The power of the notebook
It’s amazing how something as simple as writing down my random thoughts and ideas in ONE notebook has made me more organized and prepared. And, surprisingly… creative!
Rachel gave me this notebook for Christmas!
There’s emphasis on the word ONE above because when I would write these ideas down before, they were scattered on SEVERAL post-it notes. Which made, me, well… scattered! And really, half of them were hand written on post-its, and the other half were digital in email and blog post drafts. Which just sat and became forgotten (and irrelevant!).
Keeping all my ideas in one notebook makes them more organized. I know, what an amazing discovery. But sometimes, the obvious isn’t so obvious at first. (Um… even though I have been using one notebook at work for ages…)
The tangible experience of writing on paper and flipping back and forth between pages is definitely more mentally engaging than typing on a screen. And it allows me to be more creative – an idea I jotted down on one page joins one from another and there you have it – a strength workout, or blog post, or playlist, or whatever, has come together!
Ha. I think I am just excited now that I have one area of my life that feels somewhat organized when most everything else is a mess because we are transitioning in to the new house!
Themocracy
That really does help! I haven’t gotten there in my personal life yet but we had a work efficiency training a couple years ago that advocated for that and I transitioned to that model for all my work stuff and I am so much more efficient with it.
I am surprised to hear they trained you that way at work! One of my coworkers is all about taking notes on her computer during meetings and always pressing others to as well, but I remember more when I write it, and actually use it later!
Yeah, the advice was having time at the end of every day to transition all your notes, reminders, tasks, etc. to the computer so that they are all in one place ultimately even if you take them in different places during the course of the day.
My problem is I love notebooks and writing too much! I get a notebook and I’m like “this is going to be the one until its full!” And then all of a sudden, OOOOOO, a free notebook or a gift notebook or one that’s so much writer-y looking than my current one that I just HAVE to buy! You get the idea. So unfortunately, my thoughts will just always be scattered among multiple notebooks
Ha ha ha! I will heed your warning and stick to one! 🙂
man, i need to figure out a way to make this work for me. i’m so scattered! but i keep thinking the solution is tech-based, so that i can always access my notes/lists? but so far no magic bullet on that front either….!
I do agree with you though – taking notes by hand = I will remember SO MUCH MORE than if I type them. If i write them by hand I often don’t need the note/list afterwards, the act of writing it out is enough!
Let me know what you figure out! Maybe tech based will work for you! I do have a few things I keep on permanent notes in my phone, and I use the hell out of Google docs! I guess this notebook is better for my creative thinking.
Isn’t that crazy how it works that way?!
Gosh I LOVE notebooks and paper. I think a lot of feeling gets lost on the screen.
I’m so happy that notebook is working so nicely for you! If I need to study for something I always write it out because I know I will remember it!
P. S. That masthead is fab.
Thank you! 🙂 And thanks for the notebook! I owe EVERYTHING to yooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooou!
I have several notebooks! My brain remembers things better when I write them down. My notebooks aren’t very organized but I like to flip through the pages and remind myself of different things or notes I wrote myself!
What kind of “ideas” do you put in the notebook? Like, things to blog about? Grocery items you need to buy? Is it an all-encompassing notebook?
I just started meal-planning in a physical notebook, and I agree, it’s a lot nicer than doing it on the computer, for whatever reason. I also started a notebook (separately) for my Korean studies, writing down new words or phrases as I look them up before I transfer them to my Anki deck. And I think we’ve talked about this before, but I like recording my weight-lifting progress in a physical notebook too.
Ideas about blog posts, music to download and what to use it for, strength or fitness boxing workouts, and notes from calls.
That is cool that the meal planning is working out that way! And I bet writing the Korean phrases down helps you learn them even better!