My Bullet Journal Style - the Marriage of Daily Planners with Commonplace Books

weekly spread for a bullet journal example by bridget eileen
Example of a Weekly Spread in a Bullet Journal


Part Notes, Part Planning, Part Whatever Else - My Bullet Journal Style


To my mind, a Bullet Journal is a hybrid of a Daily Planner with what was once called a Commonplace Book. The daily planner part of the Bullet Journal is that heart of this creation of Ryder Carroll's. However, it's taken on a lot more, because of the dynamic aspect of having "collections" and "spreads." Not to mention the creativity of those who have taken it up. As well as the penchant many people have for what feels like "dying" practices, of handwriting, and paper and pen - as opposed to digital planning.

What is a Bullet Journal

Ryder Carroll created the Bullet Journal method for planning. It's an analog method for keeping track of things. 


Kara Benz of Boho Berry has a good series tutorial on the nitty gritty of Bullet Journaling.


What's a Commonplace Book


Essentially they are scrapbooks filled with items of every kind: quotes, letters, poems, photographs, drawings, excerpts of other books...for modern day usage they can include links to other blogs, videos, audio streams of interviews, talks and readings, and relevant articles. Additionally, I sometimes post my own thoughts, commentary, professional work and creative writing.

Wikipedia's entry on the commonplace book explains it well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_books

This post from the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscripts library at Yale gives a good description of commonplace book and discusses the library's exhibition of their collection of commonplace books:
http://www.library.yale.edu/beinecke/compb.htm

This article from the Toronto Star covers an early commonplace book from the 15th century, though they characterize it as a precursor to Cosmo (???): http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/641640


My Bullet Journal: A Marriage of Daily Planner with Commonplace Book

In my bullet journal right now, I have "traditional" buller journal stuff, like a Monthly Spread and a Daily Spread. 

example of a daily spread in a bullet journal by bridget eileen


But I also have the Patriots Schedule as a "collection," as well as notes from a seminar at work I attended on the Clifton Strengths Finder. 



I used my bullet journal to help me proces and note down the excellent ideas in the Twitter feed of author Teri Kanefield, who write a lot about authoritarianism and its worrying popularity. https://twitter.com/Teri_Kanefield

I also wrote up my Boho Berry Challenges in my Bullet Journal (look for an upcoming post about my September 2018 entries.)

Boho Berry Challenge Bullet journal spread page from September 2018 challenge


So, yeah, it goes all over the place, like a Commonplace Book. Form wise--as in what mine looks like is, I use several insertable slimmer notebooks and put it into a Traveler's Notebook.
 
insertable notebooks for a traveler's notebook style bullet journal


And I wouldn't have it any other way. I just don't retain a digital planner. I like the kinetic experience of writing it all down and seeing it in my own hand.