Fourth Estate The Bullet Journal Method: Track Your Past, Order Your Present, Plan Your Future

I've been using an form of journaling inspired by Ryder Carroll's Bullet Journal for about three years, and while I'd like to read about the ideas that others have been able to implement to help organise themselves I often find that Bullet Journal websites are more focused on "good vibes" and aesthetics than productivity. I was hoping that a book from the man behind it all who seemed to come from a business background would have some more actionable ideas for the journaling professional. Unfortunately, I found the book to be written in the style of a lot of American "self improvement" books, where there's about ten pages of useful information and the rest is "inspiring" anecdotes and a barrage of repetition. The excerpt you can read here on Amazon about how how Sandy changed her life is very representative of the next 300 pages, and if you're not rolling your eyes into orbit when reading that you'll probably get more out of the book than I did. It seems to me that Carroll has moved away from his original audience of busy office workers and has embraced the adult colouring book and "live, laugh, love" stencil market. All that said, there's a little expansion on the ideas from Carroll's website, so if you'd like some more examples on how to break up tasks and subtasks there's that, although I don't feel it's enough to justify the price of the book at all. Perhaps it would be worth it if you picked it up second-hand in an Oxfam, which is where my copy will be going.

This is a beautifully-designed book. It's also very readable, and I enjoyed it. There are lots of thoughts about productivity and living a meaningful life.Unfortunately, having read the book, I don't feel like I can get started with bullet journalling. I don't feel like I fully understand the method, how all the pieces fit together, or what to do when.An extra chapter, with a real step-by-step guide, would have been very useful to bring everything together.Perhaps this sort of material is online, at the website, but sadly from reading the book I wouldn't really know how to get going and keep going.

Eminently readable, however, I think it might put a noob off. I'd suggest watching a video or two & try to do it yourself, then read the book to improve and contextualise it.Otherwise you might be put off what is essentially a wonderful, flexible, practical and inexpensive self-management system.

I bullet journaled through 3 books over a year ago, but then i lost the motivation in 'trying to keep it neat', 'trying to keep up with my todo's. I just ended up feeling guilty for having so many todo's not done and for not keeping up with my habit tracker because i tried to keep it all pretty and illustrated like the ones you see on the internet. BUT THANK GOD RYDER created this book! It has just given me excitment again with bullet journaling! He perfectly describes in the chapters everything (evidence that bullet journaling can make you perfect your projects.) whereas before i would try and make each day pretty, now i just keep it simple as use my daily journaling for note taking. writing everything i need /want to... BUT WITHOUT THE GUILT. Ryder explains why having evidence of 'not being perfect' is invaluable info to have. This book is honestly a must have, it has SAVED me and has given me a whole new can do about life again minus any doubtful anxiety. <3

I am new to bullet journaling and embarking on my first one. The system was recommended to me by a friend, and whilst researching it and becoming more and more convinced it was the system for me, I discovered that the creators book was due for release. Brilliant timing thinks I; I can get the book AND a notebook all at the same time.I wish I had just bought the book for a fraction of the cost and bought the notebook elsewhere.The book is brilliant. I like Ryder's writing style. It made the book captivating, and very easy to read; I consumed it in just 3 evenings. It thoroughly explains the system, both for novice users, and for those that want to take their bullet journaling to the next level. There are lots of personal, and real life examples within from contributors, which illustrate beautifully just how flexible and useful this system is; not just as a tool for organising and planning your life, but also as a tool for reflection and personal growth. It really is what you make of it, and it can be as simple or as complex as you need. Anything can be incorporated it. I'm really quite blown away by it's scope and have an enormous sense of 'finally, a system that works like my brain!'The big draw back, is the Leuchtturm1917 notebook that came with it. It is the recommended notebook on the official bullet journal website and one that comes highly rated by many bullet journallers. It is a beautiful looking notebook. So beautiful it almost feels criminal to deface it with ink! Yet I'm struggling to understand why it has got such a good reputation. I can only assume that at some point in the last couple of years, the paper quality has changed enormously. The pages are very thin. When I say thin, I mean you can see a page with writing on it, through at least two pages. Therefore the ghosting on each page is terrible. I honestly can't remember the time I used any notebook where it was this bad. It makes the notebook completely unfit for purpose as a bullet journal. I've tried a few pens on a test page (see photo, showing the reverse of that page). All the pens I've tried were recommended highly by experience bullet journallers as pens suitable for bullet journaling in the Leuchtturm1917, with either minimal or no bleed through or ghosting. Wondering whether the issue was perhaps just the notebook that came in this set, I checked the Leuchtturm1917 reviews, but it would appear to be a very widely experienced issue. That being the case I'm really struggling to understand why this hasn't been addressed, and why Ryder Carroll would include the Leuchtturm1917 in this set.Very disappointing. With a great notebook, this review for the The Bullet Journal Method Collector’s Set would easily have been a five star, but with that notebook, I feel I'm being generous to give it a 3. Buy the book, but look elsewhere for a notebook that is up to the job!