The Value of Keeping a Commonplace Book
“We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become” (St. Clare of Assisi).
You might be familiar with a diary or journal, but what about a commonplace book? Imagine a journal filled with meaningful thoughts, ideas, and quotations that you have collected through what you’ve read, heard, or studied. It complements any journaling habit you might already have in place. As a writer, I’ve kept this practice for many years, but it’s becoming more popular with creatives and business leaders.
What Is a Commonplace Book?
Commonplace books have been used throughout history. Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius collected notes and quotations, which became a text on Stoic philosophy called “Meditations.” It was also a common practice in the Middle Ages and through the Renaissance by people like Leonardo da Vinci. Later, presidents like Thomas Jefferson took up the practice, as well as authors like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Virginia Woolf.
A commonplace book is a way of collecting anything meaningful that you might want to reference later. Often, this collection includes quotations, observations, and other information from anything from books and movies to poems and prayers. Think about all the notes from podcasts, lectures, and conversations you also might want to remember and reference. All this information is collected in one place. I use a journal that I carry with me, but there are now digital commonplace books you can create through various apps.
Why Do We Need a Commonplace Book?
Commonplace books are essential to creativity. They are a source for generating ideas by helping us to explore connections and relationships among ideas. When I’ve been in a creative rut, I’ve always been able to discover an interesting theme or idea to write on based on what’s in my commonplace book.
Commonplace books have also helped me become more intentional with what I read. While reading, when I find myself jotting down quotes or generating my own new ideas, I know it’s a source of inspiration. In some ways, it’s like a book that holds a conversation and an intellectual community. It’s not so much about self-actualization, like a diary or journaling, as it is about curating the words that shape your inner life and give clarity to that inner life.
Commonplace books teach us the beauty of keeping a healthy balance between analog and online. A rich commonplace book won’t draw much sustenance from social media. It’s begging for richer content. Newsletters and online material can be great, especially when they connect you to good sources of information. But the commonplace book demands truth and meaning. I see social media as serving other purposes than my commonplace book. While there are apps now to create commonplace books, I do wonder if something might be lost through abandoning the practice of handwriting our notes, especially as it aids our memory. But a digital commonplace book might prove beneficial for some people.
3 Tips for Getting Started
1. Find the right method for you.
Whether you choose to use a journal or go digital, make sure you find a method that you can manage and sustain. Using a notebook sometimes offers less flexibility to go back and address common themes through headings. It helps to leave some space in the notebook to create a table of contents or headings to explain the types of quotes or themes you reference (“beauty,” “creativity,” etc.) and types of information (“quotation,” “idea/concept,” etc.) you are recording.
2. Don’t use your commonplace book for anything else.
I never use my commonplace book for anything other than what is intended for; it’s not my place for to-do lists or journaling. This way, I ensure that I keep up the practice of “commonplacing” and have a valuable resource when I need it.
3. Read and reflect.
Don’t just store your commonplace books away when you fill them. Open them up periodically, and read them. You’ll be surprised by how much of a source of creativity they can be.
I started a commonplace book before I knew what it was called. I was always drawn to the idea that others’ ideas could live indefinitely in a small notebook and that those ideas could be generative—generative in how they serve my own writing and in how they reveal my curiosity, interests, and sense of awe. It’s my intellectual scrapbook, preserving everything that holds my deep attention.
Jody C. Benson is a freelance writer and editor and an instructor in Thy Olive Tree’s Fiat Self-Publishing Academy. She is the author of Behold: A Reflection Journal Where Wonder, Creation, and Stewardship Meet. She also writes a newsletter on cultivating the creative life. Learn more about her at jodycbenson.com.