00:00:00
notebooks are really simple tools that
00:00:01
can drastically improve your life but
00:00:04
there are so many different ways that
00:00:05
you can use a notebook so many different
00:00:06
methodologies so what's the single best
00:00:09
way to use a notebook welcome to park
00:00:11
notes I'm Parker setticase I'm a
00:00:12
philosopher and I'm here to help you
00:00:15
study and think and read more deeply in
00:00:17
this video I'm going to help you
00:00:18
determine what's the single best way to
00:00:21
use a notebook that is what's the single
00:00:22
best way for you to use a notebook the
00:00:24
answer is going to be person relative
00:00:26
depending on your own needs but I've
00:00:28
been utilizing lots of different
00:00:29
notebook methodologies for the past 11
00:00:32
years and over the course of three
00:00:33
master's degrees and through this
00:00:35
YouTube channel I've accidentally become
00:00:37
a notebook Zar so I'm going to use some
00:00:39
of the skills that I learned in my
00:00:40
master's degree in philosophy to help us
00:00:42
get clear on all the different notebook
00:00:44
methodologies in order to help you pick
00:00:47
which one's best for you we're going to
00:00:48
chart the logical space of all notebooks
00:00:51
but before we jump in I want to get a
00:00:52
feel for who's here so if you use one or
00:00:54
more notebooks already or if you're a
00:00:56
major notebook Junkie A notehead then
00:00:58
leave me a notebook Emoji in the
00:01:00
comments right now and if that doesn't
00:01:01
describe you and you're just kind of
00:01:02
curious about the video or you don't
00:01:04
know how you ended up watching this then
00:01:06
leave me a thinking Emoji in the
00:01:07
comments it's great to have you here
00:01:09
this video is sponsored by brilliant but
00:01:10
more on that later let's Jump Right In
00:01:12
okay so here we go I'm going to give you
00:01:14
all the secrets what's the very best way
00:01:16
to keep a notebook well that's going to
00:01:19
depend on you notebooks are just raw
00:01:21
material waiting to be formed the truth
00:01:23
is there's lots of different ways that
00:01:24
you can go about keeping a notebook
00:01:26
there are tons of notebook methodologies
00:01:28
and each is designed to help you in
00:01:30
various different ways but at the end of
00:01:31
the day notebooks and their
00:01:33
methodologies are just tools so what
00:01:35
task do you need a tool for what are you
00:01:36
working on the job is going to determine
00:01:38
the best tool to use so what's missing
00:01:40
from your life is it intellectual
00:01:42
stimulation space and time to think
00:01:44
deeply wisdom inspiration time
00:01:47
management life management organizing
00:01:49
your thoughts recording and processing
00:01:51
your experiences whatever you need in
00:01:53
your life is going to determine which
00:01:55
notebook methodology is best for you now
00:01:57
I can't solve that for you it's going to
00:01:58
depend on you and your needs s but what
00:02:00
I can do is give you an analysis of all
00:02:02
the different types of notebook
00:02:04
methodologies so that when you figure
00:02:05
out what you need you can find the best
00:02:07
notebook for you so I'm going to give
00:02:08
you three categories and then from there
00:02:10
I'm going to chart the logical space of
00:02:12
notebook methodologies so the major
00:02:14
categories are thoughts experience and
00:02:16
self-mastery do I need a notebook to
00:02:18
collect thoughts do I need a notebook to
00:02:20
capture and process my experience do I
00:02:23
need a notebook to help me master myself
00:02:25
going through this process is an
00:02:26
exercise in self- knowledge I'm asking
00:02:28
you to examine your yourself examine
00:02:30
your life and determine what do I need
00:02:32
to live better today so let me go
00:02:34
through these three categories and give
00:02:35
a characterization of each and then I
00:02:37
will cover which notebooks fall under
00:02:40
these three so first up is thoughts
00:02:42
thoughts break down into self-generated
00:02:44
thoughts and glean thoughts so you're
00:02:45
going to have a notebook to either
00:02:47
generate your own thoughts to Think
00:02:49
Through what you believe why you believe
00:02:50
it or you're going to have it as a
00:02:52
collection of gleaned thoughts of
00:02:53
thoughts that you've captured from other
00:02:55
people that you are collecting and
00:02:56
putting into a notebook so a notebook
00:02:58
for self-generated thoughts are going to
00:03:00
help you figure out what you believe
00:03:01
think deeply actually know yourself know
00:03:04
