OPTED Magazine

It’s a movie, it’s a cult following, it’s a word for a laptop.  It’s a notebook.

For centuries, the notebook has been a tool for artisans, writers and people of all walks of life to record their thoughts, dream, notes and ideas.  It may not sound fascinating due to it’s common place role in our lives, but the possibilities for the role and setup of a notebook are endless!

My story

My first part time job in college was working as a receptionist for a local company and I met a woman working in another department who could be the poster child for organization and record keeping.  She showed me her large, hardcover notebook with blank pages and opened to the middle where a strip of ribbon marked her current page.  She had lines and lines of meticulous notes interspersed with colored titles and doodles.  She explained, “I write everything in here!  Notes from meetings, my dreams, my lists, my doodles and I think of it as a work of art.”

At that time, my perception of a notebook was nothing more than a bunch of pieces of paper molded together with a cover that I hauled from class to class to outline college lectures in.  I used scraps of paper (and there were piles of them) to make notations and nothing was centralized.  I never considered how effective an organizing tool it could be.

My coworker’s notebook inspired a subtle change in my life that sticks with me today.  I carry a notebook as a portable collection tool wherever I go.  And I have several notebooks for different purposes.  I’ve experimented with ruled, graphed and blank pages, hard and soft covers, and journals with ornate designs on the front.  It became an obsession for me that I actually budget for due to how many I’ve collected!

After all my years of notebook-ing, I thought I’d share some unique uses for notebooks and some simple setup projects that can make your notebook your own.

Notebook projects

Beyond the standard note taking device a notebook can serve, there are many interesting things you can use a notebook for, including:

• Passing the book — I did this in grade school and I’m about to launch my own grown up version as well.  My friends and I bought a notebook that we would each write in during homeroom or at recess, and we’d draw colorful doodles, tape funny pictures and scraps of paper, and write messages about crushes and gossip.  Taking that to the new, grown up level, my new one will have the same colorful presentation, but be a way to share recipes, stories from my day, quotes and fun websites.  Circulating the notebook around the office like a chain letter will produce a nice surprise when it gets back to me and I can see all that people shared!
• Collage and “no rules” diary — your diary shouldn’t only be about all the things you want to accomplish and your gripes and complaints.  Try something I’ve done that allows you to explore your creative side and make a work of art!  I purchased a notebook with blank pages and once a day (it’s part of my evening routine) I make one funky entry or notation that is rarely serious.  Sometimes I choose memories from my childhood, sometimes I tape an inspiring paragraph from a magazine article and colorfully jot down ideas around it, and I fill pages with the first doodles that come into my head.

The serious uses

Those were the funky less serious uses for notebooks, but in reality, my most used notebook is my portable one that travels with me to work and back home again, where I jot down anything and everything that I face during my day.  I’ve incorporated many GTD concepts into my notebook method (which I won’t get into now) and several features to make my notebook more than just the boring stack of paper that it may seem.

Here are a few tweaks I’ve made to some of my notebooks that can help revitalize yours:

• Tabbed dividers — I’m a fan of notebooks with different colored pages, especially the medium sized ones in the notebook section at Target.  I’ve worked through dozens of those notebooks.  The only downside to those is that the different colored sections have no divider…so I made my own.  I purchased plastic tabs from an office supply store, (the colored ones indentical to the ones on fixed binder dividers), and affixed them to the first page in each section.  I create sections for my needs like “meeting notes” or “lists section” and it helps seperate my projects for me
• Index pages — it may seem overly organized, but for each section I have an index.  If your notebook is 200 pages or more and you’re filling it with pages and pages of content, you want to be able to reference pages and projects quickly and efficiently.  So, on the first page of each tabbed divider, I write an index of what is in that section and on what page.  Simple concept, great productivity step.
• The back page — this might be the most used page in my notebook.  There are a number of things that I constantly need a reference to, especially when I’m away from a computer.  I include several of my most used tools and pieces of information on that sheet.  For instance, I include a printout of a tiny annual calendar, my top 10 passwords I haven’t memorized, phone numbers I frequently use, a sample schedule for my day in time blocks, and several motivational quotes.  That page has saved me numerous times!
• Scrapbook cover — on a few of my notebooks that lacked an ornate cover, I made my own!  I went to my local craft store and picked out a sheet of colorful scrapbook paper with matching stickers and embellishments.  I tightly wrapped the cover of the notebook and taped the edges of the colored paper on the inside.  I decorated with stickers, a title and other pieces, then used contact paper to seal the cover.  The sky is the limit on how your cover appears!

Unfortunately, words cannot express my love for the notebook concept but I encourage you to explore your creativity and consider building one of your own.  Have fun with your notebook!  Decorate it and shop for one with your perfect specifications!

Finally: Be a part of OPTED Magazine

In keeping with my notebook obsession, I will be creating a page on this site collecting the photos and stories of your favorite notebooks and what you’ve used them for.  Please contact me at optedmagazine ( @ ) gmail (dot com) with your story and pictures of your notebook so you can be featured on the page!

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