Weekly Journal 84 - Bullet Journal, Second Brain

Bullet Journal and Second Brain

This week I want to record a few random thoughts I have had around Bullet Journal and Second Brain methodologies. I haven’t been doing much with my personal knowledge base, and I would like to get to get back into that project. I sometimes let myself get caught up in creating the “perfect” thing that I allow myself to be stalled by “analysis paralysis”. I am hoping these thoughts will help me to start moving forward as I develop my knowledge base.

Bullet Journal

I have been using the Bullet Journal Method for the last few years as a planning and task tracking device. Overall I think it’s a pretty good system, and I have seen big improvements in things like memory retention and idea development that come from the act of physically writing things down. However, referencing material in a paper journal can be difficult and it’s unsuitable for sharing with others. I’d much rather have this information in a digital form that I can index and search through. The Bullet Journal is great for recording thoughts and bits of information that I gather throughout the day, but I find it cumbersome to use for longer term project tracking and knowledge management. With this in mind, I continue to use my journal primarily as a way to record the happenings of my day, including new tasks, projects, and ideas, but then I transfer these items to a digital tool so I can work with them further. This way I get the best of both worlds.

Second Brain

One of the things holding me back with my personal knowledge base (PKB) is finding time to through my browser tabs and bookmarks and create notes for the websites and articles I find interesting. Many articles I find are primarily reference material, and therefore I don’t need to create detailed notes for them. Instead, I want to try making a copy of the article as a note, including a link back to the source material, and keeping that in my PKB. If I find the need to create detailed notes at a later time, I have the original article in my PKB and I can use it to create additional notes without the fear that it will disappear from the internet.

CLI Kanban

I haven’t had a chance to evaluate my CLI Kanban tools yet. The past couple weeks have been very busy at work between finalizing our acquisition by Medallia and our annual onsite company conference. With both of those events completed, I should be able to invest more time and energy into my personal project again.