thyself and learn to reason better by
00:03:06
forcing your ideas into words and then
00:03:08
scrutinizing and examining them a
00:03:10
notebook for gleaned thoughts can be
00:03:12
used to collect inspirational quotes can
00:03:14
be used for intellectual stimulation
00:03:16
you're capturing ideas that help you
00:03:18
think they're used for committing
00:03:20
information to memory and they're used
00:03:21
to learn new Concepts and ideas and
00:03:24
study ones that you want to know better
00:03:26
and then there's also a mixed notebook
00:03:27
where you collect your own thoughts your
00:03:29
self-generated thoughts and where you
00:03:31
glean thoughts and ideas from others now
00:03:33
people often ask me Park what if I just
00:03:35
don't have new ideas where do I go about
00:03:37
collecting and Gathering new things to
00:03:39
think about where do I go for
00:03:40
intellectual stimulation well here I
00:03:42
want to mention brilliant now I love
00:03:44
brilliant because brilliant is where you
00:03:45
learn by doing brilliant is a learning
00:03:48
platform designed to be uniquely
00:03:50
effective with thousands of interactive
00:03:51
lessons in math data science programming
00:03:54
and artificial intelligence they've got
00:03:56
this first principles approach which
00:03:58
helps you build understanding from the
00:03:59
ground up and each lesson is filled with
00:04:01
Hands-On problem solving that let you
00:04:03
play with Concepts as you learn this is
00:04:05
a method proven to be six times more
00:04:07
effective than just watching lecture
00:04:09
videos by themselves plus all the
00:04:11
content on brilliant is crafted by an
00:04:13
award-winning team of teachers
00:04:14
researchers and professionals from MIT
00:04:17
Caltech Duke Microsoft Google and more
00:04:19
brilliant helps you build critical
00:04:21
thinking skills through problem solving
00:04:22
not just memorizing so while you're
00:04:24
actually building real knowledge on
00:04:26
specific topics you're also going to
00:04:28
become a better thinker and brilliant
00:04:29
helps you build real knowledge in just
00:04:31
minutes a day with fun lessons that you
00:04:33
can do whenever you have time so instead
00:04:34
of scrolling your life away you can pull
00:04:36
out brilliant and level up a little bit
00:04:37
more each day now if you know me at all
00:04:39
you know I'm interested in the
00:04:41
philosophy of artificial intelligence
00:04:43
and I've really been enjoying Brilliance
00:04:44
immersive AI Workshop called how llms
00:04:48
work this Workshop helps you get
00:04:49
Hands-On with real language models it
00:04:51
will help you understand the importance
00:04:53
of training data and it will help you
00:04:54
learn how to tune an llm to generate
00:04:57
different kinds of output whether it's
00:04:58
poetry or cover letter so right now my
00:05:01
Park notes audience gets to try
00:05:02
everything brilliant has to offer for
00:05:04
free for 30 days just visit
00:05:06
brilliant.org Park notes or click on the
00:05:09
link in the description or the pinned
00:05:10
comment and you'll also get 20% off in
00:05:12
annual premium subscription so big
00:05:14
thanks to brilliant for sponsoring this
00:05:16
video I said I was going to go through
00:05:17
each one of these categories and then
00:05:19
talk about the notebooks but that's a
00:05:20
bad idea let me just run through the
00:05:21
different ways that you can use a
00:05:22
notebook for thoughts and then I'll move
00:05:24
on to experience and those notebooks and
00:05:25
then self-mastery and those notebooks so
00:05:27
going back to the self-generated
00:05:29
category these are notebooks for your
00:05:31
own ideas your own thoughts first up we
00:05:33
have journals now a journal is just a
00:05:35
collection of ideas so this is a
00:05:37
notebook where you sit down and you
00:05:38
think through your ideas not a diary
00:05:40
Diaries are for capturing experiences
00:05:43
they are time bound they are about
00:05:44
emotions and how you're feeling and what
00:05:47
that experience was like journals Are
00:05:49
For Thoughts here's what I think and
00:05:51
here's why I think it now you can keep a
00:05:53
journal in a general way or in a topic
00:05:55
specific way so you can say hey this is
00:05:57
my notebook for my thoughts or you can
00:05:59
say this is my notebook for this
00:06:01
particular type of thought maybe it's my
00:06:03
philosophy Journal maybe it's a theology
00:06:05
Journal that's like the categories I
00:06:07
always thinking but you come up with
00:06:08
your own categories if you want a topic
00:06:10
specific Journal I only want to think
