Bullet Journaling and Modern Society

The other day while aimlessly stumbling around the interwebz I stumbled upon this thing, a time management system called “Bullet Journaling”. I’d never heard of it before, well, at least not called that. I know, I know, some will ask how I could have never heard of this, it’s been a ‘thing’ for quite some time now, a very popular thing even.

As I looked around on the webz, I could see this thing, bullet journaling, had exploded onto the scene in about 2013 and had taken off significantly since then. I could see some people were really into it too and many of their bullet journals bordered on works of art. There were blogs galore showing off bullet journals, and websites like Instagram and pinterest had millions of examples.

The history of bullet journals allegedly goes like this; back in about 2013 some college student with ADHD named Carrol, felt he needed to come up with an organization system to focus his daily life. He’s since written a book on the subject and presumably made millions of dollars on his ‘invention’.

As I continued my research into the subject, I began to think about modern society today. You see, I guess I’ve been “bullet journaling” for the better part of forty years now and didn’t know it. I didn’t know it was called ‘bullet journaling’. In fact, when I first saw it was a thing, I actually wanted to research it further because I couldn’t really believe it was indeed a thing. And this made me think of modern society today.

It seems like today we see so many examples of people making a fortune out of taking a thing, which was always a thing, and officially making “a thing” out of it. From a capitalistic perspective I say, good for them...in a P.T. Barnum sort of way. But from an originality standpoint I have to ask…really? But, but…it’s “gone viral” (I hate that phrase by the way) people say. Okay, but people have been keeping bullet lists for decades, what’s so new about this particular version?

Oh sure, Carroll’s version of his “viral” bullet list system has some unique elements, but these elements aren’t new; they’re just a repackaging of things which other people already invented decades ago. People like Franklin-Covey with their Franklin Planners, and Daytimer and so many others. All Carroll did was steal elements from each of these systems and glue them together to come up with a new system called “Bullet Journaling”, and suddenly it’s this new “viral” thing.

But, but…they’re so pretty, people say. Yes, some of them are indeed quite imaginative, cool even, some even masterpieces of art and creativity, but even these are a product of something else. When you step back and look at some of these works of art what you see is a fusion between a calendar / planner system, scrapbooking and doodling.

Now, I’ll admit I am a compulsive doodler, especially when I’m bored. And, as many here know, I love all things stationery, paper, pen and pencil. So, as I look back, I guess I’ve been “bullet journaling”, we all have really, long before some guy named Ryder Carroll had to tell us what it was.

Just an observation I guess; life goes on.

Onward…

P.S. Oh, and if you'd like to see some examples, well, have a look...

(quick search)

Some Bullet Journal Examples

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk
I had to google it to find the meaning. It's just an advance diary. I've got a white board for this. Just a memory jogger.

i am sorely dissapointed that this was not a firearms related topic :

ie

# shot a man today - he deserved it - he dead

# got reloaded - i think he miscalculated the propellant charge

# BOOM i knew the charge was wrong - chamber exploded

# owner out of hospital today

You're right. That Carrol person merely took an existing product, spiffed it up a bit, and ran with it.
Of course, adding the "it will change your life" was a necessary component of the sales pitch.

P.S. I think I'm going to order one!

One of the claims those journals make is:
You'll go from just "being organised", to "living intentionally."

One user actually did testify: "It changed my life!"

I wonder how many lazy, unorganized slobs have had their lives changed by this magical journal.

I know someone who started doing it two years ago and swears by it.
Even talked me into carrying my own little black book- which I've started leaving at home, but still update with contacts and whatnot from time to time.

It'll be a life saver the next time my cell breaks for no reason.