Commonplace books are a personal compilation of knowledge, ideas, quotations, and observations gathered from various sources and organized for future reference and reflection. They areused by readers, writers, students, and scholars as an aid for remembering useful concepts or facts. Similar to scrapbooks, they can contain a variety of items such as notes, proverbs, quotes, letters, poems, prayers, recipes, excerpts from other sources and more. They differ from things like diaries or travelogues in that they are more like an organized database than a collection of essays. There are several features that set commonplace books apart.
They are a collection of knowledge
Different things are important to different people and unique projects require unique information. No two commonplace books will be the same. They are instead tailor made to fit the individual needs of their creator. Collect things that are important to you and that resonate with you. Collect information that will help you reach your goals. Collect things that you want to remember.
They are organized.
A key feature of commonplace books is easy retrieval. They need to be organized in a way so that you can collect the information, forget about it, and then retrieve it when you need it. There are many ways to organize your information and the correct way is the one that is the easiest and most effective for you.
They include personal reflection.
Commonplace books are not just a collection information, they also include your personal reflections on what you collect. It is important to summarize things and pull out what is most interesting or especially helpful to you.
They are not static.
Commonplace books are an ongoing project. They require care and maintenance. Regularly reviewing your information can not only help you make new connections and gain new insights, but will also help you to discard things that are no longer important. This will keep your information as up to date and relevant as possible.
They can inspire creativity and personal growth.
A commonplace book is a safe place to store all of you collected information thus freeing your brain of the burden of remembering it all. This allows you to use your brain in the way it works the best, processing information. In time you will see connections and develop new ideas and projects which will help you grow in many areas of your life. There are many ways to create a commonplace book including physical notebooks, index card files, scrapbooks or other types of journals, but I tend to focus on digital formats. For me, they are the easiest way to store and retrieve information, and today's apps are so powerful you don't need a lot of organizational skills to keep track of things. They are also small, easy to carry around with you and infinity more editable that paper notebooks.