A New Chapter: Becoming a (Paper) Notebook Person

Since I was 9 years old, I knew I wanted a laptop. I don’t think they were even something that pervasive back then – we had only gotten a color computer a few years before (and had finally gotten the hang of a mouse instead of using DOS commands), so I do not actually know where things stood in terms of popular tech.

Even back then, I knew the value of having something portable and electronic. Tangible, physical objects can get lost or destroyed in a fire and take up space and you can never ever EVER throw it out because you will hurt its feelings, or the memories will be lost forever and so you must live in the clutter and chaos or carry the regret of lost history for the rest of your life….

Clearly, I had a lot of anxious thoughts as a child. But that’s for another blog post.

My dream laptop was thin, sleek, intuitive and would have a long battery life. I could journal and draw and do everything I liked without wasting paper and keep it organized, structured and searchable.

I went through a couple of gadgets – including keyboards with storage spaces, tablets, laptops big and small, and, finally, my Surface Pro.

The Surface Pro was the laptop of my dreams. It worked exactly how I needed it to, it was perfect! With a premium Dropbox subscription backing everything up, I was all set to be a power user.

That is, until Zoom and Microsoft decided to be awful…

The “Zoom” Issue

I’ve been working remotely since April 2019 – about a year ahead of the trend. Since we used Google Meet (WITHOUT the camera on), I had no issues with powering through the workday and getting everything done by docking the Surface Pro into my two additional screens.

But sometime in 2020, it suddenly became necessary to have your camera on all the time and use Zoom – which is a lot for this little tool to handle! That’s when I realized I needed a desktop and got my first Intel NUC 8 Mini PC (with the super dope blue and red death skull), a mini monitor, my Keychron K8 Mechanical Keyboard and souped up my glass desk with LED lights –work became a non-stop party! 

Naturally, I had less use for my Surface Pro, because working on a laptop and computer at the same time is a little much, even though I did try. I still enjoyed taking it on trips and using it for smaller projects until Microsoft decided to make it notably worse.

Microsoft – Ruining perfectly good products since 2007 (*cough* Windows Vista *cough*)

The Surface whiteboard app used to be the perfect channel for my creative juices. In fact, all the thumbnails for my first podcast were made using the whiteboard tool. Now, I can barely open it without feeling waves of rage and frustration at how finicky and useless it has become. 

What Did You Do?

Well, for more than half my life, I have trained myself to be pretty good at remembering events things I hear people say by journaling, so, in most of my professional situations I would just coast on that skill to stay on top of things.

And if there happened to be something I needed to remember to do, I’d put it in Quire, Google Tasks, Google Keep or on a scrap piece of paper that I could throw out.

Lately, however, I have a few too many plates spinning and I got to the point of feeling like I needed something more to keep me on track. 

I finally decided it was time to get a Paper Notebook.

I am not exaggerating when I say that I spent more time researching and shopping around for this Notebook than I did purchasing my Tesla.

I still don’t understand why this was such an undertaking

Here are a few things to consider:

·        The notebook binding needs to give you the flexibility to actually make use of the notebook when you are in different situations. (Spirals would be great if they didn’t catch on the paper they were meant to support and slice your hand with their sharp edges.)

·        The notebook front and back covers need to also accommodate different working styles. (PLASTIC on the front and CARDBOARD on the back? What is wrong with the designers at Five Star? PICK ONE AND STICK TO IT INSTEAD OF MAKING IT COMPLETELY UNBALANCED)

·        The notebook pages need to be thick enough so that your work does not bleed through to the other side and effectively half the amount of usable space in the notebook.

·        The notebook paper should be graph paper, although bullet paper is acceptable. Side Note: College-ruled and wide-ruled paper is a despicable invention. Fight me.

What Did You End Up Getting?

Even with my thorough search, I was shocked to find such a limited selection of decent notebooks. Unenthusiastically, I purchased a Markings C.R. Gibson Black Leatherette Bullet Notebook from Staples.

I would have shared the link to the notebook, but I can’t actually find the exact version I have online and this specific one had thicker pages than the other ones in the store.

In fact, that’s the only reason I bought it since it does not fold back enough comfortably to truly facilitate the note-taking experience.

Despite my passionless purchase, I have no traces of buyer’s remorse. Using this notebook has helped me feel the control and structure I craved.

How Do You Use It?

I thought you’d never ask!

I should say that the way I use it is evolving and converging with my natural habits (versus aspirational inclinations). However, here are a few things I am proud of:

The Table of Contents

It’s important for me to know how to find things easily. Fortunately, this notebook has a small circle at the bottom of each page to add a number, facilitating a Table of Contents.

The little diamonds you see beside some of the listings show the presence of action items. If the diamond is filled, that means the action item is complete! Otherwise, I know to go back to that page for unfinished business.

Fun Visualizations

The coolest part of a bullet journal is the visualization potential. The one way I have explored that is through tracking the number of virtual meetings I have within a day. I did not make the best choice in color scheme (I was trying to go for heatmap style) but we’ll see how it turns out at the end of the year.

Other Action Item Mechanisms

Action items are denoted with a red box within notes. Then:

·        If they are complete, they get crossed off.

·        If they get transferred to another tracking mechanism or moved on to the next step, they get filled with a smaller box (and are considered complete in terms of the notebook’s purpose).

·        If they are cancelled or no longer necessary, they are filled with a hexagon.

This allows for me to not have too many open issues in the notebook and maintain that feeling of completion and control I so desperately chase.

So, there you have it! My foray into notebook life after resisting it for ages.

Are you a notebook fiend? Do you have a system I should consider? I’d be interested to learn about it so please comment below or reach out!