Go Your Own Way

The Bullet Journal Method – Ryder Carroll – (Portfolio)

Leaders of all stripes and leadership coaches in an array of business sectors, have almost universally endorsed the practice of journaling as a way to grow leadership skills ranging from strategic planning, communications skills, self-awareness, core values, and goal development and measurement.

Like planners, there are a multitude of journals and journaling systems that include old school pen to paper and electronic programs and apps. I have been amazed at the number of folks that I respect who have extolled the virtues and capabilities of a range of cloud based/accessible applications. Then a few short weeks or months later they return to the old, reliable pen and paper route; or as I have become fond of, pencil and paper – there’s nothing quite like the scratch of a Dixon Ticonderoga or Mirado Black Warrior. Lately I found that for some inexplicable reason – ideas flow to life with these old school tools.

Much like the multi-faceted apps, there are any number of journaling systems on the market. One of the most ballyhooed of the bunch is the Bullet Journal or BUJO. The system’s inventor Ryder Carroll posted the detail of his system on the web and things took off in a viral fashion.

Now Carroll has put together what I have dubbed the BUJO Bible in the form of the book, The Bullet Journal Method. Carroll fills in the details of the story behind the development of the concept as a way to not only address his struggles with attention deficit disorder (ADD), but also what he felt were shortcomings with other systems.

Bullet Journal always struck me as a bit on the obsessive compulsive disorder side, with its pretty intensive focus on so many moving parts. It seemed to me that I would spend so much time building out the pieces of the journal and moving journal entries around that I would miss out on doing actual work of projects.

Carroll goes a long way towards clearing up that misconception by demonstrating that BUJO gives you the freedom to take the parts of the system that work for you, to create your own system. You can get as complex or as stripped down as you need, which the brilliance of the system. If what you need is not in here, why not go out a create your own.