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I use paper notepads too. Two things I do: 1. I put lists in the notes and mark them up with these symbols (inspired by the bullet journal community): ◯ = tas

by wenc 6y ago

I use paper notepads too. Two things I do: 1. I put lists in the notes and mark them up with these symbols (inspired by the bullet journal community): ◯ = task, ◐ = in-progress, ● = completed, > = migrated. 2. I also require that the notepads have perforations on every page so that individual pages can be torn out. This is important for keeping the notepad uncluttered -- and lowers the inhibition to freeflow write, because if things don't work out, the page can be torn out. The Rhodia A5 Dotpad is my go-to https://www.jetpens.com/Rhodia-DotPad-Notepad-No.-16-A5-Wirebound-Dot-Grid-Black/pd/18574 https://www.jetpens.com/Rhodia-DotPad-Notepad-No.-16-A5-Wire...

avian 6y ago
The two biggest takeaways from Bullet Journal for me were the task markup you mention and numbered pages + index. When I have to refer to some previous work I did, I note the past page numbers I had to look up. It's a simple way of cross-linking notes, but I find that it works quite well for me. I try to avoid notebooks with tearable pages, because I found them to be too fragile. I carry my most recent notebook everywhere and some of them end up quite beat up. Tearable pages tend to start falling out on their own.
- gglitch 6y ago
  The most useful Bullet Journal lesson for me was having periodic task migrations (weekly, in my case). Infinite task lists don't work for me.
- wenc 6y ago
  > I try to avoid notebooks with tearable pages, because I found them to be too fragile. So in my experience Rhodia (and other "higher-end" perforated) notepads are pretty sturdy and tend not to fall apart even with rougher than usual handling (mine haven't). There is a slight price premium however.
  - avian 6y ago
    I believe it works well for you. For me one of the important parts that got me to consistently write a journal years ago was also switching to the cheapest notebooks I could get. With something (relatively) expensive I always had that small, subconscious fear that what I have to write in the notebook wasn't worth ruining the page.
    - ubercow13 6y ago
      One way to avoid this is to buy something like Rhodia that you want to use but is a bit more expensive. Then buy one even more expensive notebook. Now the Rhodia is your cheaper notebook and there is no longer an inhibition to writing in it! (Yes this actually happened to me)

by wenc 6y ago

avian 6y ago

The two biggest takeaways from Bullet Journal for me were the task markup you mention and numbered pages + index. When I have to refer to some previous work I did, I note the past page numbers I had to look up. It's a simple way of cross-linking notes, but I find that it works quite well for me. I try to avoid notebooks with tearable pages, because I found them to be too fragile. I carry my most recent notebook everywhere and some of them end up quite beat up. Tearable pages tend to start falling out on their own.

gglitch 6y ago
The most useful Bullet Journal lesson for me was having periodic task migrations (weekly, in my case). Infinite task lists don't work for me.
wenc 6y ago
> I try to avoid notebooks with tearable pages, because I found them to be too fragile. So in my experience Rhodia (and other "higher-end" perforated) notepads are pretty sturdy and tend not to fall apart even with rougher than usual handling (mine haven't). There is a slight price premium however.
- avian 6y ago
  I believe it works well for you. For me one of the important parts that got me to consistently write a journal years ago was also switching to the cheapest notebooks I could get. With something (relatively) expensive I always had that small, subconscious fear that what I have to write in the notebook wasn't worth ruining the page.
  - ubercow13 6y ago
    One way to avoid this is to buy something like Rhodia that you want to use but is a bit more expensive. Then buy one even more expensive notebook. Now the Rhodia is your cheaper notebook and there is no longer an inhibition to writing in it! (Yes this actually happened to me)