In search of a right notebook

I have always had a notebook and pen with me. Even after getting a job where the majority of work involved with computers, pen and paper was my creative outlet. I always carefully select the notebook and pen that is part of my every day carry. The size and type of the notebook did not matter when majority of my work was spent at my desk. When the creative component of my work increased and had to be frequently away from the desk for long durations meant I had to capture everything that pops out of my head and still not get distracted with the task at hand.

I thought the answer was electronic, installed Evernote and carried my laptop every where I went. This was cumbersome and sometimes distracting; I spent a lot of time typing verbatim what I was listening, recollecting what I discussed was hard so I had to access my computer again when I needed to recollect. Then I switched to the tablet, it was not as cumbersome as a computer but making entries were very tough, same with the smart phones. The tablet and smartphones were easy for small reminders and one liners but not a good medium to capture the thoughts. They were also distracting and giving an impression to others that I was not paying attention to them.

So electronic notes did not work, go back to physical notebooks? The type and size of the notebook mattered, bigger ones I was not carrying around, smaller ones I was misplacing them. I found the perfect one to be 3.5 x 5.5 inch(roughly B7 size) notebooks and with a strong flexible cover. They were small enough to always carry in a pocket, big enough to capture thoughts, write summaries, todos or draw diagrams. In US, the notebook that matched this was field notes and in India it is ‘Memo book’ from PaperClip.

Why does a physical notebook work for me? I found that I summarize my thoughts whenever I write but type verbatim. Summarizing requires me to understand and use my own words, so my understanding and recollection were better. Most of the time I never needed to go and look back at my notes. As the notebook is always with me, I readily note down the ideas that pop up at random moments and get back to what I was doing; my mindspace is freed up as I know I have captured my thoughts. Try carrying around a quality pocket notebook for a while and notice the difference it makes.