The power of paper notebooks

Everything that I see and hear can be a spark for a new idea. I immediately write it down and then often leaf through old notebooks to find fresh ideas or make sure that I did not miss anything. I would advise all young people entering life to have a notebook with them. This is a good habit, and you should be addicted to it.

Richard Branson, Virgin Creator, Billionaire

I carry a simple notebook with me everywhere. I write everything down there: ideas, thoughts, money expenses, my actions during the day (timekeeping). I do not use either electronic gadgets or a mobile phone, although there are such opportunities.


')
And now 2 years, as they are with me, these simple notebooks. And only recently wondered: and, strictly speaking, why do they need me? And it turned out that there are a number of important points provided by paper notebooks that make life much better and more productive. Having highlighted these moments for myself, I want to share them, perhaps it will be useful to someone.

Benefits of using

• Availability;
• Reliability;
• Convenience.

disadvantages

• The difficulty of making changes;
• High cost per unit of information;
• Slow search in the archive.

How do notebooks help me?

• Cache for the brain. As you know, no more than 7 + -2 objects can be held simultaneously in consciousness. Personally, I start having problems with four simultaneous entities. Writing on paper, visualization, fixing data helps to abstract from the details and see the whole picture; or, on the contrary, by fixing the overall picture on paper, you can work well with the details. It helps in everything - from scheduling tasks for a month to developing the architecture of a large application.
• Time management. I write a plan for the day in a notebook (page in half, on the left, on the right, on the right, timekeeping). The plan for the month is stored in a notebook, and so on. And then, there is an opinion that when you write on paper with a hand, you have a good influence on the subconscious.
• Record income / expenses. On the day - the arrival, plan, expense.
• Record thoughts. It is very useful when the thought, as they say, turns on the language, take it and write it on paper, turn it like this, and formulate it completely.
• Record ideas. How many ideas I missed, because I was distracted for a second - and I forgot. Now, having grasped the idea by the tail, I hold it, take out a notebook, write it down - and everything is ready.
• Record conversations. During the negotiations I keep a summary of the conversation. It helps a lot to outline a plan of action, remembering the main points without much difficulty.
• Worker Records. You communicate with someone, and suddenly you have it, or a person, the need to draw / write - you take out a notebook, which is right there, and everything - mutual understanding is found.
• Album for drawing. Sometimes it's interesting to draw something beautiful, it's very convenient to do on paper.
• Address Book. Write down the phone that you dictate on the other side of the tube, much faster on paper (faster only the voice recorder). And not: Contacts -> New -> Add -> Phone -> Mobile -> (number input), like, for example, I had on Nokia. Then in quiet mode, the number is entered by me in the phone's notebook.

Conclusion

The use of paper notebooks is a rather controversial idea, in this age of high technology. However, having started using paper notebooks, I was not used to either the iPhone, or the Nokia organizer, or to various online notebooks. Something traditional and reliable is in a small notebook, which is always at hand, and at home, and at work, and on the road.