00:06:12
about these type of thoughts in this
00:06:13
notebook it's dedicated to that
00:06:15
discipline now another type of Journal
00:06:17
is a dioa journal this is a thinking
00:06:19
through Journal so you take your
00:06:21
notebook and you start a new entry at
00:06:23
the top you write the idea that you want
00:06:24
to think about and then you actually do
00:06:26
the thinking there on the page you give
00:06:28
yourself enough time to actually think
00:06:30
through and make progress on an idea
00:06:32
what do I think about God what do I
00:06:34
think about Free Will what do I think
00:06:36
about the meaning of life is there one
00:06:38
why or why not again these are like
00:06:40
philosophical Concepts but that's who I
00:06:42
am so this is how I think you're
00:06:43
thinking through your own worldview
00:06:45
you're thinking through your own ideas
00:06:47
in order to get clear and to see what do
00:06:49
you really believe and how far can you
00:06:51
actually push your ideas so it's a diano
00:06:53
notebook that is thinking through your
00:06:55
own ideas you can also keep a journal of
00:06:57
your ideas so I have a good idea Journal
00:06:59
when I come up with good ideas I put
00:07:01
them all in one spot and then I act on
00:07:03
them and when they're done I put a check
00:07:05
and I'm done with that idea or I Circle
00:07:07
I make different marks to tell myself
00:07:10
what's going on with that idea is it
00:07:11
still an open loop or is it a closed
00:07:12
loop do I need to act on this idea have
00:07:14
I already acted on this idea do I need
00:07:16
to do more it's just a collection of my
00:07:18
best ideas now the next way to use a
00:07:20
notebook for your own thoughts is
00:07:23
keeping a book of philosophical
00:07:24
soliloquies I should mention I've done
00:07:26
videos on all of these so you can check
00:07:28
the description and look up the
00:07:30
soliloquies video and you can find a
00:07:32
more in-depth take on philosophical
00:07:34
soliloquies but I'll give a quick
00:07:36
characterization here a soliloquy is
00:07:38
just a discussion with yourself so I'm
00:07:40
taking this idea from philosophers like
00:07:41
St Augustine or boethus who both used
00:07:45
philosophical soliloquies in order to
00:07:47
get clear on what they believe oeus
00:07:49
wrote his Soliloquy as a conversation
00:07:51
between him and Lady philosophy so he
00:07:54
personified philosophy itself as a woman
00:07:56
who came to visit him while he in prison
00:07:58
and helped him think through his
00:08:00
worldview and this Soliloquy helped him
00:08:02
think through things like God's relation
00:08:03
to time and evil super cool St Augustine
00:08:06
in his soliloquies personifies his own
00:08:08
reason as a person and is discussing the
00:08:11
nature and existence of the soul and of
00:08:14
God in order to gain self- knowledge so
00:08:16
in my book of soliloquies I often ask
00:08:18
myself a question about what I think
00:08:21
what I believe why I am a certain way I
00:08:23
often write about villains why do I like
00:08:25
villains why do I like this particular
00:08:26
villain why do I find them so compelling
00:08:29
what's wrong with me sometimes I'm just
00:08:31
asking myself and answering as myself
00:08:33
sometimes I will personify my own reason
00:08:35
much in the same way as boethus or
00:08:37
Austine another way to use a notebook to
00:08:39
collect your own thoughts is to keep a
00:08:40
book of book reviews this is really
00:08:43
simple you just take a notebook and when
00:08:44
you're done reading a book you write
00:08:45
your own book review of IT what was the
00:08:47
plot who are the main characters what
00:08:49
happened and then personal stuff like
00:08:50
did you like it would you read it again
00:08:52
should you read it again what was hard
00:08:53
to understand which characters fell flat
00:08:55
and which characters did you resonate
00:08:57
with and maybe even include some of your
00:08:59
favorite quot quotes and the page
00:09:00
numbers where you can find them again
00:09:01
and the last one on the list is keeping
00:09:03
a personal handbook now I'm still
00:09:05
working on one of these myself but I
00:09:06
used to use note cards on a ring with
00:09:08
some of my favorite Proverbs and I would
00:09:10
read this before a meeting especially a
00:09:12
meeting where I was prone to be
00:09:14
emotionally charged I would thumb
00:09:15
through those beforehand hey a fool
00:09:17
gives full vent to a spirit but a man of
00:09:19
understanding quietly holds it back
00:09:21
stuff like that to help me be wise so
00:09:23
