We live in extremely technologically advanced times, and it’s now almost more common to see people walking around checking their smartphones, interacting with their smart devices, and using their Bluetooth headphones, than it is to come across people who aren’t.
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Many digital tools and services boast that they can help you to thrive professionally and personally. And yet, many people report feeling overwhelmed by the sheer all-encompassing dominance of these technologies, and don’t like the idea that their data may be abused, or that they have to have a charged-up device in order to organize their lives.
Here are a few reasons why taking another path, and organizing your life in a paper notebook, may in fact, help you to thrive, professionally and personally.
- Because it helps you to consolidate all of your goals and reflections one place, and to consider your longer-term aspirations
The Bullet Journal Method, created by Ryder Carroll, is a way of using a notebook and pen, and a simple set of symbols and techniques, in order to turn a notebook into an all-encompassing life-planner, that can store your to-do lists, your scheduled events, your diary entries, and more.
Interestingly, the tagline for the book is “Track the Past. Order the Present. Plan the Future.”
There’s just something about using a notebook to consolidate all your goals and reflections in one place, that really helps you to consider your longer-term aspirations, and to begin working towards them. Whether you are interested in pursuing a fruitful career in construction like Peter DiTommaso, or want to write a book, A well-structured notebook can help to give you the sense of perspective you need.
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- Because the act of writing things out by hand stimulates a greater degree of reflection, and introspection
Research has been done which seems to show that writing things out by hand actually causes you to engage with the topic more deeply, and to remember the subject more clearly, while also contributing to feelings of well-being.
Perhaps it’s because writing things out by hand is slower than typing – but something about the process just leads to a greater degree of reflection and introspection. For many people, therefore, writing can be therapeutic, and can be something like a “mindfulness” practice.
If you want to not only record and plan your life, but also reflect on it and gain meaningful insights, writing things out by hand may be the way to go.
- Because it makes you less dependent on (sometimes fickle) tools and services that can lead to distraction and confusion
Although many digital tools and services can be very useful, they are not necessarily as “stable” as you might want them to be.
Digital services tend to be run on a subscription-based model today, and even if they aren’t, they will require regular updates from their developers in order to remain functional. If and when the company who made the tool or service goes broke, or chooses to stop supporting it, you’re out of luck and have to find another tool to use.
Additionally, these digital tools can lead to distraction, not least of all because you have to use the web to access most of them. And then, there’s the issue of needing a charged electronic device to run them on.
None of that is even touching on the data security and privacy issues.
When you’ve got your life organised via a notebook, however, you don’t have to worry about “losing support,” or “the company going out of business.” And instead of having to have a good Internet connection and a charging point to check your to do list, you can use your “system” anywhere – even at the top of the mountain.
