In this episode of his Bullet Journal Basics series, Matt Ragland explains how he incorporates a Field Notes pocket‑size notebook into his overall Bullet Journal system. He outlines two primary uses: (1) capturing random, on‑the‑go notes—ideas from books, to‑do items, food orders, etc.—because the pocket notebook is far more portable than a full‑size journal, and (2) tracking his time in 30‑minute blocks, which he finds less distracting than digital apps. Matt describes his workflow of later migrating useful entries from the Field Notes into his main Bullet Journal as tasks or notes. He emphasizes the analog advantage of keeping his phone out of the loop to avoid digital distraction, and highlights the physical benefits of Field Notes (thin, fits easily in back or front pockets, easy to stash). The video wraps up by previewing the next episode on collections, reinforcing the Field Notes as a complementary, everyday‑carry tool that enhances productivity while staying analog.
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Hi everyone, my name is Matt and welcome to another video in my Bullet Journal Basics series. In this one, I wanted to tell you and show you how I'm using the Field Notes Pocket Size notebook in my Bullet Journal practice alongside a normal, like, standard size Bullet Journal, whether that's from Baron Fig or Leuchtturm or Scribbles That Matter or anything that you want to use. I also find a lot of use and carry with me, arguably, not arguably, Definitely, I carry this Field Notes with me a lot more often than I do my actual Bullet Journal. So there are a couple of different really specific reasons that I use it in addition to a regular-sized Bullet Journal, and that's what I want to talk to you about in this video. There are two things that I use Field Notes for. First one is to make regular random notes that I want to capture. Because I have this with me a lot more than I have my Bullet Journal, because again of the portability, I will often just be taking in notes either from books that I'm reading or from the day, and then I decide if I want to take the information that I have captured throughout the day in my Field Notes and transfer it or migrate it into the larger Bullet Journal, either as a task or notes. Field Notes are my favorite time tracking tool, much better than any other app or anything because it is so distracting action-free. I just go back every few hours and I mark down what I've been doing in like 30-ish minute blocks. The reason that I wanted to make this video for you is because the very first episode in this series, which is all about like setting up your Bullet Journal initially and the Index and everything like that, is I showed this specific Field Notes in there and it caused a decent amount of confusion about like, why is the Field Notes there? What is the Field Notes used for? I don't quite understand. Can you clarify? Can you, can you expand on that? But I decided I wanted to make a specific video for you because I have them stashed everywhere and I wanted to show you what I use them for. One of the reasons I get so much use out of analog tools is because how easily distracted I am. And people ask me a lot of times like, oh, how are you able to stay so focused? And the reason is because I know how easily distracted I am. So the reason that I carry around this Field Notes is because This way, instead of even opening up my phone to take a note, I'm just going to get distracted. The phone is just a distraction device for me, and so if I'm carrying Field Notes around with me, it allows me to take those ideas down, jot those ideas down really quick, make notes. I have food orders in here, to-do lists, I have our burger order from January 29th. I have all of these things in here. It is a nice little record. I mean, you never go back through your phones. I don't personally. I know there are apps that do that. So one of the things that I love about these, I said these Field Notes, is how easy it is to put in pocket, whether that is just right here, front pocket, also slides really easily into a back pocket. These are also really thin. One of the pieces of feedback that I got when I did the journaling video, they said like, oh, it works, fits right into the back pocket. And I got a lot of, a lot of the ladies saying like, no, no, no, no, no, you don't understand women's pants. And that's true. I don't. I've never worn women's pants. But my wife does say that this fits in the back pocket. Maybe not fine, much better. Don't know if I'll include this part in the video. The portability and accessibility of a Field Notes because of how easy they are to stash and carry in different places or just whatever I'm carrying with me that day. Makes it a big win for me and something that I really like having with me. The Bullet Journal, the full-size one, standard size, is not something that I'm just going to obviously put in my back pocket. Like, that doesn't work. And so having a Field Notes that I can just stuff into pocket or bag with my phone at any given time means that I can make quick notes, capture ideas, and then decide later on if I want to transfer those into my main Bullet Journal as a note, as a task, or anything like that. Like I said, Field Notes are also my time tracking notebook of choice, again, just because of how accessible it is and the fact that when it's time to kind of do a little bit of review, I can always have it with me, mark down the things that I've been doing with my time, and then look forward a little bit and be like, okay, this is what I have blocked out for the afternoon or the evening, and this is what I want to do with it. I can always look at my Field Notes and make sure that I'm on the right track. I love using analog tools— notebooks, bullet journals, you name it— and so the Field Notes is a nice addition to that collection and something something that I can use in addition to the main Bullet Journal that allows me to keep my head out of my apps. Thank you so much for watching this video on how I use a Field Notes notebook in my Bullet Journal practice. In the next video for this Bullet Journal Basics series, I'm going to be getting into collections, showing you why they're valuable, how to use them, and a couple of different ideas for setting up initial collections for your Bullet Journal. All right, thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you in the next video. Thanks, bye!
