Because of the similarity of both concepts (one notebook to organize your life), a lot of people online confuse my idea of the Everything Notebook with the Bullet Journal. I’ve tweeted about the differences between both systems quite a few times, but on this occasion I want to keep these tweets in more permanent form.
My tweets explain in a bit more detail how the Bullet Journal and the Everything Notebook differ.
Personally, I find the BuJo system quite convoluted. Ironically enough, its alleged simplicity is what drives me bonkers.
There is a fundamental difference between a Bullet Journal and my #EverythingNotebook – BuJo is primarily for task control and progress monitoring.
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) December 14, 2019
… more comprehensive than a Bullet Journal.
Don’t get me wrong. I have seen BuJos that make me super jealous. People add colour and stickers and grand goals and motivational phrases and they make them so pretty.
But I have just adapted to my #EverythingNotebook system.
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) December 14, 2019
Personally, I wish I had learned about the Bullet Journal before I developed my idea of the Everything Notebook, because I am sure that there are ways to make both of them work (below see an example of a Bullet Journal).
I already had devised the idea of an Everything Notebook BEFORE Bullet Journal came about. Last year I learned of the Passion Planner.
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) June 1, 2017
At the core, an Everything Notebook functions under the premise of having just ONE notebook for To-Do’s, task management, note-keeping.
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) June 1, 2017
FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A BULLET JOURNAL AND AN EVERYTHING NOTEBOOK
The way I see them, the below are the major differences between an Everything Notebook and a Bullet Journal.
- The Bullet Journal serves more as a planner. The Everything Notebook includes planning and project notes/field notes/random ideas.
- The Bullet Journal has numbered pages and an index (pre-made). The Everything Notebook has rigid plastic tabs (1″) that mark different sections. Once you run out of pages with the Everything Notebook, THEN you write an index/table of contents.
- The Bullet Journal method is very well suited for creativity/colours/etc. The Everything Notebook has colours, but mostly for writing and for differentiating sections (various rigid plastic tab colours)
In the end, you can use the Everything Notebook, or the Bullet Journal, or a commercial planner like the Passion Planner, or a combination of the first two (as many people have done, see below).
I do a modified bullet journal similar to what @raulpacheco calls an everything notebook. Am lost without it.
— Alison Innes (@InnesAlison) April 4, 2017
I love a bullet journal/everything notebook. I tried a regular planner and eagerly abandoned that approach
— Dr. Anna Valiavska (@AValiavska) March 12, 2018
I am starting the new year by creating a hybrid bullet journal/everything notebook (the latter a la @raulpacheco). I will soon be either wildly productive or too disorganized to make it out of bed in the morning.
— Karyn Fulcher (@karynfulcher) January 3, 2019
I use a modified bullet journal https://t.co/gEKjGDCAYK You might also want to check out @raulpacheco Everything notebook https://t.co/hjW2FTIU8L
— Dr Stephanie Zihms (@GeomechSteph) December 22, 2017
In the end, only you can know what works for you. The Everything Notebook method works for ME (and apparently, for other people too!)
I think I will try the Bullet Journal/Everything Notebook approach. Combine both.