It is amazing how closely your system approaches that which I developed for myself over the years. That space on the right, a title line (critic al for force the brain to reduce and generalize) and the empty verso are wonderful, as is the footnoting space.
I also have some additional things I do for my scientific laboratory notebooks. A post-doc advisor honored me by telling me that after I left the lab, he gave copies of my notebooks to incoming students as models for how to take notes.
Your posting was very interesting. Notetaking is inseparable from the art of thinking itself, as are the projects and writing that flows from good notetaking.
It should be required of all managers, almost like the bureaucratic class in ancient China. Perhaps this would act as a firewall to the capture and transformation of these jobs into mere top-down conductor, functionary positions. We need thinking and decision-making managers.
We’ll get there! One big difference, for the sake of an initial distinction, is that you’ll be a lot more selective with what you include on a zettelkasten content card. I use both, but wanted to start with the notebooks because they’re easier to get started with.
I really like the idea of keeping 3 notebooks, but I've found that when I have a physical notebook the amount of time it takes for me to physically write things down is a deterrent to actually doing it. Why should I use a physical notebook when I could convey much more using a digital notebook?
There are a few reasons, and I thank you for asking so I can think about them. The main one that I’ll mention right now is that time is not the issue when it comes to note processing. Mental energy and attention are/is.
We think with our bodies, not as disembodied minds. So when we digitize our movements, the movements are made more efficient but the active thinking that would make the thought more memorable and illuminating won’t happen anywhere near as much.
The other point is make is that recording more notes digitally is rarely going to help you produce more insight at the other end. Your mind is not an information processor, it is an interpreter of signs and symbols, a reader of the inner essence of things. (Intelligence comes from the Latin intus: within, innerness, and legere to read/interpret; thus to interpret the inner essence of a thing)
Thinking therefore is an analog activity, not merely an analytical one and hardly at all a digital one. So if you use digital tools and processes to conduct an analogical act, you’ll encounter an inefficiency so dramatic that it will change the nature of the act you are engaged in.
If that was incoherent, I apologize. In a later post I’ll try to make it more intelligible by devoting more time to it in my hand-written notebook rather than on this digital tool! ; )
Most of all, thank you for engaging me in the discussion and helping me clarify my thoughts.
Andrew, your sentiment is heard loud and clear. It is too easy for us to read a passage in an online essay or article and think, "Oh, that's worth keeping," only to have us use a widget to sent it to Evernote or Keep where it will gather dust and never be read again. The act of using our digits, a writing utensil and paper, for me anyway, have a way of better-memorializing not only the thought, but also the the reason I'm wanting to hold onto it. Great article-Thanks for keeping the spirit of analog alive-Cheers!!
This is so helpful! I tend to just keep two notebooks - a diary and a bujo that contains planner, junk journal, commonplace, sketchbook, etc. I'm always challenged to find things later but that's half the fun. But! I can see how this approach would apply well to my work notebook. Thanks for the lesson!
It sounds like a lot of overhead. Create a project within ChatGPT. Just throw your notes in and ask the tool to structure it like you want. You can even add handwritten text by adding photos.
It is saving your time and you can be faster with getting better access to your knowledge base.
Please help me and argue the reasons we should consider future self navigation 1) activity, and 2) importance! As I age and [attempt to] become more present-minded and Buddhist, I find no use for future self journal reflections.
Could you kind stackers provide me your best reactions to this resistance I have?
What a good question. I suppose I would put it this way:
You are a self that is eternally present so you are present in the present, but were also there in the past and will be there in the future. The you who is present in the present will be present in the future. When the time-conscious self meets your future self who is already present in your present self but potentially, and therefore in a manner to be determined by your present self, you should love your future present self with the same love you love your present present self.
I am not sure what you mean by "future self journal reflections," because that sounds like something I would find un-useful as well. When I refer to the future self, I mean no more than the practical fact that in the future you will be confronted by open and closed doors, opportunities and challenges, that are determined to some degree by the choices your present self makes.
When it comes to notebooks, you can make notes findable in the future or you can make them impossible to find or at least super hard to find. I recommend saving your future self's time by putting a little extra mental energy into your work now.
I don't think your future self is more important than your present self. I think they are the same person. But part of self-care or attention to oneself is preparing for the future.
