That Randy Brown

Starting with Ha

In November, I went back to a physical notebook for recording my thoughts. Just one of the many ways I'm trying to unplug more. Since I've been at it for a few months, I figured it was okay to upgrade to a slightly better notebook. I didn't really want more or larger pages though--part of what makes it easy for me to use a notebook is that it feels ephemeral, reducing the overhead of 'using it' because things don't need to be important. Also, small pages don't feel as daunting because they are easy to fill.

What I did want was more flexibility of page format. Drawing over the lines had worn thin pretty quickly. So I opted for a dot notebook. The one I bought--an A6 dot notebook, associated itself with the bullet journal method, which is something I admit I have only passing familiarity with, so I checked out the book from the library to understand more about it.

I very intentionally do not want to bullet journal, though--I don't want the structure or anxiety it brings. I want a place to collect notes that well, isn't this repository. One example of this, is that as the very first exercise, it recommends outlining things currently doing, need to be doing, and want to be doing, as a filtering exercise. It seems like a good exercise, and one I might find value in. But it recommends 'not doing this in the bullet journal', as the journal should be saved for intentional and meaningful stuff. That's a question I don't want to hang over useing my notebook, so it's a rule I know I'll break, right out of the gate: my notebook is meant to be a place for stuff that I've yet to discern the meaning or value of.