Why I Journal (And Why You Should Too) – Productivityist
There are many reasons to keep a journal. Here are just a few reasons why keeping a journal can help you in ways you’ve never considered.
Some great reasons from our friend Mike. If you don’t keep a journal, perhaps one of the reasons will resonate and inspire you to do so.
Moleskine Tool Belt – Moleskine ®
Inspired by carpenters, architects and plein-air artists who attach their toolkits to their waists, the Tool Belt is designed to attach to the cover of a Moleskine notebook. It consists of several compartments for pens, devices or reading glasses. Insert the objects that follow you around the office, studio or around town, so you don’t drop anything important and lose your ideas when you’re on the move.
Looks very useful. Also, no reason one couldn’t use this on a similarly sized non-Moleskine notebook. I’m picking one up for sure.
In a Mother’s Library, Bound in Spirit and in Print – NYTimes.com
Over the years, I’ve gone back and forth over the merits of print versus digital books so many times, it’s as if I were in an abusive relationship with myself. But my mother’s passing and the sentimental value of her library have finally put an end to that debate in my head. It’s not that one is superior to the other. They each have their place in this modern world.
Such a wonderful and poignant essay. But this particular part stood out to me. I, too, read a mix of paper and digital books and each have their purpose, place, and advantages. There is no “better”, only “also”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exAihVrYVsU
This is pretty awesome. Gay Talese takes you through his amazing paper address book and tells you why keeping it, on paper, matters.
(via Put This On)
Becoming a Better Thinker with Writing
For reading to matter, it has to be active. That means note taking. That means, while reading, deciding what the most important ideas and themes are then recording them in your own words. After having felt like I’d lost many incredible books to passive reading, I started taking notes only to find, long after the fact, that the material had become part of who I am. The thoughts I recorded I later recalled not as a bullet points of a foreign work, but as my own ideas.
Beautifully stated. I don’t do this enough with non-fiction work but really should.
I’ve been thinking a lot about signatures lately. All who are literate have one. It is one of the first things we learn to write. It is a defining and deeply personal mark. It is something that is uniquely ours.
We often practice and refine it as we grow and time passes. I remember writing mine over and over again on loose leaf paper in elementary school, wanting something more "adult" before passing on to the higher grades. My signature today remains a variation of that one. Yet, were one to compare the two they would see few similarities. The speed with which I dash it off today and a more confident hand have fundamentally changed it.
Signatures have power. Our laws are only desires until they bear the signature of those that execute them. Signatures have value. Our checks and charges are only valueless scraps of paper unless our signature is applied. Signatures have meaning. They are a promise. They change things. Yet, most of us dash ours off quickly, with little thought or recognition of such.
My little girl Beatrix has a wonderful signature. She’s only seven. Yet, without any prompting that I’m aware of, has developed a signature that is uniquely hers. It takes extra time to write but I find that part of its beauty.
It starts with the large B. She then continues from the B in a long slope to the a, skipping e entirely at first. She then continues through to the end trix with the spike of the t and the slope of the x. Then, she works her way back to cross the x, draw and fill in a heart over the i in place of a simple dot, crosses the t, and puts a loop at the top of the B. As a final step, she fills in the missing e as a loop extending from the B.
As I said, it’s rather complex for a seven year old and takes far more time than if she chose a far more average method. And, even she can’t answer the many how’s and why’s I have surrounding these unique quirks beyond, "I just like to do that." That said, her signature and its styling are unmistakably hers. And, in many ways, it is such flourishes that make a signature memorable and I would argue far more intentional and meaningful.
When thinking of great historical signatures many people in the United States first call to mind that of John Hancock, whose signature on the Declaration of Independence is so full of flurish that his name has largely become synonymous with the word "signature" itself. But it is this special combination of aesthetic and execution that elevate it from a mark to art. It also is clear that he, like my daughter, took his time. He understood the importance of what his signature on any document meant. And, this document was a bold and life changing statement. A commitment to put his life on the line for the intentions behind it. He was going to remember this one. He was going to take his time and make it beautiful. He made it matter.
Now, my daughter obviously has not put as much deep thought into her signature as I have provided for here. She simply wants to make her signature beautiful. Such beauty means that it takes more effort and time. There is tremendous value in that. I hope she one day understands and respects this as deeply as I have come to. That fifty years from now she is still dotting her i with a heart and going the extra mile to fill it in. That she understands that if she is going to sign something, anything, that it should matter.
I’ve wanted one of these for a very long time. (via Buzz)
5 months in with the Hobonichi Techo — The Finer Point
I posted a few months ago about my experience with the Hobonichi. I was very positive back then but new to the Hobonichi planner and we all know new things are fun and shiny. I am now 4 months and 6 days in and I feel an update is in order.
Personally, I love seeing reviews of products months or years into using them. I find them far more trustworthy and and accurate depiction of the overall quality and usefulness one can expect from a product. The pictures here are beautiful too.
Shawn Blanc on The Focus Course on Instagram
I outlined and wrote The Focus Course with notecards. Each binder clip is a module or content section. Each card is a day of the course or an ancillary video or article. For each day of the Course, I kept the outline of the topics to be no more than one side of an index card. It was a physical constraint that kept things, ahem, focused…
Really neat. Reminds me of how I do notes for my presentations (which reminds me, I should write that up soon too).
Putting aside one’s ballpoint and picking up a fountain pen is akin to making the switch from shaving with a cartridge razor to using a safety or straight razor. The nature of the tool requires more skill and attention on your part, but the experience is richer and the result sharper.
If you have been wanting to dip your fingers into the world of fountain pens but not sure what it’s all about, this primer is a pretty good place to start.