I hope that helps. I suspect the term future self carries a connotation I did not intend.
Thank you!!! Each point you make is really helpful - and beautiful. I’ll take it in … thanks for the article itself as well. It’s bookmarked indefinitely for me! 😊
Thank you for your post. I have so many journals and folders and notebooks. Sadly, I’m a writer. Not an editor. Not a finisher. I just write and write. Hoping to refine some of my madness and you offer hope. Thanks.
I get it. I know people who are great closers and I envy them because they get a lot more done. But I'm confident this approach, which has already enabled me to finish one book for publication, will work for you too. Hold on to that precious hope!
I can’t tell you how much I love this. The obsessive side of my brain is so very thankful that I came across your newsletter. I am away from home on a cycling holiday but will revisit when we return. Looking forward to setting my notebooks up in this highly organised way
Thank you for joining us and letting me know! Your genealogy work looks fascinating. Do I assume rightly that you still live in Australia? If so, where do you live and have you had gelato at the something Moon in Sydney? Best in the whole world, said the sign: and I believe it.
I'm glad it helps. Be sure not to demand too much of your system and your system will reward you! It makes me happy to know this approach is "a game changer" for you!
This is not so different from my system, except I ultimately have two notebooks: my pocket/wallet notebook and my regular journal. Both contain ideas, indexed. Ultimately, my “atomic” notes go on notecards and into a box.
It is amazing how closely your system approaches that which I developed for myself over the years. That space on the right, a title line (critic al for force the brain to reduce and generalize) and the empty verso are wonderful, as is the footnoting space.
I also have some additional things I do for my scientific laboratory notebooks. A post-doc advisor honored me by telling me that after I left the lab, he gave copies of my notebooks to incoming students as models for how to take notes.
Your posting was very interesting. Notetaking is inseparable from the art of thinking itself, as are the projects and writing that flows from good notetaking.
It should be required of all managers, almost like the bureaucratic class in ancient China. Perhaps this would act as a firewall to the capture and transformation of these jobs into mere top-down conductor, functionary positions. We need thinking and decision-making managers.
I’m looking for the holy crap response.
I'm confused about the pros/cons differences between the three notebook system and Zettelkasten, of which I have just become aware. I'm lost.
We’ll get there! One big difference, for the sake of an initial distinction, is that you’ll be a lot more selective with what you include on a zettelkasten content card. I use both, but wanted to start with the notebooks because they’re easier to get started with.
Thanks for taking the trouble to ask!
I really like the idea of keeping 3 notebooks, but I've found that when I have a physical notebook the amount of time it takes for me to physically write things down is a deterrent to actually doing it. Why should I use a physical notebook when I could convey much more using a digital notebook?
There are a few reasons, and I thank you for asking so I can think about them. The main one that I’ll mention right now is that time is not the issue when it comes to note processing. Mental energy and attention are/is.
We think with our bodies, not as disembodied minds. So when we digitize our movements, the movements are made more efficient but the active thinking that would make the thought more memorable and illuminating won’t happen anywhere near as much.
The other point is make is that recording more notes digitally is rarely going to help you produce more insight at the other end. Your mind is not an information processor, it is an interpreter of signs and symbols, a reader of the inner essence of things. (Intelligence comes from the Latin intus: within, innerness, and legere to read/interpret; thus to interpret the inner essence of a thing)
Thinking therefore is an analog activity, not merely an analytical one and hardly at all a digital one. So if you use digital tools and processes to conduct an analogical act, you’ll encounter an inefficiency so dramatic that it will change the nature of the act you are engaged in.
If that was incoherent, I apologize. In a later post I’ll try to make it more intelligible by devoting more time to it in my hand-written notebook rather than on this digital tool! ; )
Most of all, thank you for engaging me in the discussion and helping me clarify my thoughts.
Andrew, your sentiment is heard loud and clear. It is too easy for us to read a passage in an online essay or article and think, "Oh, that's worth keeping," only to have us use a widget to sent it to Evernote or Keep where it will gather dust and never be read again. The act of using our digits, a writing utensil and paper, for me anyway, have a way of better-memorializing not only the thought, but also the the reason I'm wanting to hold onto it. Great article-Thanks for keeping the spirit of analog alive-Cheers!!
