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comment by Dala
Dala  ·  2186 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hubski, what do you make notes of?

Have you tried bullet journal method?





_refugee_  ·  2184 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I looked into the bullet journal method, myself. I'm an avid note-taker with too many notebooks going at the moment. The bullet journal method reads like a dream and I was really interested in it, in theory. And FWIW the journal itself is a really great sturdy product that stands by itself in terms of "desirable journal that provides most of what I want/need from a notebook."

That being said, after reading about it, taking notes on the method, and vowing I was going to implement it...the process doesn't really work in practice for me. Scratch that, I guess it just doesn't. I think the issue I'm having is that I write/note a lot, and I also don't find a physical notebook to be ideal for maintaining calendars/appointments/meetings. My iPhone calendar syncs to both my work and personal calendars, it updates automatically whenever anyone changes an appointment, and in general serves as a much better actual reminder system of events I need to know about/go to prepare for, as opposed to what I can get out of any physical or paper notebook in terms of calendar/time management ability.

I also feel that the Bullet Journal method is largely task oriented, but I use my notebooks to do more creative tasks like brainstorming, for less creative tasks like making lists and checking them twice, for writing down theories and thoughts as much as concrete "tasks," "events," and "notes," which the Bullet Journal centers its method around.

The method says you can use it for any notebooking purpose, including sketchbooks -- I don't really truly believe that. I don't believe someone keeping a sketchbook is going to benefit from the Bullet Journal method! It also says this method can lend well to diary-ing, however in the entire tutorial of the method they talk about diary entries not once...

I am sure the method works really well for a lot of people and I wish I was one of them. I've been chasing the ideal storage/approach/method to keeping more organized journals/notebooks for a long time now. The biggest thing I have learned is to keep any calendar arranging totally separate from the journal.

I also often find an index much fussier and more time-consuming to maintain than any possible benefit I might reap from keeping it. With a physical notebook in which you yourself have written the notes, don't you often have a "feel" for where it is in the journal, or what it's right next to? I typically can find the notes that I'm looking for quickly by thumbing through a notebook, even a full one -- an index might save me time, but it'd take all the time of regular maintenance in order to do so. Added to the time it takes to read the index and figure out if that's really the page you're looking for -- that feels like more work to me. Not less.

Note - but Dala, seeing you later in the thread reference modules and, essentially, it sounds like variations on the Bullet method that others have built and shared on the website -- maybe I should try poking around at those and see if they offer anything I might be able to use to my advantage. Thanks for bring this up!

Dala  ·  2184 days ago  ·  link  ·  

That's the great thing about it, use the bits you need and leave what doesn't work for you. I use the index sparingly, to make note of things that I might need to reference later but might be difficult to find. I usually do this at the end of the month before I store the book away. The future log and calendar are just there in case I need to write down a date and don't have my phone handy, because I, like you, use my phone's calendar because sometimes I need push notifications. If those thing are truly useless to you, leave them out. It took me several iterations to find the ideal setup for myself, I started out with all the things and dropped what I didn't use, went to a small book for ease of carry, now I am never without my little external hard drive. Check out the Little Coffee Fox site for a more artistic take on bullet journaling. If you don't see something that suits your needs, make it up!

_refugee_  ·  2184 days ago  ·  link  ·  

My dream is to be able to create my ideal notebook myself (since I was making a ton of books around this time last year and so on). However....it takes a LOT of thinking about what you want to use the book for!

I honestly have 4-5 notebooks "on-going" at the moment, but they are all dedicated to different purposes. Maybe I don't have a single notebook "Ideal"... :)

Dala  ·  2184 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I've tried a lot of different systems myself. At work I use a combination of daily checklist that I created for myself and the monthly momentum planner worksheet from productive flourishing. https://www.productiveflourishing.com/free-planners/ with blank notebook paper for meeting notes. Work stuff stays in my office, so I keep that totally separate. I have a sketchbook and a small notebook that I use to keep notes about video games that I am playing. So no, sometimes "one notebook for every purpose" is not realistic. The little bullet journal is just my everyday carry thing, sometimes things that go into it get transferred elsewhere once I have access to the correct system.

user-inactivated  ·  2186 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Looking it up here now/posting the link to save for later.

Dala  ·  2186 days ago  ·  link  ·  

That's the site I used to get started. I'm on my phone otherwise I'd have posted the link for you. Sorry. Play with the modules and see what you use and what you don't, make up modules as needed, there are all kinds of ideas for trackers and such out there. There's a site called Little Coffee Fox that does more of an art bullet journal but has a lot of good ideas for modules and uses. I can link tonight if you like. I love the art journals but am not that good of an artist. Maybe someday!

user-inactivated  ·  2186 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Took a peek at it. Both are definitely contenders given I figure a nice format. More exploring when I'm in front of a desktop!

Dala  ·  2186 days ago  ·  link  ·  

My current setup is very basic, I use the index, future log, month calendar and then just use the rest of the book for logging. I use small pocket notebooks so each one lasts about a month and can fit into the back pocket of a pair of jeans or into any bag I take. I like the idea of some of the other things but tend not to use them as much. Although I really should do a habit tracker.

user-inactivated  ·  2186 days ago  ·  link  ·  

So your month calendar is in the front, which sets up the rest of your planner? Saved some of the images for later... Nice reference site.

Dala  ·  2186 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yep. Page 1 is my index, 2-3 is my future log, 4-5 is April 2018. After that it's all logging pages. it's helpful to throw a key somewhere when you're first starting out until you get used to the symbols and stuff. If you notice that you are writing down a lot of books you can make a dedicated book list page and note where it is in your index, or just make an entry for books on your index and then note the pages that deal with that subject. You can put your dedicated lists at the beginning or end of your notebook, or start them wherever and start a new one wherever needed. Since I use such a tiny book I typically don't make special lists. Also I use goodreads to track my reading anyway, I just note books in my journal when I hear something but can't access goodreads at that time.

The system is set so that you just use whatever space you need for each day and don't set daily pages out in advance, but that doesn't mean you can't if that suits you better, for example if you need to make more notes in advance for a day than just a few words, but then if you need more space than you have allowed for a day how will you work around that?

user-inactivated  ·  2184 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Sick. Bookmarked some bullet journals for my next planner online. Thanks for sharing your setup. In your last question, best practice for me would be winging it day by day while checking the front of the book each morning to see if I'd need to plan for extra pages.