I switched to paper a month ago in an attempt to cut down on my screen time... it's been liberating. Now I wish my substack subs got snail mailed to me instead of emailed 😜
I think it is useful for people to recognize (maybe even TOLD) that there is no ONE BEST WAY when it comes to collecting, organizing, curating, and reporting ideas. There are MANY GREAT ways, though. Part of the intellectual fun and challenge of the ideation and organization process is to try on a few of the ways, pull this function from that process and merge it with this piece of another process and find the way that serves YOU NOW.
I think one message from early in the FORMAL EDUCATION process is being told that THIS WAY (of fill-in-the-blank) is the RIGHT WAY. And when that process doesn't serve well or doesn't scale well, the person is left thinking that THEY (as an individual) are somehow less than, or not good enough, or whatever. It's way less efficient, I admit, to suggest that people create their own PROCESS THAT WORKS rather than feeling tied to a provided process that doesn't work for them.
For myself, I find that handwritten notes are the best way for capturing the daily mundane stuff and other random ideas that poke through. I revisit the notes and find in them that the nuggets grab my attention. The nuggets then get digitized (I use Obsidian) for faster finding later. I love Zsolt and his work is excellent. I do not have the patience to learn to sketch instead of writing. Though I allow that the future is unknown. Maybe down the road, I'll be 100% visual notes...
Thanks for your Manuscription. Each of them seems to come at a good point to enlarge my own thinking about one important topic or another. I appreciate it.
Yeah, with education I find that there's a lot of value in teaching *a* way, and you have to start somewhere. A 5 paragraph essay in a particular format, with an outline to start. A specific method of keeping an agenda book and a particular way of organizing a notebook. But I really wish there was more emphasis in the later grades of the value of trying a bunch of different methods. Variety does end up getting taught -- since middle school involves multiple teachers in a year, if nothing else -- but I don't think we emphasize enough that the important thing is being exposed to different methods... then ending up with something idiosyncratic that works well for you (in college, for example).
I taught at a school with a strong AVID program and every single class had to conform to their methodology for notes and notebook organization and I hated it.
Incidentally, my tracing method literally takes like 2 minutes to get the visual done, and I was absolutely shocked at how fast it was. I would never do 100% visual notes, but for a quick thing where I want one, I couldn't believe how fast it was.
Whoa... that iPad tracing demo was amazing. It does seem that many of the complications I have resolved in recent past somehow involve the Accessibility settings on my devices. I don't know what that means, but I am very curious now.
Thanks so much for this article - it gives me lots of food for thought. I'm also amazed that you produced such a well-crafted piece in just a few days. Well done!
I have been thinking about this too. My article in progress is more about how using physical notes are better for countering forgetfulness.
I find that physical notebook are a lot more effective and keeping me on track compared to all other digital systems, obsidian, wunderlist, notion etc.
For me, is the tangible feel of the notebook and the presence of that piece of paper constantly reminding me of things I have left to do. I absolutely love the bullet journal method, but I do stray away from the original into the more creative visual bujo styles.
Fountain pens and brush pens help me so much. Making my bullet journal aesthetically beautiful is how I motivate myself to look at it all the time instead of avoiding it the way I often avoid my digital todos.
I still prefer digital notes when it comes to thinking for my second brain, because that is when I need the back linking capabilities and the search function.
I have been thinking about whether or not to do more visual note taking and diagrams by hand instead of excalidraw, because I want to try nonlinear thinking, mindmaps and just grouping ideas visually.
I tend to use one tombow brush pen for the accent pen, and then a "hard tip" brush pen for my actual writing. I like fountain pens (the cheap pilot disposables are my favorite) but they're kind of messy and ghost even on good paper, so I mostly don't use them anymore. I used them a lot back when I was still teaching because the kids would get so mind-blown by them.
Excalidraw is a perfect example of a thing that makes sense for other people and I get why it's popular, but it just makes me feel like a fumble-fingered idiot. I don't have to think about what I'm doing when I make a mind-map or sketch an animal on paper.
I feel like there's a missing "Digital Literacy" high school / continuing education class. Teach students how to think about both the permanence (through copying) of digital media, and its ephemerality (through ease of loss, and through common misconceptions). Explicitly teach backup strategies (ala the "3-2-1 backup strategy" as a starting point), and digital archival strategies (media rotation, to avoid obsolescence). Speaking from decades of personal experience and what people I know have gone through, there's a vast gulf between going in blind and having *any* strategy here. Paper can certainly help versus some modes of loss, as can just being organized and deliberate about important documents, but far too often paper remains as Just One Copy with all the risks that entails.