then I thought hey corporations come up
00:09:24
with handbooks on how you should act in
00:09:27
their company why don't I take some of
00:09:28
the principles from Proverbs note cards
00:09:30
and turn them into a personal handbook
00:09:32
here's how Parker should conduct himself
00:09:34
here's how I want to be here's the type
00:09:36
of man that I'm going to be so I'm still
00:09:38
working on that I don't have anything to
00:09:39
show you right now but hopefully I'll do
00:09:41
something on that later let me know in
00:09:43
the comments do you want to see
00:09:44
something like that if you tell me you
00:09:45
want to see it then that will help
00:09:47
motivate me to do it if you don't I'm
00:09:48
probably still going to do it but leave
00:09:49
me a comment okay so those are notebooks
00:09:51
to keep your own thoughts now how about
00:09:53
a notebook to keep thoughts from others
00:09:55
thoughts that you've gleaned through
00:09:56
reading or listening to podcasts or
00:09:58
attending lectures or you know whatever
00:10:00
so first up is commonplace books I love
00:10:02
these if you know anything about the
00:10:04
channel you know I'm obsessed with them
00:10:05
I think they're the best intellectual
00:10:07
tool out there a commonplace book is
00:10:09
just a collection of quotes So this
00:10:10
motivates you to read widely and collect
00:10:13
quotations from what you read put them
00:10:15
all into one spot for you to read back
00:10:17
through at your own Leisure I've given a
00:10:19
pretty intense analysis of commonplace
00:10:21
books in other videos you can find those
00:10:23
in the description maybe I'll drop a
00:10:25
link up here but basically there are
00:10:26
four different types of commonplace
00:10:28
books there's a General and a specific
00:10:30
there's a treasury and a manuscript and
00:10:32
so you can mix and match those and get
00:10:34
four types of commonplace books a
00:10:36
general commonplace book is just a
00:10:37
collection of all your favorite quotes
00:10:39
doesn't matter if it's fiction or
00:10:40
history or philosophy it's all going in
00:10:42
one spot just general what you read goes
00:10:45
in here then there's topic specific
00:10:46
commonplace books so I have a philosophy
00:10:49
of Mind commonplace book it's only for
00:10:51
quotations on the philosophy of mind I
00:10:53
have a definition of philosophy
00:10:55
commonplace book because every
00:10:56
philosopher has their own definition and
00:10:58
so I collect those put them all into one
00:11:00
notebook I also have a general
00:11:01
commonplace book where I put quotes that
00:11:03
don't fit into any of my topic specific
00:11:05
commonplace books now there's also the
00:11:07
treasury versus manuscript way to keep a
00:11:09
commonplace book A treasury is just
00:11:11
collecting the quotes and putting them
00:11:12
in your notebook a manuscript
00:11:14
commonplace book is where you collect
00:11:15
the quotes and then you annotate them
00:11:17
yourself you give your own ideas you
00:11:19
give your own exegesis what does this
00:11:20
quote say what does it mean what do I
00:11:22
think about it does it represent a good
00:11:23
argument a bad argument and you're
00:11:25
manuscript out your own paper Treatise
00:11:28
blog post Facebook post whatever
00:11:30
incorporating that quotation into your
00:11:32
notebook so I actually think this fits
00:11:34
in a mixed notebook because a manuscript
00:11:37
commonplace book gleans ideas from
00:11:39
others but also includes your own
00:11:41
self-generated ideas about the ideas of
00:11:44
someone else so I use my manuscript
00:11:45
commonplace books mostly for writing
00:11:47
philosophy papers next up we have
00:11:48
compendiums compendiums are just
00:11:50
collected information so if commonplace
00:11:52
books are collecting quotes a compendium
00:11:54
is where you abstract out the
00:11:55
information instead of the quote these
00:11:57
are usually meant to be comprehensive
00:11:59
ensive in scope and systematically
00:12:01
presented so I'm keeping a compendium on
00:12:03
the simulation hypothesis I want it to
00:12:05
be comprehensive I want to know
00:12:06
everything about the simulation
00:12:08
hypothesis all the major thinkers who
00:12:10
talk about it all of their arguments for
00:12:12
and against it and I'm going to try to
00:12:14
present them systematically in my
00:12:15
notebook so I can find them easily I
00:12:17
often use a field guide as an example of
00:12:19
a compendium so a field guide of North
00:12:22
American reptiles or Birds is going to
00:12:24
be all the birds all the reptiles from
00:12:26
North America so it's comprehensive in
