🔗 Bullet Journaling With an ePaper Device

Desktop computers have been a major part of my life since I was a kid. I've been a software engineer for many years now, so my work is almost entirely done on a computer. Yet, I've never gotten the hang of note taking applications, task managers, todo programs, etc. Ink and paper were always my thing. I've tried a lot of those applications, but could never get any one to stick. Up until about a decade or so ago, I always worked with an A4 tear-out notebook of graph paper laid on my desk in landscape orientation. I would write down my tasks for the day as simple bullets, crossing out completed tasks as I went along. As the pages are rather large, I had a lot of "dead areas" to fill with supplemental information if necessary.

Quite frankly, nothing beats a pen and paper. The cognitive benefits of handwriting versus typing are well understood and documented.

The only problem was that this was a work-only thing. I wanted something I could use outside of work as well, and that I could carry with me easily. For a while, I tried out the "morning pages" technique advocated by Julia Cameron in her bestselling book The Artist's Way, but it didn't stick, and wasn't really what I was looking for any way. Eventually I found the famous Field Notes brand of pocket notebooks. Field Notes makes small, high quality notebooks of various types (ruled, graph, dotted, plain, etc.). Their international shipping fees were low, making for a very cost effective option.

I bought many Field Notes notebooks over the years. More than I needed, because I kept getting excited by the various designs. I've used these notebooks daily for years, keeping them in my back pocket. As they were small, I had to learn to write as succinctly as possible, but reading my old notebooks, it's clear to me that I wasn't that good at it, as I have no idea what I was referring to in certain places.

Still, writing in a small notebook is not comfortable, and the vast majority of the content in those notebooks was unreadable, ephemeral junk. I still didn't have a solution for non-daily tasks and notes. For example, I was terrible when it came to remembering names, birth dates, what was said during meetings, appointments, and non-near-future tasks.

Unexpectedly, I found my solution by happenstance. I do a lot of crossword puzzles, and I buy so many crossword books it was making my bookcase look imposing. One day, as I was reading a book on an eReader device (I use the Kobo Libra 2 E Ink device), I thought to myself "wouldn't it be nice if there was a device I could do crossword puzzles on with a stylus pen?"

I opened up my web browser and started searching, and made two discoveries:

1. There are crossword puzzle subscription websites that send you puzzles in PDF format (and others) on a weekly basis.
2. There are E Ink writing devices that look and feel like paper that can display PDF and allow you to draw on it.

Looking into these devices, it quickly became clear that they just might be the solution for my note taking problem, as they seemed to combine the best of both worlds: all the cognitive benefits of true handwriting, coupled together with the benefits of electronic note taking. You can keep as many "notebooks" as you wish; organize them as you wish; cut, copy, paste; share over the internet; synchronize with your smartphone; etc. etc.

The most important source I found was a website called hyperpaper.me. First, I found and read their blog post about playing games on E Ink devices, which contained links to some crossword puzzle subscriptions. Then, I read about their "organizer template generator" for various E Ink devices, which got me on the path to find a device that fit my needs. Finally, I read another blog post of theirs that mentioned a journaling method called Bullet Journaling, or BuJo for short. I was intrigued, and almost immediately sat down to read the book about BuJo written by its creator, Ryder Carroll. I was enthralled by its simplicity and flexibility.

I started bullet journaling immediately, and meanwhile ordered myself an E Ink writing device, or ePaper, or whatever you want to call it. I decided to go with the Supernote Nomad, mostly because it was the smallest one I could find. Most similar devices seem to have displays larger than 10 inches, while the Nomad's display is 7.8 inches, giving it a size that is roughly similar to a standard paper notebook, like we used in school. I didn't know what to expect with regards to writing "feel", but was optimistic.

It's been several months now since I got the device and started Bullet Journaling (and solving crossword puzzles!) with it, and I really feel like it has had a very positive effect on my work and life in general. It's incredible how well it performs with regards to handwriting. It really does feel and look like using a pen and paper, and there are some great features provided by the Nomad. I'm gonna give you a quick summary of what the Bullet Journaling method is, and then describe how I do it with the Supernote Nomad.

Bullet Journaling is an extensible system that can be utilized for writing journals, to-do lists, plans, et cetra; while using nothing more than a pen and a simple notebook. Of course, I'm using digital versions of these tools, but the methods are the same. BuJo content is written in "Collections". There are three basic collections to the method:

• Index: contains one or more pages that list the page numbers of all other collections.
• Future Log: a few pages where you list important notes and events for dates that are outside of the current month.
• Monthly Log: a page or two with a full calendar of the current month, listing important dates and events, and a list of tasks you wish to achieve.
• Daily Log: this is where you do most of your writing. Every day gets a page (or more) where you practice "Rapid Logging", which I'll talk about in a second.

The method's book details the most stripped-down, bare-bones way you can design these collections, but you can be as creative as you want, and you should check the blog section of the BuJo website for some impressive user-submitted designs.

