Back in the Spring of 2013 I decided to start writing more and taking notes for all kinds of stuff and thoughts. So far I have been using Evernote for pretty much all my notes but for some things I simply wanted something that didn’t need a battery.

“The pen is the tongue of the mind.” — Horace

So first up I needed a Pen and some Paper. I decided to go for a “Plain Moleskine Classic Notebook” - that the whole world seems to be talking about - and a small Pen that launched on Kickstarter.

Putting my Pen to Paper and starting to actually use my beautiful new Notebook turned out to be harder than I thought. It was quite a change of habit for me to grab for my leather-bound notebook instead of my aluminum-cased electronic device. In the end I didn’t take notes on everything and the world but used it to jot down important ideas and plans I had in my mind. I didn’t want to swamp it with unnecessary stuff, but rather fill it with bits and pieces of some of the more important things.

“When you start putting pen to paper, you see a side of your personal truth that doesn’t otherwise reveal itself in conversation or thought.” — Anthony Kiedis, Scar Tissue

I found these words by Anthony Kiedis to be very much true. After I started writing every day and organizing my thoughts on paper, everything seemed to be more clear. Writing is slow. Compared to the speed and effectiveness of McGurrin’s touch typing system it is a gigantic step back into the Stone-Age. (or something close to that) This, of course, doesn’t seem like an advantage at first, but it turned out to be one for me. By being slow I forced myself to think about everything I was writing down. I was able to connect the things I was working on more thoroughly. I made sure that the stuff I wrote was the stuff I wanted to write. I never wanted to erase anything; it doesn’t look good and pretty much everything should be kept for reference. An idiom also often held by scientists.

Looking back at my decision a year later, I still very much enjoy writing in my notebook. I use it about twice a week, mostly at night before I go to bed. I collect some thoughts from the day, see whats up next and make some goals for tomorrow. I even draw random doodles sometimes! Doing so is rather relaxing and I simply could not have done it in a solution like Evernote.

In the end I can only recommend getting your hands on your very own notebook and starting to write, you might not use it a lot but nevertheless if you do it right it can help you for sure.

“It ain’t whatcha write, it’s the way atcha write it.” — Jack Kerouac, WD