00:12:28
scope and it's going to be
00:12:29
systematically presented so you can find
00:12:31
the information easy but it's not going
00:12:33
to include quotes from different authors
00:12:35
or researchers it's just going to
00:12:37
include the information that's pertinent
00:12:39
to turtles or Birds next up is a
00:12:41
notebook for lecture notes there's some
00:12:43
psychological research saying that
00:12:45
keeping lhand notes in class is better
00:12:48
than using a laptop and some of the
00:12:49
reasoning behind that is that a laptop
00:12:51
helps you take all the notes for Baum
00:12:53
from your professor and you're turning
00:12:55
yourself into a typing machine instead
00:12:57
of thinking about the concept and ideas
00:12:59
that your professor is expounding for
00:13:01
you however when you take long hand
00:13:03
notes you can't take down what the
00:13:05
professor is saying verbatim because you
00:13:06
can't write fast enough so you have to
00:13:08
metabolize compartmentalize make the
00:13:11
ideas that your professor is expounding
00:13:13
you have to make those your own and then
00:13:15
write them in your own words and it said
00:13:17
that this process actually helps you
00:13:18
learn and recall information better so I
00:13:20
suggest if you're in school right now
00:13:22
use a notebook and write long hand
00:13:24
similarly you can also use a notebook
00:13:26
for meeting notes if you have a lot of
00:13:28
meetings with people take notes for
00:13:30
those meetings have a notebook that's
00:13:31
dedicated just to meeting up with people
00:13:33
and taking notes whether that's for work
00:13:35
or friendships or counseling people hey
00:13:38
what did we talk about last time oh yeah
00:13:40
I have a note right here here's what you
00:13:41
said and here's the actionable stuff
00:13:43
just like a notebook is good for your
00:13:45
lecture notes so a notebook is good for
00:13:47
your meeting notes next up we have a
00:13:49
personal dictionary if you want to
00:13:51
increase your vocabulary I think one of
00:13:53
the best things you can do is keep your
00:13:54
own personal dictionary the idea is
00:13:56
really simple when you're reading if you
00:13:58
find a new word or a word that you
00:13:59
really like a word that you want to
00:14:01
incorporate into your own life you just
00:14:03
box that word you look up that word
00:14:05
maybe you write the definition in the
00:14:06
book but when you're done reading you
00:14:07
look back through all the Box words and
00:14:09
you add those into a notebook you give a
00:14:11
definition you give the atmology of the
00:14:13
word where it came from and you can also
00:14:15
include where you found it so maybe you
00:14:16
give the sentence where you found the
00:14:17
word and one or two for context now not
00:14:20
only are you gaining a new word or
00:14:21
remembering a good word you're also
00:14:23
remembering more and more about the book
00:14:25
you just read now I also keep a notebook
00:14:26
for when I take my daughter to the
00:14:28
doctor my the wife has a good memory but
00:14:30
for whatever reason when she's sitting
00:14:31
with the doctor talking about our
00:14:33
daughter she has a really hard time
00:14:34
remembering what the doctor had said to
00:14:36
us so I have a whole notebook that's
00:14:38
dedicated just to notes that I took
00:14:40
while in our doctor's appointment and
00:14:42
these have come in handy and made me
00:14:43
look like a superhero to my wife all
00:14:45
right so the next major category is
00:14:47
experience this usually has a Time
00:14:49
component whether it's daily weekly
00:14:51
monthly yearly whatever you're capturing
00:14:53
your experience as data points for you
00:14:54
to look back on and track Trends or see
00:14:57
how you're doing go back and reflect and
00:14:59
process through your experiences through
00:15:02
your feelings so these notebooks are
00:15:03
going to be different than thoughts
00:15:04
because they are capturing and
00:15:06
processing important events here's what
00:15:08
happened today here's what I experienced
00:15:10
here's how I'm feeling about it or I'm
00:15:11
not sure how I'm feeling about it but
00:15:13
here's what happened so what happened
00:15:15
and how did it make you feel collect
00:15:17
that data these notebooks are going to
00:15:18
be emotions heavy but it also is going
00:15:20
to include a record of actions what did
00:15:23
I do in response to this event or to
00:15:25
this person's action how did I respond
00:15:27
how was my response received all that
00:15:29
kind of stuff that's going to go in a
00:15:30
notebook dedicated to your experiences
