Every Day Carry

Since mid-February, a notebook has become a big part of my productivity system. There’s something about putting pen to paper that’s inherently more satisfying to me than poking at keys to make characters appear on a screen. Over six months later, I’m still writing in it daily.

I don’t carry my notebook with me everywhere, though. I carry very little with me, in fact: my phone, wallet, and my keys (and really, only the keys that I need). There’s something about the encumbrance of carrying a lot of stuff that irritates me.

On Friday, however, I picked up a Rhodia A7 notebook for a couple of bucks. It’s quite small and, paired with a Fisher Bullet space pen, adds very little bulk to my pockets. The first thing I did was completely deface the first page with random lines and scrawl a note to myself on a moving train:

There — now you can use this notebook.

Enjoy.

I’ve carried it with me for only one full day and I’ve already filled a couple of pages with some notes based on a phrase I heard.

Now, I could have just as easily captured that phrase in my phone. I’m not sure that the rest of my thoughts on the idea, however, would have flowed as easily. I find that there’s something inherently more frictionless with putting ideas into a scrappy little book; it’s a very free-form medium, devoid of any requirements for line spacing or margins.

I don’t know if transcribing notes to my main notebook will get annoying. Or if that’s even necessary, really. And despite the small size, it is one more physical thing (well, two, if you count the pen) that I have to carry around, and I do notice it.

I’m not sure if this new habit will take, but so far it’s off to a good start.