i realize that the decline of my journal usage (or commonplace book) is due to my recent discovery of a threading system that lets me iterate on ideas frictionlessly. telegram might not be the best tool for this but it’s been good to me from the start because of its direct reply functionality.
the only threading method that works on an analogue system that’s familiar to me is something i learned in the youtube bullet journal community years ago. the concept is straightforward but mainly functions on ONE topic of interest.
you basically thread the entries on a topic of your choice by writing the page number of the previous entry on the top left corner of the spread and the page number of the next entry on the opposite corner. (can’t find the source of this anymore as it was YEARS ago already. i was a preteen and didn’t care much about citing sources. sorry.)
i do still use the system to this day but it would be too limiting for what i’m trying to achieve now.
my WHY on a threading functionality similar to direct replies is essentially to track and iterate on ideas. the logic would be reminiscent of niklas luhmann’s zettelkasten BUT instead of using cards, i’d like the portability of a humble notebook.
TDLR: do you know any threading system that would work in an analogue journal?
If it’s a complex idea, I’d think perhaps sectioning off a portion of the journal so that all the ideas in said section are clearly related might be one simple way to approach it. Maybe even simply dedicate the entire journal to the idea if it’s especially elaborate.
When it comes to more clearly linking ideas, probably classic methods like either using certain highlighter colors, drawing distinct symbols, or maybe even putting some stickers beside each idea to indicate the connections of the ideas might be something to try. I think a combination of this and dedicated journals may be a better approach than trying to thread/relate the ideas in a mixed content journal that may make it more difficult.