00:15:33
so different methodologies include
00:15:35
keeping a daily diary or a monthly Etc
00:15:38
whatever time constraint you want I'll
00:15:40
just say daily diary but you can fill in
00:15:41
the blank for yourself this is the most
00:15:43
straightforward the most simple get a
00:15:44
notebook and start recording your
00:15:46
experiences and how you felt about those
00:15:48
experiences capture and process
00:15:50
important emotions and events throughout
00:15:53
your day I also want to include a prayer
00:15:54
diary so if you're someone who prays you
00:15:56
can write those down and look back at
00:15:58
them if you've seen some of your prayers
00:16:00
answered then you can Mark those in a
00:16:02
special way and say answered and come
00:16:03
back and write down how specifically
00:16:05
they were answered or you can actually
00:16:07
keep a separate notebook for answered
00:16:08
prayer so when you're feeling down
00:16:10
you're feeling like God doesn't care
00:16:11
about you or whatever go back through
00:16:13
your answered prayer diary where you
00:16:15
present evidence of God answering your
00:16:17
prayers to yourself to lift your spirits
00:16:19
and trust God even more next up we have
00:16:21
a nature log I just did a video on this
00:16:23
a lot of people call these nature
00:16:25
journals um I'm not sure I think it's
00:16:27
probably a nature diary usually because
00:16:29
they're time bound hey on this date I
00:16:31
went out and I saw this animal and
00:16:33
here's how I felt about it it was super
00:16:34
cool but most of us are not like
00:16:36
discovering new species and adding
00:16:38
information to the public record these
00:16:40
are usually for us to capture our
00:16:41
experience out in nature and I'll also
00:16:43
include bullet journals sometimes these
00:16:45
are used to capture experiences
00:16:46
sometimes they're used more like a diary
00:16:48
I think with the time component and the
00:16:50
experience component I think the bullet
00:16:51
journals are actually bullet Diaries but
00:16:54
I know people mix and match they use
00:16:56
these terms interchangeably that's fine
00:16:59
if you're going with my terms then it
00:17:00
probably should be called a bullet diary
00:17:02
but whatever now at the intersection of
00:17:04
thoughts and experience is going to be a
00:17:05
book of love I recently did a video on
00:17:07
this as well this is like a cross
00:17:09
between self-generated gleaned and a
00:17:11
type of diary prayer diary depends on
00:17:14
how you keep it but it's a book of love
00:17:15
an Aeros Journal an Aeros diary written
00:17:18
for your future spouse so you're going
00:17:20
to be collecting ideas from others maybe
00:17:22
you're collecting sonnets maybe you're
00:17:23
collecting poems or song lyrics you're
00:17:26
also going to be incorporating your own
00:17:27
ideas about life and God and human
00:17:31
nature and where you see yourself in 10
00:17:33
years 20 years 50 years whatever but
00:17:36
you're also going to include your
00:17:37
experience hey today I was lonely and I
00:17:40
can't wait until I meet you today I was
00:17:42
daydreaming about what you're going to
00:17:43
look like today was really good today
00:17:45
was really bad today my dad said this
00:17:47
today this huge life event happened and
00:17:49
I want to write about it here to look
00:17:51
back with you later because it was
00:17:53
important in my life and I want to share
00:17:54
that with you so a book of love is a
00:17:56
unique way to incorporate the categories
00:17:58
that we've talked about already all into
00:18:00
one notebook and then lastly we have
00:18:02
self-mastery in these notebook systems
00:18:04
you're going to manage and track goals
00:18:06
you're going to use daily metrics to do
00:18:08
so you're going to manage projects
00:18:09
you're going to use notebooks for time
00:18:11
management for productivity to declutter
00:18:13
your mind and maybe you'll also keep
00:18:15
like a wants list what are some things
00:18:16
that I want I can write them down so I'm
00:18:18
not anxiously ruminating about those
00:18:21
throughout the day and the actual
00:18:22
notebook systems themselves are super
00:18:23
easy first up we have a reading log now
00:18:25
a reading log is just a notebook that
00:18:27
you use to track your reading goals I
00:18:28
like to come up with a daily page number
00:18:30
goal for the year I come up with this at
00:18:32
the start of every year I write it down
00:18:34
in my reading log and that helps me be
00:18:36
accountable to my reading goals hey I
00:18:37
want to be a person who reads this many