This is so helpful! I tend to just keep two notebooks - a diary and a bujo that contains planner, junk journal, commonplace, sketchbook, etc. I'm always challenged to find things later but that's half the fun. But! I can see how this approach would apply well to my work notebook. Thanks for the lesson!
I’m glad it helped and thank you for letting me know!
It sounds like a lot of overhead. Create a project within ChatGPT. Just throw your notes in and ask the tool to structure it like you want. You can even add handwritten text by adding photos.
It is saving your time and you can be faster with getting better access to your knowledge base.
I would wager this system isn’t what you want.
Please help me and argue the reasons we should consider future self navigation 1) activity, and 2) importance! As I age and [attempt to] become more present-minded and Buddhist, I find no use for future self journal reflections.
Could you kind stackers provide me your best reactions to this resistance I have?
What a good question. I suppose I would put it this way:
You are a self that is eternally present so you are present in the present, but were also there in the past and will be there in the future. The you who is present in the present will be present in the future. When the time-conscious self meets your future self who is already present in your present self but potentially, and therefore in a manner to be determined by your present self, you should love your future present self with the same love you love your present present self.
I am not sure what you mean by "future self journal reflections," because that sounds like something I would find un-useful as well. When I refer to the future self, I mean no more than the practical fact that in the future you will be confronted by open and closed doors, opportunities and challenges, that are determined to some degree by the choices your present self makes.
When it comes to notebooks, you can make notes findable in the future or you can make them impossible to find or at least super hard to find. I recommend saving your future self's time by putting a little extra mental energy into your work now.
I don't think your future self is more important than your present self. I think they are the same person. But part of self-care or attention to oneself is preparing for the future.
I hope that helps. I suspect the term future self carries a connotation I did not intend.
Thank you!!! Each point you make is really helpful - and beautiful. I’ll take it in … thanks for the article itself as well. It’s bookmarked indefinitely for me! 😊
Just found you. This is wonderful. I go new notebook shopping tomorrow!
Have fun. There's something magical about getting a good new notebook!
I’ve been stumbling around - thank you for the path.
May it lead you to realms of glory!
Thank you for your post. I have so many journals and folders and notebooks. Sadly, I’m a writer. Not an editor. Not a finisher. I just write and write. Hoping to refine some of my madness and you offer hope. Thanks.
I get it. I know people who are great closers and I envy them because they get a lot more done. But I'm confident this approach, which has already enabled me to finish one book for publication, will work for you too. Hold on to that precious hope!
One of the nicer posts on Substack! Thank you. It’s why my serious writing is poetry!
I can’t tell you how much I love this. The obsessive side of my brain is so very thankful that I came across your newsletter. I am away from home on a cycling holiday but will revisit when we return. Looking forward to setting my notebooks up in this highly organised way
Thank you for joining us and letting me know! Your genealogy work looks fascinating. Do I assume rightly that you still live in Australia? If so, where do you live and have you had gelato at the something Moon in Sydney? Best in the whole world, said the sign: and I believe it.
I live 2 hours from Melbourne in Central Victoria and rarely get to Sydney. But I do love gelato!
Incredibly helpful, my neurodivergent brain can only handle creating a TOC, and index. which will be a game changer for taking notes. Thank you!
I'm glad it helps. Be sure not to demand too much of your system and your system will reward you! It makes me happy to know this approach is "a game changer" for you!
I need a notebook just to keep track of what you wrote in this post.
Yeah, and that’s a good thing. You’d make it your own.
Extremely relatable, thank you 🙇♂️ for sharing your experience and knowledge.
Similarly I have been compiling my library of notes and writings almost identically and explain it here in this essay with photos and illustrations ✍🏻
📄 The Modern Renaissance 📄
https://open.substack.com/pub/polymathematical/p/the-modern-renaissance-polymathy
This is not so different from my system, except I ultimately have two notebooks: my pocket/wallet notebook and my regular journal. Both contain ideas, indexed. Ultimately, my “atomic” notes go on notecards and into a box.
Indeed! When I read your footnote about avoiding mechanisation, I felt right at home. I started my analog notetaking precisely with that in mind.
Kindred spirits! Sounds like you’ve worked out a great system. Well done!