(and of course there's a lot more to that would-be syllabus, but that's for another time and place...)
I've got a bunch of thoughts on this! It boils down to the fact that computers are complicated and powerful, and I much prefer to just write a single line in a paper journal as a reminder to do xyz, rather than unlock phone, dodge attention grabbing apps, ignore notifications, open obsidian, don't get distracted by whatever I left open, close random tabs, then finally get to my kanban board to write one line.
I got a typewritter the other day and as stupid as it sounds the shear lack of friction to just type away at a little story is blissful. It's always "loaded", I don't have to worry about charging it, about logging into my device and 2 factor authing with my phone, just to get into a single word document that takes another 30 seconds of loading all the bloat and options around. That's ignoring all the distractions present on the computer too. (I do miss backspace however, and my roommates are painfully aware of when I use the typewriter)
I had a typewriter as a kid and loved it, but my main fear with getting one now is having to maintain it... I bought an old-style sewing machine in hopes I'd learn how to do simple stuff like patch my kids' clothes, but I am not sufficiently mechanically inclined to stop from being terrified of messing it up and not being able to fix it.
But if I remember correctly, on some typewriter models, you should be able to "backspace" by basically printing a little strip of what is basically sticky dry whiteout over the character you want to remove, and then typing over it.
The model I had as a kid (2nd grade) also had a neat function where I could type into memory and then it would print it all at once. We didn't get a real computer and printer until I was much older, but I still remember that typewriter fondly. I used it to write a Wizard of Oz adaptation with a classmate.
For what it's worth, older mass-produced mechanical devices tend to be simple, or at least have plenty of tutorials online! Sewing is a huge learning curve and I've been struggling with that, I really shouldn't have bought a nearly 100-year old sewing machine but it's simpler than you'd think.
I actually ended up hiring a woman to come and teach me how to sew using my machine, and the biggest problem ended up being that the kind of patch jobs I was trying to do just aren't feasible because the leg and armholes in kid clothes are too small 😅 so that killed some of my motivation. Maybe when the kids are older we will tackle the project of learning to sew together.
I starting using a notebook as a daily driver last January after 10-15 years of using apps like omnifocus and every notes app under the sun. It's much better for me. Everything is in the same place. You don't have to manage notes that you create in any kind of file system. You don't have things that are more ephemerallia than notes clogging up your notes apps. But you can capture all of it and then not have to think about it again if you don't want to. Or, if it's good, or sparks a thought, I'll then capture it in Obsidian. I've been using a Leuchturm Master Classic A4+ which is gigantic, but it's almost like having a personal whiteboard with me all day. Pros and cons to the size, but I love being able to spread out my thinking and can be a little less precious with format and writing size and space on the page. And it's large enough to hold letter size pages which comes in really handy. And being able to do my work without living in a screen has been a major quality of life win.
I tried the Leuchturm A4 one year but it was overwhelming, heh. I'm surprised at how much I'm liking the little A6, it doesn't take up much space but I don't feel like it's restricting the amount I naturally want to put on a page. I don't do very much with letter size pages but if you do I can definitely see the appeal of the size! For me it's mostly about being able to carry it in my purse or pocket.
Absolutely agreed on paper being a great first-past filter -- I also put the good stuff into Obsidian (which is also ultimately where all of my Substack articles end up, too).
The size is a problem sometimes. But I use it for everything, from daily tasks to planning out courses and lesson plans that I'm teaching. It's those jobs where the paper size really shines...being able to brainstorm and throw everything onto a spread and still have room left over for other notes and ideas as they come up. I also feel like I'm less precious about writing stuff down because I'm not worried about having enough room or taking up too many pages. I don't carry a purse, so any notebook that I take with me either fits in my hand or my backpack, so the portability element is real, but not so much of a determining factor for my use. I actually was trying out a B5 ... and I really like it ... but I can feel the constraints of the page size when I'm using it and have gone back to the chonk A4.
Heh, lesson planning while teaching turns out to be one of those things that I instinctively do in powerpoint, of all things. I haven't done it in years but I had a template I used for everything and it worked really well for me. Whenever I had to use the formal observation paperwork boxes it drove me nuts. It's all so personal!
