What Notebooks Do You Use?

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00:00:03.360 | All right.

00:00:05.200 | We have a question here from Raquel.

00:00:08.320 | Sorry, Raquel.

00:00:10.280 | Raquel asks, do you carry or keep

00:00:12.640 | two analog pieces on your desk, one being your time block

00:00:15.320 | planner and another for notes or just your planner?

00:00:19.840 | So Raquel, my two always around, processed

00:00:25.800 | during every shutdown ritual, every day capture tools

00:00:30.880 | is my time block planner, which has for every day space

00:00:35.320 | for notes and tasks that I can write down.

00:00:37.360 | And that's where my checkbox is that I

00:00:38.980 | have to check when I do my shutdown routine

00:00:41.000 | at the end of each day.

00:00:41.840 | So I know that's all going to be processed.

00:00:43.640 | The second tool I always have is my working memory.txt plain text

00:00:48.960 | file on my computer desktop.

00:00:51.440 | I want to say on my computer desktop,

00:00:53.040 | I have multiple computers.

00:00:54.160 | They each have one.

00:00:55.760 | But my main computer I use on a normal workday

00:00:58.440 | would be my laptop.

00:00:59.320 | And I have it right there.

00:01:01.440 | So I always have my paper notebook.

00:01:02.880 | I can capture things on it, especially

00:01:04.480 | if I'm away from my computer.

00:01:06.400 | And then I have that working memory.txt,

00:01:08.080 | which collects a lot of information during the day,

00:01:11.600 | especially when I'm doing stuff on my computer

00:01:13.800 | and a lot of information pops up.

00:01:15.280 | Imagine, for example, you're in a Zoom meeting.

00:01:17.440 | And there's some notes you have to think about and six tasks

00:01:20.040 | that come out of that meeting.

00:01:20.860 | I'm just typing that right into my working memory.txt

00:01:23.680 | right there on my computer.

00:01:24.800 | I can type much faster than I can write.

00:01:26.560 | I can put voluminous notes into there.

00:01:29.120 | Don't overthink it.

00:01:29.840 | Don't make it too pretty.

00:01:30.880 | Just boom, boom, boom.

00:01:32.280 | End of the day when I do my shutdown routine,

00:01:34.760 | I look at the time block planner, what's in there.

00:01:37.320 | Everything get put into my permanent systems.

00:01:39.160 | I look at working memory.txt.

00:01:41.160 | Let's take care of everything that's in there.

00:01:43.440 | So that's the regular things I use.

00:01:46.080 | I then will introduce project-specific analog

00:01:50.280 | notebooks.

00:01:52.280 | So if I'm working on a particular computer science

00:01:55.720 | research paper, I might have a grid notebook.

00:01:58.960 | I like grid-line notebooks for doing mathematics

00:02:01.360 | that I'm just bringing with me to work on that project.

00:02:04.640 | If I'm working on a new book, I might

00:02:07.120 | get a Moleskine notebook dedicated to that book,

00:02:10.000 | just to put ideas in there as I have them,

00:02:14.240 | collect inspiration when I'm away from a computer, et cetera.

00:02:18.120 | And those I will use and process in a way that

00:02:20.880 | is bespoke to their corresponding project.

00:02:23.600 | So when it comes time to work on that academic paper again,

00:02:26.760 | hey, here's my notebook for that particular paper.

00:02:29.440 | Let me see what I had in there.

00:02:30.960 | And that's where I'm storing it.

00:02:32.320 | So I have two permanent collection mechanisms,

00:02:35.000 | one analog, one digital.

00:02:36.880 | And then I will, when useful, have

00:02:40.040 | these project-specific notebooks.

00:02:42.240 | What about the pocket-sized Moleskine

00:02:44.080 | that you carry around?

00:02:45.720 | Yeah, OK, so that--

00:02:46.840 | it's a good question.

00:02:47.760 | So I also have a pocket-sized Moleskine

00:02:52.440 | that I use basically for reflections on the deep life.

00:02:58.080 | Now, I didn't have that terminology

00:02:59.580 | when I first started using this.

00:03:00.920 | I first started this method in 2004.

00:03:03.480 | And I used to post pictures on my newsletter

00:03:06.360 | of the growing stack of the old Moleskines.

00:03:10.440 | And so that's not--

00:03:11.840 | the reason why I didn't mention it here

00:03:14.400 | is that that's not work-related.

00:03:17.000 | But Justin, I'm glad you brought it up, because it's important.

00:03:20.600 | When I have reflections about my life,

00:03:23.920 | intimations about this thing I just saw or read resonated,

00:03:29.520 | reflections--

00:03:31.200 | this has been a tough two weeks.

00:03:32.600 | Why?

00:03:32.840 | What's going on here?

00:03:33.560 | What can I learn about what's making me miserable

00:03:35.640 | and I might want to avoid?

00:03:37.160 | Ideas about what if we rethought this part of our working life?

00:03:41.640 | What if in my constitution bucket

00:03:44.360 | I rethought how exercise was in my life?

00:03:46.640 | So everything related to living the deep life.

00:03:49.000 | When I have ideas, inspirations, and reflections,

00:03:51.000 | I carry with me also in my bag an old school pocket-sized

00:03:54.760 | Moleskine.

00:03:56.080 | Why that particular notebook?

00:03:57.360 | It's because it's what I bought at the MIT co-op the first week

00:04:01.560 | I was on campus at MIT as a grad student.

00:04:03.680 | And that's when I started this habit.

00:04:05.880 | So for me, it is the comfort of that's what I've always used.

00:04:09.080 | You can use whatever notebook you want.

00:04:10.840 | That I look at when I'm doing updates to my semester

00:04:14.960 | quarterly plan.

00:04:16.640 | So there, if I'm thinking through, OK, guys,

00:04:18.760 | let's check in.

00:04:20.600 | What are we working on for the next semester?

00:04:22.800 | That's where-- because when you work on those,

00:04:24.720 | you look at your values and you typically

00:04:26.440 | have a vision at the top of each of these documents

00:04:28.520 | about where you want to be.

00:04:29.880 | Great time to look at those Moleskines.

00:04:32.400 | The only other tip I'll give you about that Moleskine method

00:04:34.860 | is what do you do when you fill it?

00:04:37.560 | My rule is anything you go through it and say,

00:04:41.720 | is there anything in here that I want to remember

00:04:44.840 | and I haven't done something with?

00:04:46.360 | It didn't change my strategic plan or something,

00:04:48.640 | but I don't want to forget it.

00:04:49.880 | It's a good idea.

00:04:51.040 | You copy that into the next notebook.

00:04:54.280 | And what tends to happen is only a very small amount

00:04:57.760 | of these ideas actually will end up meriting being

00:05:00.160 | copied into the next notebook.

00:05:01.320 | By the time you get to the next notebook,

00:05:02.920 | only a very small number of ideas

00:05:04.320 | will pass from that one to the next one.

00:05:06.120 | And so it's a way of making sure things aren't lost,

00:05:08.320 | but it also helps you purify.

00:05:09.640 | What's the idea that I've carried with me

00:05:11.760 | through four or five notebooks?

00:05:13.280 | That's a signal that maybe I really

00:05:15.160 | need to make a change around that

00:05:16.720 | or I need to listen to it.

00:05:18.360 | So yes, that's a good caveat.

00:05:19.560 | So I do have that Moleskine as well,

00:05:21.560 | non-work related but critical to my pursuit of the deep life.

00:05:26.000 | [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:05:29.360 | [Music]

What Notebooks Do You Use?

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