The Bullet Journal Method

I've been bullet journaling for 4 years, but I figured I should at least speed read this book. I ended up skimming most of it.

I didn't expect all the self-help motivational stuff. I read a lot of that, but it was irritating here because I've already heard every anecdote, study and scientist's name like 6 times. It felt like productivity 101. That being said, I don't think I'm the target market for this book. I neither want nor need hand-holding. I stumbled onto bullet journaling, just started doing it and made it up as I went along (which is kind of the point). I'm very utilitarian about it and I already have my own systems for goal setting and such.

The type of person I see inclined to pick this book up: (30+ woman with kids, busy and overwhelmed, not great at scheduling, spends time on Pinterest, likes the idea of journaling, does not read business or pop science books for fun). So the short, here's-a-helpful-productivity-fact chapters are probably great. But if you're more my type, just read Part 2 - The System and Part 4 - The Art. The rest is just fluff.

Overall I don't think I learned anything particularly groundbreaking about the method, but my goal was just to get a better grasp of the official system. Ironically, I've never much used the bullet system of bullet journaling (rapid logging), so I wanted to see more of that in practice.

I highly recommend bullet journaling in general, but if you're a self starter you can pick up the method from bulletjournal.com. If you prefer more elaborate explanation and like the idea of motivational goal setting exercises, check out the book, which does a good job of showing how the system works together as a whole.

This book exceeded my expectations. It not only talked about how to bullet journal — which I've been doing for a couple years prior — but it also talks about why. In those sections, Ryder brings in many useful techniques. Most were familiar to me from software development, but he applies them more generally than I've seen and to good effect.

No review would be complete without mentioning the prose in this book. It is crisp and quotable. Ryder was a way with words that shows he crafted each sentence with care. Since this is one of his selling points for the method, the book is living proof that being intentional and mindful with your life allows you to imbue deep meaning to your speech. Bravo!

The system is good, this book is okay.

Part I “The Preparation” is your standard throw-away lead-in stuff about why anyone should track/journal and Ryder's origin story.

Part II “The System” is where all the good stuff is, about how to actually bullet journal.

Part III “The Practice” gets pretty life-coachy about goal setting, stoicism, wabi sabi, finding meaning, acknowledging mortality, etc.

Part IV “The Art” offers some tips to non-beginners about how to optimize things.

Overall I'd say if you just want to get a solid grasp on HOW to bullet journal, you don't need this book. Just read a blog post on how to make Tasks, Events, and Notes and use the Daily, Monthly, and Future Logs, and Index. I actually think Rachel Miller's book “Dot Journaling” does a better job explaining it than Ryder himself does here.

If instead you want to read a self-help book that tells you a bunch different ways how starting a bullet journal is the key to a better life, then you'll like this book.

The Bullet Journal Method is the promise of organized life.

I started my first this year along with my reading of this book, is like a next step to handle the Getting Things Done Method on a paper form.

Making a daily reflection on paper, leaving the screen for a couple of minutes a day gives a calm and a hope to give order to the whirlwind that is the daily grind of work and personal life. Looking back at the achievements of the day, and what's next gives me a sense of accomplishment lacking in the neverending scrolling of my digital ToDo list.

The lost star is because the chapters dedicated to general happiness, purpose, and meditations read kind of a filler on what would otherwise be a fully practical book.

I recommend this book for those productivity enthusiasts looking for the perfect agenda, template, pen, and notebook, and figuring out that the perfect template was there for you to create copy from the community of ‘BuJoists'.