I Was Always a Paper Person
I was talking to my partner the other day about how I am becoming an analog person: paper notebooks, pens, highlighters, etc.
And right off the bat, he told me:
“You are not becoming a paper person, you are just getting back to being one. You were always analog.”
That was interesting to hear from a person I've known and interacted with for 27 years.
So, I'm rediscovering my analog side. I've always been into handwriting, doing lettering and drawing when I was younger.
After university and when I entered the workforce, in the early 2000's, everything was about high efficiency and productivity with these amazing digital tools: emails, computer-aided design tools, messengers, chats, word processors and spreadsheets. Of course that trend continued, and nowadays it has all become digital.
I got fully into digital note-taking around 2013 with Evernote. From that point on I became a bit obsessed with digital productivity. I wanted to have everything digitally, work or personal, from photos to notes, task lists, calendars and books.
But at the same time, I've always kept one single paper notebook with me at work. A notebook that worked as a daily planner where I would just add the day and take meeting notes or list the things I was working on. So even though 99% of my information world became digital, I still kept that one analog piece with me (which I still use to this day).
I would say that my “re-awakening” to the analog world started when I tried Cal Newport's Time Block Planner. I realized how different it felt to write things down with pen and paper. I noticed that re-writing my digital calendar appointments onto paper made me less anxious about my day. It felt more real and manageable.
Then I tried the Happy Planner last year because I was missing having a personal analog place to draft and view my monthly and weekly plans. Even though I use the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology, I missed a visual planning tool. Attempts to plan digitally did not give me the clarity I experienced with paper.
But then I started finding the Happy Planner too bulky to carry around and also too restrictive because of the fixed template. I wanted to have more space to write on some days and less space on others.
And that's how I've landed on Bullet Journaling. It's been interesting to see how paper gives me this contained space, while at the same time providing freedom. With digital tools I became an information hoarder. It's so easy to dump articles to read, actions, websites to visit and random references into a digital list. I end up capturing things that don't REALLY have my attention, they are just noise. Paper acts as a great filter, because capturing becomes slower and more intentional.
I would say that one experience during my recent trip to PEI pushed me towards paper. While I was at the Charlottetown Public Library, browsing the dedicated shelf of the author L.M. Montgomery, I saw that all her personal journals were published as books. I read a couple of entries while I was there, and it really inspired me to have some sort of analog journal. For years I thought that not having paper made me a true minimalist, because why would I create a pile of used notebooks taking space in my house?
You know what? Now I am thinking that handwritten notes and journals are these precious personal things that are worth keeping.
Post 05 of #Blaugust #Productivity #notes #journal
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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.