00:18:39
pages every day because I know that will
00:18:41
help me get through X number of books or
00:18:43
philosophy papers or whatever I know
00:18:45
that reading this many pages is good for
00:18:46
me and so I'm going to use reading log
00:18:48
to track that and make sure I'm actually
00:18:50
hitting my numbers again i' I've done a
00:18:52
video on like all of these but my
00:18:53
reading log video is one of my favorites
00:18:55
check that out up here or in the
00:18:57
description next we have a Time block BL
00:18:59
log this is just a notebook where you
00:19:00
plan out your daily work schedule you
00:19:02
use time blocks of no less than half an
00:19:04
hour and you block off when you're going
00:19:06
to do what in these blocks I'm going to
00:19:08
write emails in these blocks I'm doing
00:19:09
deep work or deep reading in these
00:19:11
blocks I'm doing Project X Y or Z but
00:19:14
you're taking the time to write out your
00:19:16
day and when something messes up your
00:19:17
schedule you go back and You remake your
00:19:20
time blocks this is a hassle but it will
00:19:22
encourage you to be better with your
00:19:24
time next up is using a bullet Journal
00:19:26
as your analog calendar there are tons
00:19:29
of videos about bullet journals but I
00:19:31
incorporate my time block log and bullet
00:19:33
Journal together and I did a video on
00:19:35
that so check that out up here another
00:19:36
way to use a notebook for self-mastery
00:19:38
is a notebook for to-do lists here you
00:19:40
just sit down in the morning and you
00:19:42
write down everything you have to do you
00:19:43
go through it throughout the day and
00:19:44
cross off the tasks as you complete them
00:19:47
now this isn't my favorite thing to do I
00:19:48
incorporate this into my bullet journal
00:19:50
and time block log because it doesn't
00:19:52
help me to just see a bunch of tasks
00:19:54
sitting on a page I need to schedule out
00:19:56
when I'm going to try to accomplish
00:19:58
those tasks but I know other people
00:19:59
really like just task lists so you can
00:20:02
consider keeping a whole notebook of
00:20:03
them this one may seem a little selfish
00:20:05
here but keeping a notebook of things
00:20:06
you want I I want a kayak and a garage
00:20:09
gym I want a generator for when my
00:20:11
electricity goes out there's a lot of
00:20:12
stuff that I need and a lot of things
00:20:14
that I want and it's exhausting to try
00:20:16
to remember them all so I write them in
00:20:18
a notebook and that way I can start
00:20:20
saving money and being responsible
00:20:22
instead of just splurging on things that
00:20:24
I want instead of things that I need and
00:20:25
it relieves the stress of trying to
00:20:27
ruminate on things that I need oh I need
00:20:29
that generator next time the electricity
00:20:31
goes out we're screwed so uh no put that
00:20:33
in a notebook and then when you get paid
00:20:35
look at your things I want notebook and
00:20:37
see if you can't allocate some funds
00:20:38
towards specific things on the list next
00:20:41
up is a workout log here you're planning
00:20:43
out your workouts for the week and
00:20:44
you're writing out what exercises you
00:20:46
did in any particular workout session
00:20:49
this is a way to keep myself honest I
00:20:51
can see when I didn't accomplish my
00:20:53
workout goals and I don't like that but
00:20:55
it also helps me remember what I did
00:20:57
last week and how I need to
00:20:58
incrementally improve this week what
00:21:01
weight did I use how far did I run what
00:21:03
was my time if I write it down and I
00:21:05
make goals I can improve if not then
00:21:07
it's all just nebulous I tried I think I
00:21:09
worked out last week I don't really know
00:21:11
what I did but I think I did so I love
00:21:13
keeping a notebook as an analog workout
00:21:15
log and then lastly is my book of
00:21:17
dastardly plans I have a ton of open
00:21:20
projects I have like seven or eight
00:21:22
YouTube channels I think three of them
00:21:23
are unlaunched but I have a bunch of
00:21:25
ideas for them and I'm working on videos
00:21:26
to start launching those channels I have
00:21:28
a substack and I have a subsection of my
00:21:31
substack called sages Mages and wisdom
00:21:33
machines where I write Science Fiction
00:21:35
and Fantasy short stories with like
00:21:37
philosophical and Theological bents and
00:21:39
leanings and ideas woven throughout all
00:21:41
this to say I have a lot of stuff going
00:21:42
on so I use a notebook in order to keep
00:21:44
track of all the Loose Ends I look back
00:21:46
in there and I remember oh yeah I
