Notebook acquired
For the past year I’ve been trying to get into using physical notebooks. I never got into digital note taking as the options were always kind of bad in one way or another. I tried several, but it always ended with whatever I wrote as some text somewhere, who cares. I never looked back on my notes, but I also didn’t write many notes either. Everything stayed in my head all the time (and unpredictably left as well).
It wasn’t until recently that I took some printer paper, folded it over a few times, bundled it into 8-ish sheet signatures and threaded them together that I started to get into this. Since then I’ve seen a fair few videos on different kinds of notebooks for all different kinds of purposes and all seem intriguing.
It is tempting to jump right into a new kind of notebook: start writing a compendium on cryptography, or a commonplace book, or a fancy journal to document my every day. Were I to do that I know already that I’d do it for a month at most and then stop. That’s not great since all of the ones I listed are long-term projects, not quick gratifyers.
So many thoughts… so little time…
So I mentioned that I crafted a notebook by hand. This was a really fun project, even though I lack proper materials to make it actually good. But all that doesn’t matter, since the purpose of this notebook is to be what many call a catch-all. Every time I have a thought that I want to keep, one that excites me or is important, I write it down with a pen that hangs from the spine of the notebook.
I made mine an about A6 size and hardcover. It’s got a ribbon bookmark that I snipped off the shoulder of a T-shirt or something. Blank white pages and a cheap blue ink pen. And I carry it everywhere.
The fact that I always have it means I can always note whatever thought I want in it, but also I can take it out and look at whatever I’ve written. There’s no organization. Everything goes into whatever slot it can fit into. Todo list? On bookmarked spread. Some shitpost I found particularily interesting? Next to the todo list. A bajillion dollar product idea1? Beneath the shitpost.
Use this to structure your Catch-all notebook!
So how do I find anything in my notes? There’s no search function in my paper stack and my handwriting’s a mess. I often find myself with nothing to do and no immediate thoughts occypying my mind. I wonder if I’m forgetting something, so I pull out my notebook and open it to the bookmarked spread. Nope, nothing I need to do at this moment. What else is here?
But the lives of men and women are more than logical puzzles; the context of their experiences is invaluable in making good decisions.2
You know what, I kinda like that quote now that I read it again. I’ll add that to my salad book when I get home.
Hm? What’s this? I’ve written here that AES is a set of bijective endofunctions over 128-bit integers. Cool, but is it really? Okay let’s assume a fixed key, so the input can be represented as a number, but… Hmm… Unless… Oh, my food’s ready!
Digital’s just so convenient!
When I’m at work, I don’t have access to any personal digital site unless its through my phone. Work computer is for work. My computer is for the complement of work, same as my phone. I get an idea at work for personal stuff, so I try to note it down on my phone. Where’s that notes app… Okay what’s the category for this? Thesis, okay where is it… Right, what was I thinking about?
Everything goes into my little notebook; this small book is the welcome party for all my thoughts. My mind is quite messy, reflected by my home’s tidyness. But everything has a home under in my home. Everything belongs and is kept here. When it’s time to clean I’ll find where this pen is supposed to go.
My little notebook
The fun part about my little notebook is that I search there only for specific thought or a todo list (which I just bookmark to begin with), but often I just explore what is in there. The point is that I don’t need to keep everything in my head, not even keywords, headings, or handles to my thoughts since it’s all there amongst other stuff.
It is there, kept safe until I want to explore my mind again. It is not an encyclopedia of my thoughts, nor would I even want that. It is a loosely chronological collection of snippets of my life; of my mind.
I haven’t used this for long, but so far I absolutely love it. No structure, no conventions, no restrictions. Everything can go there anytime in any form. And once it goes on, it stays there.
I love my little notebook.