A Simple Guide to Keeping a Commonplace Book

If you’re the kind of person who scribbles down quotes, ideas, book notes, podcast takeaways, half-thought insights, and random “ooh, that’s interesting” moments, you may have been keeping a commonplace book all along without realising it.

It’s part notebook, part idea archive, part reference tool. And while it’s not technically journaling, it fits perfectly alongside your journal if you’re someone who likes collecting thoughts as much as reflecting on them.

In this post, I’ll walk you through what a commonplace book actually is, how it’s different from journaling, and how to set one up in a way that’s simple, useful, and (most importantly) sustainable.

What Is a Commonplace Book?

A commonplace book is a personal, curated collection of knowledge, a bit like an encyclopedia you build yourself.

The term commonplace comes from the Latin “locus communis”, meaning “a general or common place,” and a commonplace book is considered a general tool for recording and capturing insights from daily life that you find interesting or valuable.

Historically, scholars, writers, and statesmen used commonplace books as intellectual banks to store the wisdom they thought worth keeping. The British Library has an example by the famous poet John Milton, which features quotes from over 90 authors and notes on kingship, tyranny, marriage and divorce.

Marcus Aurelius kept a version (161–180 CE), which was published after his death as a collection called “Meditations“.

Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks (five of which are now in the V&A’s National Art Library) are also great examples, full of diagrams, reflections, and ideas.

Many schools, colleges and universities encourage students to compile commonplace books (or ‘jotters’) as part of their studies, because they are helpful to refer back to when writing papers or revising for exams. But you don’t need to be in school to keep one. In fact, they can be valuable to any area of your life, from gardening to leadership, science to general knowledge.

Another name for this practice is a “Zibaldone”, an Italian term meaning “hodgepodge” or “heap of things.” A definition that describes the creative chaos of the format—structured enough to be useful, yet open-ended enough to evolve with your thinking.

What Do You Write in a Commonplace Book?

The beauty of keeping a commonplace book lies in its flexibility. There’s no rigid template to follow. You simply record what matters to you. That might be:

• A memorable quote that speaks to your values or challenges your thinking
• Key insights of personal summaries from books and articles that you want to remember
• Notes from videos, events, podcasts or meetings
• Ideas you want to explore further
• Plans or strategies you want to try
• Questions to revisit
• Research

By logging each entry, you do two things: first, you internalise what you write about, and secondly, you build a valuable body of information you can come back to.

In every case, make sure you write a line or two, maybe even a passage, about how the information or insight is important to you, and what you think about it. You see, keeping a commonplace book is as much about you and your own personal growth as it is about collecting things that make you think.

Commonplace Book vs. Journal: What’s the Difference?

You’d be forgiven for confusing the two. Both involve writing things down, are personal, and can live in a notebook or a digital space. But they serve very different purposes and have distinct structures.

For example, in a commonplace book, you might write down a strategy from a leadership podcast, whereas in a journal, you might reflect on how that leadership podcast made you feel about your current leadership skills.

Understanding the difference helps you decide how to structure your thinking tools. If your goal is idea capture, synthesis, and long-term reference, a commonplace book is your best bet. If your goal is emotional clarity or tracking personal development, a journal might be a better outlet.

You could use both in conjunction.

And maybe they are even part of the same notebook? We’ll discuss that more later on.

Should You Keep a Commonplace Book?

A commonplace book isn’t just a hobby for academics or writers. It’s a helpful tool for anyone looking to fuel their creativity, grow and make better decisions.

Here’s why it’s worth keeping one:

• You’ll retain more of what you consume: Writing down the things that interest you (in your own words) helps you imprint that knowledge more deeply, and as a result, retrieval is often more successful. It’s why we write out passages and findings at school, so we can remember them easily when we need to.
• It’s a launchpad for better ideas: When you capture insights over time, patterns start to emerge. You connect the dots across disciplines. That’s where original thinking and personal growth happen.
• You’ll sharpen your communication: Having references to hand helps you make a better point.

How to Organise Your Commonplace Book Structure

A commonplace book doesn’t need to be neat or polished, but it does need to be usable. Without some structure, even the best ideas can get buried.

I have some tips based on analogue and digital versions.

For Analogue Users (Notebooks, Index Cards, Paper Systems)

1. Use a table of contents or an index: Number your pages and reserve the first few for a running index. Log major topics or themes with page numbers for easy reference.
2. Use a key for colour coding and symbols: Just as I described for bullet journaling, develop a simple key at the front of your notebook or card system. This will help you catalogue and find important information quickly.
3. Develop separate sections for key ideas of subjects: It’s incredibly effective for collation and reference.

For Digital Users (Notion, Evernote, etc.)

• Use tags and linked notes: Create dynamic connections using tags to help you connect subjects and ideas.
• Create hubs or index pages: To help you collate specific groups of information.
• Add a ‘revisit’ tag: Develop a marker for information you may want to revisit soon, or use another tag identifier if you’re going to store the information for a specific project.

Remember that for both methods, you don’t need to aim for organisational perfection. Over time, you may change the way you curate information or extend what types of information you record. So think of your starting point as just that. A basic foundation on which you will build a helpful collection of essential data.

Then sit down at regular intervals to review your information bank. Ask yourself:

• Is the way I record things still useful?
• Are there patterns in information that I need to account for (either in my categorisation, index, action or general thinking)?
• Do I need to rekindle research in certain areas?
• Do I need to take action on what I have gathered?

And that last point is super important. Do you need to take action? Having everything you have recorded isn’t just great for your general knowledge and communication; it can also help you grow as a person.

Should You Jot Things Down Before You Enter Them into Your Commonplace Book?

If you are a digital commonplacer, there’s no need for a separate notebook to jot down things to include. Instead, you can use a phone app or a desktop version to directly record.

However, if you have a notebook or index card set up, which you illustrate or decorate, then creating entries in a notebook you keep with you might be a good idea. Just make sure you set a weekly reminder to consolidate!

The most important thing in either case is to keep your notes in an easy-to-reach place so you can record as you find things.

Can You “Commonplace” in Your Existing Journal?

Have too many journals or notebooks and think that adding another might kill your desire to record anything? Then write directly in your existing journal (maybe use the second half of your book for this).

In a bullet journal, you can use your ‘collections’ to build commonplace entries.

Just make sure that you catalogue your journals so you can find information easily when you need it.

Wrapping Up

So if you’ve made it this far, you know what a commonplace book is, how it’s different from journaling, and how to actually set one up without overcomplicating things.

It’s a simple habit, but a useful one. Especially if you’re always collecting little bits of wisdom, ideas, strategies, quotes, or just stuff you want to come back to.

If you’re starting from scratch, just pick one place to keep your notes (a notebook, an app, a section in your journal) and try logging one thing this week.

Already keeping one? I’d love to hear what kinds of things end up in yours. Drop a comment below and let me know.