Before notebooks, I went through life on autopilot. I’d go to school, work, study, do my side projects, but feel like I never had direction. Like my life was scattered. My life was scattered.
After one particularly tough day at the hospital, I pulled out an old notebook and just started writing. For 30 minutes, I dumped every dark thought, every fear, every ‘what the hell am I doing with my life’ onto those pages. That’s when I decided to quit medicine. I thought I would feel “bad” coming to that decision but I felt light. Like I finally made a decision for me. The notebook was magic.
The physicality of a notebook and pen. The lack of distraction. The amazing solidification of my thoughts. When writing it’s IMPOSSIBLE to think about anything else, just the content of my page. Writing in a notebook was so simple and, yet, changed everything. But, very quickly, I hit a snag.
I had, at one point, 19 notebooks. One for school, one for work, one for my side projects, one for my daily journal, one for ideas, and many more that I had no idea why I even had them. (b roll of a notebook labeled, how to make a Krabby Patty, also a quick reference to my first aid book.) I found myself not writing anymroe. Back onto autopilot. Back online. Back on my phone. Back with a scattered brain.
Then I had a thought so simple it felt stupid: What if I just… used one notebook? For everything. No categories. No color-coding (b-roll of a color coding notebook taking youtuber?). Just one book, chronological, like my life actually happens.
Let me introduce you to my chronological notebook system, how I organize it, and how it changed everything for me.
The One Notebook System That Changed My Life
I ONLY keep one chronological notebook at a time.
I journal in it. Write YouTube stuff. Write work stuff. Write ideas. Write poems. Write my year plan, my weekly plan, write recipes, my notes from calls and meetings, it has everything.
I take this date printer (because my handwriting is awful) and stick it onto each notebook. Then, when I’m done with a notebook, I add another date sticker marking the end, and add it to the pile. Whenever I am thinking about something, or forgetting something, I go back to that notebook around when I was thinking about the thing.
“But Zach, what about if I have multi-year projects??”
Ok, you have these projects, but how important are they if you go 3 months without ever seriously thinking about them (the life of one of my notebooks)? And could you remember the general time when you were working on the project? Yes? Then, easy, just go to the date.
Here’s what I put in my notebooks.
Notebook organization
There are a couple of my favorite ways to use the notebook:
- Journal
- Monthly habit tracker
- 12 Week Year
- Doodler/Poetry/Anything
Journal Entry:
So, every morning I write in the journal using some form of a 1-2-3 method.
- 1 brain dump of anything and everything on my mind (5-10 mins)
- 2 Things I am grateful for (2 mins)
- 3 small goals or things to do that day (1 min)
The brain dump clears my mind, the gratefulness practice makes me happier (and there is evidence behind it for mental health, happiness, sleep, and more), and the 3 small goals helps organize my day.
Monthly Tracker
At the beginning of every month, I create a habit tracker of what I’m trying to track and have an overall monthly goals to help me organize my month in my head. Usually these are things that I have to do as opposed to external outcomes prioritized based on the Eisenhower matrix.
12-Week Year
Now, I don’t set yearly goals, but about once a year I try and craft a life-vision and life goals, and then a 3 year goal from that. Usually it stays close to the same with some changes. But, instead of making “yearly goals” I set 12-week goals from the book the 12-week year.
These are actionable items in a reasonable 3 month time frame that align with my life vision.
Then once a week I come back to this page of the notebook and see how I am doing along with speaking with 2 other friends who help keep me accountable and also have their own 12-week goals in our Weekly Accountability Meetings or WAMs.
Anything and Everything
Then, here’s the best part. Any idea. Any thoughts. Drawings. Doodlings. Poems. To do lists. Meal plans. Anything go in this book.
I love it like this because I can jump back to any time in the past couple of years and see what my brain was doing. What I was thinking about, what was exciting me?
Like, recently, I was finding YouTube a bit of a struggle. How could that be when Zach from 5 years ago would pass out if he knew he would have half a milllion YouTube subscribers at one point. So, I went back to 2020, and read my thoughts.
I realized, that I was having fun not getting lots of views or subs or anything, but having lots of fun talking about stuff that genuinely interested me! And, recently, I’ve had a ton more fun with my videos because I’m just doing what’s interesting to me right now.
Organization and Gear
At the end of each notebook, as a “back up,” I painstakingly take a picture of every page and put it into a notes doc on Apple Notes. Then, I have a back-up, but, interestingly, now I can even use AI to take a look at my journals and notes and summarize what I was thinking 2 years ago or what cool ideas I had but forgot about.
Currently, my favorite notebook is the Midori A5 blank notebook in combination with a Christopher Franklin Fountain Pen or simple Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen.
Bottom Line:
So overall what do I do:
- Have only one notebook that I start every entry out with the Date/Time
- Use the 1-2-3 note-taking method for my daily journaling
- Have a monthly tracker, a 12-week year, and a life-planner occasionally
- Convert all the notes to digital and assess with AI
If only I listened to Dwight. A single notebook system is the only way I’ve been consistently able to journal and write. I went from 19 notebooks collecting dust to one notebook that knows everything. My financial anxiety sits next to my breakfast burrito recipe. My YouTube ideas mingle with my existential crises. And somehow, that chaos makes more sense than any ‘system’ ever did. Turns out my life isn’t categorized. Why should my notebook be?
In the end, in nearly all my pursuits, simplicity wins. The easiest system is usually the best one.
Thanks for reading,
Zach
