make that evidence available for the next plan.
Recorded wins become evidence for the next action.
Separate Binder Order from Actual Use Order
Organize the binder for easy access, but write according to the flow of time
Inside the binder, you can arrange sections in a stable order so they are easy to find.
The order in which you actually write is different.
This keeps the binder easy to navigate while allowing the record itself to follow the real flow of time.
The System Does Not Depend on Using Every Page
Unused pages do not mean the recording system has stopped working
You may go an entire month without using Weekly Plan.
You may write only one or two lines in Weekly Review when a week actually needs adjustment.
You do not need to force a Success Board entry every day either.
What matters is not filling every box. What matters is having the right page available when the need appears.
Soontancheojeol is not designed as a system that must be completed without gaps.
It is designed as a system you can return to even after the record breaks.
Start by creating only six sections
You do not need to print large stacks of inserts at the beginning.
Divide the binder into:
① FUTURE
② MONTHLY
③ MONTHLY REVIEW / RE-PLAN
④ WEEKLY · OPTIONAL
⑤ DAILY
⑥ LISTS
Use Weekly only if it helps. Add Daily Log sheets when you run out.
After one month, adjust the order and number of pages based on what you actually used.
Do Not Let the Planner Control Your Life
A good recording system does not require you to write a lot every day.
You do not need to make a Weekly Plan every week, write a long Weekly Review, or keep every tracker perfectly filled.
Future Log helps you see farther ahead.
Monthly Log organizes the current month.
Weekly Plan and Review are used briefly when needed.
Daily Log records the actual day.
At month-end, you reread the record and RE-PLAN.
Things you are not doing now move to Idea, Waiting, or Postpone lists, while small wins move to the Success Board.
In this way, journaling stops being a machine that keeps adding more tasks and becomes a way to look at real life and choose the next direction again.
Keep only the records you need, and build a structure you can return to whenever you need it.