BuJo also allows (and recommends) for custom collections. For example, an independent contractor like me can have a collection called "Customers", with each customer getting a page with important information like contract details, pricing, hour tracking, etc. Or, I can create one collection for each customer, where I can also write meeting notes, specifications, etc. Other examples could be a collection for book reviews, travel planning, habit tracking, and pretty much anything.

The most significant aspect of BuJo (for me at least) is the rapid logging method utilized in the Daily Log. This method values brevity over verbosity and the ability to quickly write information that will still be easy to understand when reading it in the future. To that end, the method also utilizes certain conventions:

• Strip information down to the essential parts only. Put the subject of the note in the beginning as a prefix. For example: "Django: call re: Friday party".
• Prefix tasks with a • bullet. You cross this bullet when finishing the task.
• Prefix events with a ⃝ bullet.
• Prefix notes with a dash (–).

There's more to it than that, and you can customize it as you wish, but these are the most important points.

At the end of every month, you create the Monthly Log for the upcoming month, and transfer to it any relevant tasks and events from the Future Log. Again, this is a very stripped-down explanation of the system, and I encourage you to browse through its website or read the book.

The Supernote works with files of various types. It has its own file format for notes, but it can also work and write on PDFs. When I started bullet journaling with the Supernote, I actually bought a PDF template from the aforementioned hyperpaper.me website, and while it was definitely very well made, I ditched it very quickly. Templates are restrictive, and the whole point of the BuJo method is its simplicity, extensibility, and flexibility. You also cannot take advantage of many of the Supernote's features when using PDFs. Blank (digital) pages are all I need. And with the ability to use a plastic ruler on the Supernote, making your own templates is easy.

I've tried several different ways before settling on something that works for me. First, let's see how my Supernote Nomad looks like:

Under the folio, and whenever the device is locked or idle, a screensaver is shown:

My Supernote is locked with passkey. When you open the folio, it automatically shows the login page (conversely, when you close the folio, it automatically locks the device):

After logging in, the Supernote opens the last visited note and page, which is almost always the current daily log. We'll see that later.

Let's look at how I do the Future Log:

This is the first page of my Future Log. You'll notice that I list certain important events. I decided to prefix holidays with a Star of David symbol (✡) as my personal convention. I also use a heart symbol (❤) for birthdays, but there aren't any in this example. Holidays and birthdays are two specific events I am awful at remembering, so this is perfect for me, and it's quick and easy to write down at the start of the year.

This photo shows me working on my (fake) Monthly Log for February. Notice how I use a plastic rule to make straight lines:

When the month starts, I move events and tasks from the future log into this page. I also use this page to track my exercises. I've devised my own convention, as you can see in the full view of the page:

My exercises are either long walks, aerobic exercises like jogging or stair climbing (on a StairMaster), strength training (weight lifting), or any combination of the three. With this simple system, I can input all three in one column.

Now let's look at what a Daily Log might look like:

This fake log showcases the major three types of log entires: tasks (some completed, some canceled, some pending), events, and general notes. The entries are short, but clear.

Writing with the Supernote is easy. I can easily erase things with one of two eraser tools (and another multipurpose tool). I can also put two fingers on the leftmost "column" of the device, which automatically switches the pen from write mode to erase mode. I can also select whatever I want with another tool (or another finger gesture) and copy it, move it, erase it or more. I can create links between pages and even between notes. This is a major benefit over actual pen and paper, where it's hard to make corrections and link to other pages.

Another cool feature is the ability to share the screen over WiFi:

The best thing about using an ePaper device is that you don't have to maintain an Index manually, like with the standard BuJo method. The device does it for you. How this will look depend on how you use the device. At first I started with one note ("note" referring to a Supernote file) for the entire year, including all custom collections, but this became unwieldy quite quickly, so I moved to a per-collection note, kind of. I have one note for the future log (which I call "2025-00"), and one note for each month (e.g. "2025-01", "2025-02", etc.). Custom collections go in their own notes.

This way, I have a free index either on the Supernote's file manager, or on its quick access menu (which is what I actually use):

Daily Log pages are generally not added to a Bullet Journal index, but thanks to Supernote's headings feature, I can quickly move between specific dates of a month:

And finally, there's the puzzles. I love doing puzzles on the Supernote. Finally, I can erase my mistakes as if I were using a pencil:

There are a lot more features in the Supernote Nomad, some I haven't tried as I don't need them, but these are the major ones that I use. There's also a simple to-do list feature that I use as a rolling shopping list. It syncs with my mobile phone, which is convenient, as I don't always have the Nomad with me.

The only annoyance for me is the finger gestures, mostly the ones for "flipping" pages. Sometimes the device doesn't register the gesture, or it does register it, but changes the page very slowly. Most times it works fine. I also have a problem with the undo and redo gestures. To undo, you're supposed to slide your finger up over the device's left column. To redo, you're supposed to slide down. Sometimes it registers my undos as redos, which is weird.

All in all, I'm very happy with both the BuJo method and the ePaper device. I feel a lot more focus and organized, and it doesn't feel like a chore, so hopefully this will stick for a long, long time.

Final note: this text was not sponsored by Supernote, I bought this device with my own money and I just like it.