From The Wall Street Journal:
The solution for Post-it Notes lost under the desk and phone alerts silenced in meetings may be at hand.
People who have tried and given up countless online calendars and list-making apps are making the Bullet Journal—a way of organizing and writing lists in a plain old notebook—a hit. The journal helps organize everything from big work projects to the children’s activities in a notebook and appeals to people who use their cellphones for everything else in their lives.
Its devotees call it something between a diary, a wish list and a to-do list. It isn’t fancy; it isn’t technological, but that is the point. The act of writing something down, as opposed to interacting with a screen, helps people stay and feel organized.
“I was bouncing between apps,” says Kim Alvarez, a bullet journalist from San Diego. “Moving the things I had to do around. There was no accountability.”
. . . .
Bullet journalists, as they call themselves, say the journal helps them improve productivity, reduce stress and sleep better. It frees up mental space and simplifies life, they say. It was created by Brooklyn, N.Y.-based digital designer Ryder Carroll, 36. Four million people have watched his how-to videos on YouTube and on the Bullet Journal site. The Leuchtturm1917, the hardcover official notebook, is sold out until November.
“The Bullet journal requires effort. But the effort is critical because it is investment in itself,” says Mr. Carroll “It is a practice.”
. . . .
Tim Pychyl an associate professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, says studies have shown that students who take notes remember more of the lecture than students who type notes. The same principle applies to analog versus digital to-do lists. Writing things down requires the listener process the information.
. . . .
Moleskine, a Milan-based company that revived the traditional leather bound notebook in 1997, has seen a doubling in revenues over the last five years.
Link to the rest at The Wall Street Journal (Link may expire)
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