Paper, again.
I’m sitting here at home looking at the notebook on the table in front of me. I bought it when passing through Hong Kong airport earlier this month.
I made an impulse purchase at the Monocle store on my way to the Cathay Pacific airline lounge. It was exactly what I didn’t need: one more notebook.
It’s a beautiful deep blue, fabric-covered notebook with a gold monogram stamped on the front cover. And unusually for me, it is B6 sized paper. This is the sweet spot as far as I’m concerned between A6 and A5. It’s insanely portable, but it’s also big enough for me to write longer notes and not have to squish up my handwriting so much that it’s eligible.
So why another notebook?
I’m once again dipping my toes into the world of bullet journaling.
I’m using pen and paper to bring clarity to my priorities each month and each week and noting what’s important and what must be done each day. Every time I’ve done this before, it has worked out really well for me. But, it didn’t continue forever and as far as I can tell, the one problem I faced every time was that I didn’t have my bullet journal with me at all times. So this smaller sized paper is an attempt to ensure that no matter where I am or what I’m doing I’ll have this notebook with me.
Don't worry, I do have a digital safety net. All of my tasks are noted in the fantastic Things 3 application. This contains all of my projects and the tasks that need to be done on a daily basis just to keep life ticking over. There isn’t a perfect overlap between the notebook and the application, because I only want to write down the most important things to be done. The daily habits and small tasks that pop up during the day can quite happily live in Things 3. When I look at the notebook page, I want to see the absolute priorities. The things that must be done this week this month in order for me to reach my goals.
I’ve written and spoken at length about my perspective on analogue productivity. For me, picking up a pen forces me to slow down my thinking and be far more intentional. There is nothing so motivating and satisfying as being able to manually tick off an important task from a list in a notebook. Being able to flip back through the pages and see what was preoccupying me or take a note of what I achieved in a given week, is priceless.
The break from having to stare at the screen is also very welcome. The tactile nature of analogue productivity, the pen in the hand, the sound it makes as it moves across the page. All of these add to the experience where I somehow feel a little bit more connected with the work that I’m doing.
And it’s not just list-making.
I’m using this notebook to sketch out ideas for blog posts, for podcast episodes, and YouTube videos. I'm using it to track my habits, giving me a compelling and accurate visual record of my behaviour. Something my memory is simply not up to.
My notebook is the least distracting object I used to get work done. My phone, my iPad and my laptop all hold the potential to take my attention and spread it wafer-thin. The potential to come between me and that idea that’s just popped into my head. My notebook doesn’t allow this. It’s just me and the page, and it’s up to me to make something of that page.
It's not art
Something I really want to emphasise here is that my notebook is not a work of art. If you google 'bullet journal' you’ll most likely see some incredible examples of how people have gone to town with their artistic side. I have not.
The most artistic thing about this notebook is however used highlighters to draw attention to certain pages or paragraphs. I’m not against being artistic. I just don’t have time for it, but you do you.
So let’s see how I get on with this one more notebook. Let’s see if I keep to my intention of using it daily to stay on the straight and narrow, to track my productivity. And ensure I’m investing my limited time, attention and energy into the stuff that really matters to me. Actually, if that’s what I get from it, that’s a pretty good return on the initial investment.
Because these notebooks do not come cheap!