Keeping A Notebook

It’s been a little bit since we talked, hasn’t it? Well, we’ve got a few minutes before the shift starts. Let me tell you a story.

I started keeping a production notebook in 2012. I did everything wrong. It was too small. No index. I left meetings without noting key ideas. I failed to record my thoughts. The potential was there; I just hadn’t exerted the effort to give it value.

Why bother? Well, as the owner, manager, or some sort of creative, if you’re not structured, your projects suffer. How do you measure progress through a slate of mundane daily tasks? Keeping a production notebook places answers at your fingertips and makes chains of events visible, in retrospect.

It also places you in good company. Business people and artists who maintained a notebook vary from Michael Faraday, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, Tim Brown – CEO of IDEO, Francis Ford Coppola, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ryan Holiday, Austin Kleon and Guillermo del Toro.
Here’s a few notes from the last eight years:

• Keep it cheap. Moleskin notebooks are about six dollars at Walmart. That way you won’t feel bad about getting them dirty or writing aimless diatribes. Keep it portable. I picked the 5 x 8 size as it fits comfortably in my hand, backpack, or the door in my car.
• Inside the front cover, record your name, phone number, email address and the start and end date for the time period used.
• Number every five to ten pages. Along with the index, this makes every note easily retrievable.
• Populate an index in the front or the back. It works like this: as you fill several pages with notes, take a separate piece of paper and write the subjects for those meetings. Write the page number to the right. When you discuss the subject again, add that page number as well. Type it out and tape it inside your notebook. Update as you see fit with the latest content. Do it every forty pages or so. See an example here.
• For to-do lists, utilize the bullet journal format. When you identify a task, draw a little box next to it. If you’re actively working on it, place a slash in the box. When the task is complete, convert that slash into an “X”. Prioritize tasks with an A, B, or C. Do the A tasks first. Sometimes you’ll only get your “A” tasks done and that’s okay. Place uncompleted tasks on next week’s to-do list.
• Capture “notes to self”. Especially when making decisions. Clears the mind and gives you some distance from the problem, helping crystallize the issue. If you’re going to vent, vent to yourself.
• Prior to meetings, list any preparation you need to do “nemawashi”. After the meeting, list next steps. Also, add your own comments about what went well or what needs work. Go back and highlight the key ideas for discoverability. See an example here.
• Write weekly objectives. Essential to the Plan Do Check Act cycle. Schedule a retrospective Thursday afternoon or Friday morning to look back and see what’s accomplished.
• Leave several pages in the back for retrospectives and lists: Insights, sea changes (something major that was a game changer, positive or negative), books read, podcasts listened to, future goals. See an example here.
• Number, date, and file completed notebooks.

Maybe you can bottle the lightning captured by the luminaries above. You’ll still be you, with a focus and gravitas beyond where you are now. Let me know how it goes.

I’ll post any notebook photos you send on my Facebook here. Good luck!

Torrence Smith
[email protected]

Michael Faraday’s diary: https://www.faradaysdiary.com/
Austin Kleon Notebook Tumblr: https://tumblr.austinkleon.com/search/notebooks
Francis Ford Coppola Godfather notebook: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/inside-francis-ford-coppolas-godfather-notebook-never-before-seen-photos-handwritten-notes-9473
Guillermo Del Toro notebook: https://www.fastcompany.com/3020262/guillermo-del-toro-shares-14-horror-insights-from-his-spectacular-sketch-book
Thomas Edison: https://proquest.libguides.com/historyvault/edison1
Ryan Holiday: https://ryanholiday.net/the-most-important-thing-you-can-do-each-morning/
F. Scott Fitzgerald:  https://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=61603
Tim Brown: https://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/11/12/101008312/index.htm