I. Cannot. Stop. Talking. About. This. One.
Ryder Carroll has been working on this idea for a while. I got first introduced to it through fine journal maker Leuchtturm1917.
Carroll has come up with a method that makes paper journaling flexible and multi-purpose. When I have used paper journals, I always faced some challenges that are intrinsic to the medium, but Carroll’s method allows you to:
- document experiences, to-dos, notes, and scheduled events
- make changes to items, even when using a pen
- have a scheduled events view for things that happen at a moment in time
- make the content searchable through an index
He explains the basic tenets on his website, but I definitely recommend his namesake book, which is not that dry and has some entertaining, hearth warming stories as well.
To me, keeping notes about my daily meetings, and having the ability to draw, as well as write by hand, is fundamental. And while I am fully digital and on the cloud, I still crave the connection to a page.
You can buy the original Bullet journals, but I’ll confess that I don’t. I buy “Artist Loft” journals from Michaels. They run for half as much. I get their premium version with dotted and numbered pages, two page markers, a back pocket for storing loose leaves, and a pen loop.