00:21:48
haven't done anything on this project in
00:21:50
a long time I need to schedule work on
00:21:52
that project next week I call it
00:21:53
dastardly plans because I think of Mor
00:21:56
arti from Sherlock Holmes a game of
00:21:58
shadows Sherlock says with an Empire so
00:22:00
vast even you Mor arti must keep a
00:22:02
record of it somewhere so I think about
00:22:04
my YouTube Empire and how I need to keep
00:22:06
track of it somewhere I also use a red
00:22:08
leatherbound pocket notebook from
00:22:09
smitson of Bond Street which is the same
00:22:12
thing that Mor Ari uses in Game of
00:22:13
Shadows I love that movie it's a fun
00:22:15
little homage to Mor arti but those
00:22:17
things are expensive and it reminds me
00:22:19
hey I better be using this if I'm going
00:22:21
to buy it I better be looking in here
00:22:23
and following up on my goals my projects
00:22:25
my plans I have dreams and I want to
00:22:27
accomplish those dreams so go back and
00:22:29
look at the notebook and make progress
00:22:31
on your different projects now this
00:22:33
isn't like a strict actual flowchart
00:22:35
these arrows help me but they all
00:22:37
terminate on a catch all I think
00:22:38
everyone should probably have a pocket
00:22:40
catchall catchalls are just that it's
00:22:42
for catching all of this your thoughts
00:22:45
your experiences self-mastery management
00:22:48
type stuff those are all going in your
00:22:49
catchall notebook which you bring with
00:22:51
you everywhere you go and then when you
00:22:53
have time you can disperse them back out
00:22:55
to the appropriate notebook so
00:22:57
importantly these things have to be
00:22:58
portable I like pocket notebooks they
00:23:00
fit right in your pocket I like field
00:23:02
notes I like the mool skin Caye I like L
00:23:04
term 1917 there's links to all those in
00:23:06
the description but pick what you like
00:23:08
and go with that put it in your pocket
00:23:09
put in your purse bring it with you
00:23:11
everywhere you go and write down your
00:23:12
important ideas write down your thoughts
00:23:14
write down to-do lists write down ideas
00:23:16
for notebooks write down thoughts that
00:23:18
you heard while listening to a YouTube
00:23:20
video and then review review review
00:23:22
review before bed review when you have a
00:23:24
moment use your time block log schedule
00:23:26
in time for review maybe put it in your
00:23:28
analog calendar make a Time block here's
00:23:31
time to review my catchall and then to
00:23:33
disperse the information out to the
00:23:35
appropriate notebook bring it with you
00:23:37
everywhere you go if you're going to use
00:23:38
just one notebook make it a catchall
00:23:40
these are so helpful but I think as you
00:23:42
start filling these up you're going to
00:23:43
say hey I need a notebook for my
00:23:45
thoughts I need a commonplace book for
00:23:46
quotes I need a daily diary to capture
00:23:49
and process important events and
00:23:51
feelings I need a calendar or a Time
00:23:53
block log I definitely need a reading
00:23:54
log I think as you use a catchall more
00:23:56
and more you'll find yourself using more
00:23:58
and more notebooks but if you're going
00:24:00
to start anywhere start here all right
00:24:01
so that's it those are three main
00:24:04
categories for determining which
00:24:05
notebook is best for you and a bunch of
00:24:07
styles that I use I'm sure that's like
00:24:09
way too much hopefully it's not
00:24:10
overwhelming for you I suggest that you
00:24:12
don't try all of these but just go with
00:24:14
one that sticks out to you and like I
00:24:15
said you can't go wrong with a pocket
00:24:17
notebook catchall you can find my
00:24:18
affiliate links in the description of
00:24:20
this video If you're looking to get a
00:24:21
new notebook or a nice leather cover
00:24:23
I've got some discounts for you if you
00:24:24
made it this far into the video then now
00:24:26
you are a notebook wizard so leave me a
00:24:28
wizard Emoji in the comments so I know
00:24:30
who the real ones are and make sure you
00:24:31
leave me a comment what's your favorite
00:24:33
way to use a notebook I appreciate all
00:24:35
the support if you guys want to continue
00:24:36
supporting this channel then become a
00:24:38
YouTube member you can find a link in
00:24:40
the description here and I have some
00:24:41
exclusive content for you or become a
00:24:43
paid subscriber over at my substack you
00:24:45
can find that link in the description as
00:24:47
well you guys are awesome all right
00:24:48
that's going to have to do it for now
00:24:49
I'll catch you guys next time