I switched to paper a month ago in an attempt to cut down on my screen time... it's been liberating. Now I wish my substack subs got snail mailed to me instead of emailed 😜
I think it is useful for people to recognize (maybe even TOLD) that there is no ONE BEST WAY when it comes to collecting, organizing, curating, and reporting ideas. There are MANY GREAT ways, though. Part of the intellectual fun and challenge of the ideation and organization process is to try on a few of the ways, pull this function from that process and merge it with this piece of another process and find the way that serves YOU NOW.
I think one message from early in the FORMAL EDUCATION process is being told that THIS WAY (of fill-in-the-blank) is the RIGHT WAY. And when that process doesn't serve well or doesn't scale well, the person is left thinking that THEY (as an individual) are somehow less than, or not good enough, or whatever. It's way less efficient, I admit, to suggest that people create their own PROCESS THAT WORKS rather than feeling tied to a provided process that doesn't work for them.
For myself, I find that handwritten notes are the best way for capturing the daily mundane stuff and other random ideas that poke through. I revisit the notes and find in them that the nuggets grab my attention. The nuggets then get digitized (I use Obsidian) for faster finding later. I love Zsolt and his work is excellent. I do not have the patience to learn to sketch instead of writing. Though I allow that the future is unknown. Maybe down the road, I'll be 100% visual notes...
Thanks for your Manuscription. Each of them seems to come at a good point to enlarge my own thinking about one important topic or another. I appreciate it.
Yeah, with education I find that there's a lot of value in teaching *a* way, and you have to start somewhere. A 5 paragraph essay in a particular format, with an outline to start. A specific method of keeping an agenda book and a particular way of organizing a notebook. But I really wish there was more emphasis in the later grades of the value of trying a bunch of different methods. Variety does end up getting taught -- since middle school involves multiple teachers in a year, if nothing else -- but I don't think we emphasize enough that the important thing is being exposed to different methods... then ending up with something idiosyncratic that works well for you (in college, for example).
I taught at a school with a strong AVID program and every single class had to conform to their methodology for notes and notebook organization and I hated it.
Incidentally, my tracing method literally takes like 2 minutes to get the visual done, and I was absolutely shocked at how fast it was. I would never do 100% visual notes, but for a quick thing where I want one, I couldn't believe how fast it was.
Whoa... that iPad tracing demo was amazing. It does seem that many of the complications I have resolved in recent past somehow involve the Accessibility settings on my devices. I don't know what that means, but I am very curious now.
Thanks so much for this article - it gives me lots of food for thought. I'm also amazed that you produced such a well-crafted piece in just a few days. Well done!
I write pretty quick when I'm properly inspired and it's a topic I know pretty well :D Glad it was helpful!
I have been thinking about this too. My article in progress is more about how using physical notes are better for countering forgetfulness.
I find that physical notebook are a lot more effective and keeping me on track compared to all other digital systems, obsidian, wunderlist, notion etc.
For me, is the tangible feel of the notebook and the presence of that piece of paper constantly reminding me of things I have left to do. I absolutely love the bullet journal method, but I do stray away from the original into the more creative visual bujo styles.
Fountain pens and brush pens help me so much. Making my bullet journal aesthetically beautiful is how I motivate myself to look at it all the time instead of avoiding it the way I often avoid my digital todos.
I still prefer digital notes when it comes to thinking for my second brain, because that is when I need the back linking capabilities and the search function.
I have been thinking about whether or not to do more visual note taking and diagrams by hand instead of excalidraw, because I want to try nonlinear thinking, mindmaps and just grouping ideas visually.
I tend to use one tombow brush pen for the accent pen, and then a "hard tip" brush pen for my actual writing. I like fountain pens (the cheap pilot disposables are my favorite) but they're kind of messy and ghost even on good paper, so I mostly don't use them anymore. I used them a lot back when I was still teaching because the kids would get so mind-blown by them.
Excalidraw is a perfect example of a thing that makes sense for other people and I get why it's popular, but it just makes me feel like a fumble-fingered idiot. I don't have to think about what I'm doing when I make a mind-map or sketch an animal on paper.
Plus: paper burns quicker.
In our current times, not a worthless point.
> digital files can also get corrupted or lost
I feel like there's a missing "Digital Literacy" high school / continuing education class. Teach students how to think about both the permanence (through copying) of digital media, and its ephemerality (through ease of loss, and through common misconceptions). Explicitly teach backup strategies (ala the "3-2-1 backup strategy" as a starting point), and digital archival strategies (media rotation, to avoid obsolescence). Speaking from decades of personal experience and what people I know have gone through, there's a vast gulf between going in blind and having *any* strategy here. Paper can certainly help versus some modes of loss, as can just being organized and deliberate about important documents, but far too often paper remains as Just One Copy with all the risks that entails.
