Tips on hybrid Bullet Journaling (Obsidan & notebook in parallell) and how to apply the "Alastair method" in Obsidian?

Chribba_Swede · September 17, 2023, 4:47pm

Hi,
I am a Swedish teacher, educator and PhD student trying to construct an Obsidian practice that can help me structuring my thoughts and life.
Since I am new to this community, please inform me if I have placed the question in the wrong section etc.

I have used Obsidian on-and-off for a while but now I am trying to more systemically incorporate it with my bullet journaling (BuJo) practice, which mostly focuses on managing (and enjoying) time, projects and areas of responsibility both at work and outside work, while balancing productivity with mindfulness and well-being.
In pursuing this, sometimes prefer going digital with Laptop/iDevices and other times I want to be analog using my BuJo-style notebook.

What I’m trying to do

I’m trying to set up a hybrid BuJo-system where I can switch between different ‘modes’, stretching from fully ‘analog/physical’ (physical notebook) to semi-digital (iPad/Notability-app, handwriting w apple pen) to fully digital (Obsidian).

My most importand wish is a practice to set up rolling tasklists (weekly/monthly etc) a’ la the “Alastair method”, usable for brain-dumping. That is, a note in Obsidian with colums (or squares) on one side (let’s say left) and vertical rows for text on the other (let’s say right).
In the note I need to be able to write upcoming tasks on the rows (right side) and dots (.), slahes (/), X’s (x) and arrows (<), (>) in the corresponding squares on the left side. Or crossout the intire row (i.e., both the task-text and the corresponding columns in the same (vertical) row), if I decide on not doing the task at all.
Finally, this will need to be rather frictionless to setup and edit repeatedly when tasks occur or life happens, otherwise it will not happen…

Have anyone done anything similar or have any ideas?

(If the “Alastair method” is unfamiliar, I recommend checking it out, e.g. here:
https://youtu.be/km6FJGNU9co?si=CTeQ_SBSiMC4v_XI )

Things I have tried

I have searched the forum for ideas of digital/analog BuJo’ing using both a notebook and Obsidian. I found a post on a plugin idea/request for BuJo’ing in Obsid but little more.
I also searched for “Alastair” without sucess.

So every idea and suggestion for a hybrid BuJo using notebook and obsidian BuJo-system would be appreciated

Jopp · September 17, 2023, 7:39pm

Just some ideas,
You could use my mini-admonitions, these are special bullets. You can find them in many modern themes, they all use slightly different icons.

From time to time I read, how people look for a way to combine both digital and analog tools. QR codes seem useful in that regard, but I can’t say much as i didn’t test this methods yet. You can read more about one of the methods using qr in this article

Finally I would like to link you a nice video on YouTube: Jonathan Edwards bible note taking system
Maybe useful as well.

CorrieW · September 17, 2023, 9:37pm

I am an academic, I use bujo methods in a hybrid planner/bujo, I carry travellers note books, and I use Obsidian.

I only use tasks in Obsidian for specific writing projects. I have a main landing page for the project and a to do list, using the Tasks plugin. There are lots of ways you can set up task lists, mine is pretty simple, but you can create a dashboard and use templates or dataview to set up your idea. I just found that I prefer the simple Obsidian + paper method rather than the complicated set ups people have.

For my reading I use Zotero, where I have some tags set up (based on what I want to do with the content of my notes). I import my notes to Obsidian and use a Zettelkasten style of note taking to synthesise and process what I have read. I also use task-based bullets in the notes, that tell me whether the note has been used, is finished, if it is an idea, or for a specific project.

pdworkman · September 17, 2023, 11:37pm

During my weekly planning, I set up an Alistair weekly dashboard breaking down my most important weekly projects into daily tasks. These are created in Obsidian using a weekly template in Periodic Notes with a markdown table (using the advanced tables plugin for ease of use). This uses bullets (opt-*) to mark the task assigned to the day.

Task	M 18	Tu 19	W 20	Th 21	F 22	Sa 22
6000 wpd	•	•	•	•
Edit					•	•

Theatre Calgary
practice	•	•	•	•	•	•
check in on arrangements		•		•

Marketing
ACB big box
research search words	•
ad copy		•
graphics/video			•
set up fb ad				•
					•

That gets printed out on A6 paper and inserted into my analogue planner behind the “week” tab.

I reference that throughout the week as I am writing up my daily schedule and priority tasks. (The priority tasks are the tasks on the weekly dashboard.) I mark them off at the end of each day with an X, >, or -

Sunday is my weekly review and planning day, and at the same time as I am scanning my dailies, I scan my weekly dashboard into my Obsidian vault and transclude it into the original planning note.