The Feynman Notebook Method – Study Hacks – Cal Newport

“[He] opened a fresh notebook. On the title page he wrote: NOTEBOOK OF THINGS I DON’T KNOW ABOUT. For the first but not last time he reorganized his knowledge. He worked for weeks at disassembling each branch of physics, oiling the parts, and putting them back together, looking all the while for the raw edges and inconsistencies. He tried to find the essential kernels of each subject.”

I love the idea of taking the things you believe you know deeply and deconstructing them to reveal what you don’t know so that you can go and learn it.

(via Stephen Davis)

Handwritten Notes — The Brooks Review

What is really bothering me about all of this, is I can’t wrap this up with a neat bow and tell you whether or not analog notes are better. It bothers me not because it makes for a crappy ending to an article, but because I really want to know for myself.

Mr. Brooks compares/contrasts analog and digital note taking and, so far, comes away undecided. Ultimately, it’s about whatever works best for you and sometimes even that can change based on the situation. For me, in most situations, that’s paper and pen.

Good luck finding the right answer for yourself.

The problem with fancy notebooks — Merlin Mann (as shared by Austin Kleon)

The whole point of [keeping a notebook] is to make it yours… and do it in your own way…. That’s how you need to treat every notebook you’ve got! You need to be okay with whatever you put in there being complete garbage…. This means that even if you don’t know how to draw, it’s okay for you to draw. Even if you don’t know how to doodle, it’s okay for you to doodle. Even if you don’t know how to write, you know what? You are totally okay to just go write something. And if you don’t like it, you can tear it up, and throw it in your neighbor’s yard.

What we believe in.

A Letter on a Wednesday – Nicholas Bate

Wednesday is such a good day to connect deeper and draft a real letter. Imagine one real letter per week, some fifty great letters written per year. Real paper, real pen, real envelope, real stamp, real walk to a post-box. Posted and love sent.

It’s not Wednesday. But it is what we believe in for any day of the week.

10 months in with the Hobonichi Techo – final thoughts — The Finer Point

The Hobonichi Techo has been the one stationery constant in my life this year. I use it every day to record things that have happened, places I have visited and big occasions that I want to remember. I am now 10 months in and I have only missed a handful of days. This post is a round-up of the good and the bad of the Techo and my plans for next year. 

As I’ve stated before, I absolutely love reviews of products months, or even years, into using them. I think such long term experience means one has really taken the time to see how something works for them in regular use. This is a great one filled with gorgeous pictures and key insights. If you’ve been on the fence about the Hobonichi Techo, this is sure to sway you one way or the other.

Baron Fig 2016 Planner

Use it as a datebook, task manager, or a daily journal.
Your whole year, laid out in one well-designed book,
make it yours—and make every day count.

Baron Fig, one of my favorite notebook companies, has just released their first planner and it’s so beautiful and so nice and I so can’t even…

Just, well, look. Baron Fig is one of those companies that cares. They care about the details. They care about aesthetics. They care about good materials. They care about nice paper and how it feels to write on it. They care about the experience — how nice it is from the purchasing to the packaging to the purpose. They give a damn. When they have sent me things to check out, they always take the time to send me a hand written note of gratitude. And there are so many others out there that just don’t care.

Caring is rare and special these days. So I have no problem whatsoever supporting what they do. Because, unlike many other companies, these guys really appreciate and care about each and every customer and making the best possible products they can. If you are in the market for a good planner, or even a really solid well made notebook, you should take care to check them out.

Struggling with keeping a journal – Unclutterer

I believe in the benefits, yet theres’s a disconnect. Each time I try to maintain a journal in earnest, I fizzle out.

I’ve been there too Dave. At many points in my life. There are many things that helped me — building it on existing routines, letting “anything count” even if it is a single word or a doodle (and there are a few days it’s been only that), and allowing myself to “back fill” where I fill the current day’s entry in the next day.

But, while I certainly believe in the benefits of keeping a journal I certainly understand it is not something for everyone. It’s OK not to journal if that’s you.