(and of course there's a lot more to that would-be syllabus, but that's for another time and place...)
Heh in my experience kids are taught "everything is in the cloud, search for it I guess."
I've got a bunch of thoughts on this! It boils down to the fact that computers are complicated and powerful, and I much prefer to just write a single line in a paper journal as a reminder to do xyz, rather than unlock phone, dodge attention grabbing apps, ignore notifications, open obsidian, don't get distracted by whatever I left open, close random tabs, then finally get to my kanban board to write one line.
I got a typewritter the other day and as stupid as it sounds the shear lack of friction to just type away at a little story is blissful. It's always "loaded", I don't have to worry about charging it, about logging into my device and 2 factor authing with my phone, just to get into a single word document that takes another 30 seconds of loading all the bloat and options around. That's ignoring all the distractions present on the computer too. (I do miss backspace however, and my roommates are painfully aware of when I use the typewriter)
I had a typewriter as a kid and loved it, but my main fear with getting one now is having to maintain it... I bought an old-style sewing machine in hopes I'd learn how to do simple stuff like patch my kids' clothes, but I am not sufficiently mechanically inclined to stop from being terrified of messing it up and not being able to fix it.
But if I remember correctly, on some typewriter models, you should be able to "backspace" by basically printing a little strip of what is basically sticky dry whiteout over the character you want to remove, and then typing over it.
The model I had as a kid (2nd grade) also had a neat function where I could type into memory and then it would print it all at once. We didn't get a real computer and printer until I was much older, but I still remember that typewriter fondly. I used it to write a Wizard of Oz adaptation with a classmate.
For what it's worth, older mass-produced mechanical devices tend to be simple, or at least have plenty of tutorials online! Sewing is a huge learning curve and I've been struggling with that, I really shouldn't have bought a nearly 100-year old sewing machine but it's simpler than you'd think.
I actually ended up hiring a woman to come and teach me how to sew using my machine, and the biggest problem ended up being that the kind of patch jobs I was trying to do just aren't feasible because the leg and armholes in kid clothes are too small 😅 so that killed some of my motivation. Maybe when the kids are older we will tackle the project of learning to sew together.
I starting using a notebook as a daily driver last January after 10-15 years of using apps like omnifocus and every notes app under the sun. It's much better for me. Everything is in the same place. You don't have to manage notes that you create in any kind of file system. You don't have things that are more ephemerallia than notes clogging up your notes apps. But you can capture all of it and then not have to think about it again if you don't want to. Or, if it's good, or sparks a thought, I'll then capture it in Obsidian. I've been using a Leuchturm Master Classic A4+ which is gigantic, but it's almost like having a personal whiteboard with me all day. Pros and cons to the size, but I love being able to spread out my thinking and can be a little less precious with format and writing size and space on the page. And it's large enough to hold letter size pages which comes in really handy. And being able to do my work without living in a screen has been a major quality of life win.
I tried the Leuchturm A4 one year but it was overwhelming, heh. I'm surprised at how much I'm liking the little A6, it doesn't take up much space but I don't feel like it's restricting the amount I naturally want to put on a page. I don't do very much with letter size pages but if you do I can definitely see the appeal of the size! For me it's mostly about being able to carry it in my purse or pocket.
Absolutely agreed on paper being a great first-past filter -- I also put the good stuff into Obsidian (which is also ultimately where all of my Substack articles end up, too).
The size is a problem sometimes. But I use it for everything, from daily tasks to planning out courses and lesson plans that I'm teaching. It's those jobs where the paper size really shines...being able to brainstorm and throw everything onto a spread and still have room left over for other notes and ideas as they come up. I also feel like I'm less precious about writing stuff down because I'm not worried about having enough room or taking up too many pages. I don't carry a purse, so any notebook that I take with me either fits in my hand or my backpack, so the portability element is real, but not so much of a determining factor for my use. I actually was trying out a B5 ... and I really like it ... but I can feel the constraints of the page size when I'm using it and have gone back to the chonk A4.
Heh, lesson planning while teaching turns out to be one of those things that I instinctively do in powerpoint, of all things. I haven't done it in years but I had a template I used for everything and it worked really well for me. Whenever I had to use the formal observation paperwork boxes it drove me nuts. It's all so personal!