What is the bullet journal?

A study by the University of Tokyo, conducted on a group of college students with full cognitive abilities, aged between 18 and 24, found that the use of pen and paper aids in the memorization of information rather than the use of the devices digital. The study involved 48 volunteers who witnessed a dialogue between two people making plans for the future, setting a series of scheduled appointments for the next two months. The participants were divided into two groups: the first group of students had to take notes with pen and paper, the second group on smartphones. After an hour, all the volunteers had to answer specific questions about the activities of the two protagonists of the dialogue: what was the date of a certain appointment, what they had planned for that particular day, etc. "Pencil and paper" students answered multiple questions correctly. Not only that, the partecipants, while answering the questions, were subjected to a special analysis with functional magnetic resonance, a diagnostic technique that allows you to observe which areas of the brain are activated in certain circumstances.

MRI analyzes revealed that writing-activated areas of the brain, such as the hippocampus, that play a key role in memory that were not stimulated by typing.

The counseling course, at the Aspic in Genoa, included some lessons and seminars, in addition to the final exams, at the Rome headquarter. Founder and president of the school is Edoardo Giusti, teacher, psychotherapist and author or co-author of many books that have formed me. One of his lessons was dedicated to the diary and the agenda: he insisted on the importance of writing everything down. The senioryear students, among the various recommendations to freshmans, insisted on the importance of this "blessed" agenda by terrorizing them with "tell him you have it or you will fail the exam!". In Netherlands, if you don't have the agenda, you are lost. Children have it too: with the other moms we organize from month to month to let girls play together.

The Bullet journal, on the other hand, is a real method. There are various books including Ryder Carroll's The Bullet Journal Method, published by Mondadori. It is a planner, an agenda, a list of various activities, as well as useful for recording and monitoring the various aspects of one's life, the goals set for the week, month or year, or a diary to entrust thoughts, quotes, etc. .it can be very simplified: date, to-do list and goals achieved (my husband's) or very elaborate and creative, full of schemes and drawings (like mine at the beginning). Basically it serves to organize the mess we have in our minds: work, home, family, friends, life goals, survival. Sometimes we risk forgetting the pieces or seeing post-its fly in front of our nose with that very important pinned thing that we would have had to be done by 6 pm. Each of us will have to find our own method and balance: personally I found it difficult to carry on a bullet that was too elaborate, beautiful and colorful but every month it became a considerable waste of time just to set up schemes and lists. At the moment I divide myself between analogue and digital: I have all the appointments marked on the google calendar and the most important commitments on a large family calendar that we keep at the entrance of the house. And then I keep a journal with short and long term thoughts, ideas and goals. And you? Do you keep everything in mind? what tools do you use? Do you still use pen and paper?