Method versus System

Method versus System

In order for me to be both productive in my planning and fulfilled in my life, I need both breadth and depth in my planning. The Bullet Journal Method opened my eyes to what I see as the differences between “Method” and “System.” I’m curious what you all see as the possible differences between the two, if you do see differences.

I reached out to Lauren to see if she saw any differences, and we decided to do a set of collab videos talking about this topic. I can’t wait for you all to see Laurens video, because it is awesome! Go watch Lauren’s video, come back here and watch mine, and then let us know what you think!

As I said above, both breadth and depth are important to me in my planning. My System can handle breadth; regardless of what comes at me in the course of a day, as long as I write it down, it all ends up where it needs to be in order to get done. The Method provides the depth. The Method helps me to see why I’m doing things.

For me, the Method is the filter through with all things pass before being fed into the System, which is the nuts and bolts, i.e., my planner. The Method is, for me, in essence, Mindfulness.

The Method helps to clear mental distractions and self-doubt. The Method helps me to choose what to do, helps me to see why I’m doing it, and the System shows me how and when to do it.

The Method helps me to see connections between seemingly disparate things in the System, which makes me more efficient and brings depth to those things.