Bare Bones Notebook System

Table of Contents

Introduction

I’ve tried many methods of planning my days and keeping track of tasks, both paper and digital. For appointments, small recurring tasks, or something far in the future, I use an internet based calendar (intentionally not endorsing one, yours is fine, I’m sure). For everything else, I’ve landed on handwritten notebooks. I have an e-ink tablet that I love for taking notes, but it’s not really part of my system, there are a few things I use it for, like drafting this post, but there’s a little too much friction to use it the same way I use physical notebooks still. I keep two notebooks, separating work and personal (details for stationary nerds at the bottom). The personal notebook might have a little work in it, especially if I’m traveling. The work notebook might have a little personal in it, if I have personal business interfering with my work day. Generally I keep them well separated.

Both books have similar goals, capture discrete tasks I want to accomplish in the short term and prevent overcommitment. The biggest problem I’ve had with methods I’ve used in the past, is friction to add the tasks, or the tool leading me towards too cumbersome of a workflow. I love Jira, but it’s too easy for me to start fiddling with all the fields I can capture and suddenly I spent 10 minutes planning when I will change the water in the fishtank. Now, when I decide it’s time, I write it in the next day that looks light. Both notebooks have a similar format, index in the front, weekly pages, and separate pages for random topics. I came to this system by way of bullet journaling, and you may recognize many elements. Bullet Journal is an idea I really like, but I found myself always wanting to do less of it, I didn’t want to be journaling, but I wanted some of it. My favorite thing in bullet journals is the use of well defined symbols to distinguish different kinds of notes.

    ---
config:
  look: handDrawn
  theme: forest
---
classDiagram
  note "○  starts a note<br>●  starts a task<br>/ goes through ● when the task is done<br> <s>● strikethrough a cancelled task</s><br>> over ● means moved to a later date<br>< over ● means moved to an earlier date"
  
  

I’ve been tweaking these notebooks for years, and noticed that I have been pretty settled for well over a year now, so I thought it was time to share.

Work Notebook

The work notebook has a tenuous existence in my life as a remote worker, but I finally gave up on trying to move it to the laptop. As an in-person worker, the notebook pays huge dividends on focusing and getting value out of meetings. There are a few good things about the paper notebook, even for remote work.

1. If you are only using your computer to watch other meeting participants, you won’t be tempted to multi-task (AKA ignore the meeting).
2. There is evidence that hand-writing notes helps you remember information¹
3. When you take notes on your computer with your video on, it looks like you are multitasking. When you hand-write notes, it looks like you are taking real interest in what is happening… and hopefully you are.

layout

The work notebook, as does the personal, starts with an index, I leave room to list multiple pages for each topic, since they can become disjointed. Other pages you might think about adding are accomplishments, vacation day plans, and questions for one on one meetings.

The weekly pages are the important part. At the start of the week, think of a few things you want to get done that will make the week feel like a success. This can be very helpful in a difficult work environment, where mundane tasks can take days of back and forth with different departments, etc. This takes the place of filling in the whole week of tasks, since tasks are subject to a lot of change. In fact, don’t even write the day of the week until it comes around. In the morning, write the day, then a few tasks you need to do today. If you have daily standups, this is nice to have already written down. As you go through the day, take notes, jot down things you do or need to do later. Then the next day, write down the day and move in anything unfinished from the day before. I have found that my best notes are short, so I like the horizontally divided page to encourage that, and get more on each page. Work down one side, then back at the top of the other. Some weeks may need another page. If you have a series of meetings about a big topic, it might be good to just refer to that page number in the week page, and keep your notes on that topic all in one place. The daily maintenance of the tasks is the main benefit of the week page. It’s good to be the person who doesn’t drop the ball and this is a low friction way to keep on top of that.

Personal Notebook

Starting a personal notebook is probably the biggest productivity tool I have introduced to my life. So many of the things we wish we had time for are fairly small tasks, but when they aren’t assigned to a day, it’s easy to forget them. When I started, I would add how much I thought I could get done, and end up only doing half. This is demoralizing and more trouble than it’s worth, the physical feedback of having to move forward the tasks you didn’t do encourages you to the healthier habit, which is reducing the number of things you plan to accomplish. So, when planning a week, I fill in the high priority things I want to do. Workouts, group runs, and homebrew club meetings go in first, along with items on the calendar. Then I look at the week and decide, what else I can fit, I add, “start a new article,” to one day, “job hunting,” for another, “brew Belgian Dubbel,” another. As the days go by, I may add new important tasks, or maybe remove something that isn’t worth it. I get done so much more than I used to, even though I expect less of myself for each day. It’s important to add the fun things in here too, they get equal weight. It takes time to hang out at Lazy G Brewhouse, so if I’m doing that, I won’t have time for something else.

layouts

The Week Page Pair

Tools

The notebook, pen, or pencil you choose doesn’t make any difference… but it matters to me, so maybe it matters to you.

Writing Implement

For a long time, I used a fountain pen for everything, for reliability and less flashy esthetics, I reach for Lamy Safari I used the fine nib, but extra-fine might be smart for the pocket notebook. After discovering the Uni Kuru Toga mechanical pencil, I switched to it for my pocket notebook, and may switch for my work notebook at some point. For now, I still like to use a fountain pen that I leave on my desk for the work notebook. I rotate, but my favorite is the TWSBI Diamond 580 I go with the medium nib. I love the idea of a pen that you fill, instead of a disposable cartridge, and this one feels great in your hand, and lasts for ages on a fill.

Paper

For notebooks, I’ll use whatever I find in local stores for the pocket notebooks, Moleskine or Field Notes are typically what I get. For the work notebook, I go with the A5 size and have really enjoyed Clairfontaine with Rhodia being a close second. I like the smaller page count of the staple bound notebooks for how little space and weight they have, plus I find finishing a notebook very satisfying. Any line style is fine, my order of preference is dot, grid, blank, then ruled.

Other

I can’t recommend Book Darts enough, I bought 12 which is about 8 more than I need. I’ve been using 2 in my pocket notebook for 2 years and they show no sign of loosing their utility, put it on the pages you go to often, for me, it’s the blood pressure log and the current week. I used to cut the corners off leading to the current week which worked well, and was kind of fun, but I like the darts better. The bronze ones get to looking vintage quickly, not sure about the others. They are probably available at your local bookstore.