Recording ideas in notebooks

I'm always curious how people record notes, thoughts and ideas. 

Of course, now many people use smartphones and apps and lots of different digital ways to capture thoughts and ideas. I do that too if I'm in transit and cannot grab a notebook. But once I have some time, I LOVE getting my notebooks out, my coloured pen and pencils, and making a whole session out of it - a bit like sketching. I firmly believe in putting ideas and notes on paper!

Research shows that forming letters by hand opens more sensory pathways, including your visual, tactile, and kinesthetic ones.

There are those who tell me they have everything in their head. Well, I don't know about you, but these days, unless I write something down, it doesn't get done. Maybe that's because our brains are on overwhelm from social media to the pace of our world. 

Also, if we do keep ideas in our heads, surely the older ones get burried right at the back while new ones are coming in.

I have many ways of using notebooks and other materials to catalog ideas, thoughts, or just mark-making. Today I want to concentrate on one of my all-time favourite notebooks that I use. 

Japanese Life Noble notebooks. They come in plain, square, and ruled, and I believe they start with A7 and go up to A4. I only use the B5 (note some are B sizes) and A4 sizes. The cognac colour is for plain paper, the dark orange one for square and the light blue for ruled ones.

Many stock them and they vary greatly in price so I let you do your own research. 

Here is my collection. 

I absolutely love everything about them. The pages lie flat, and the paper is beautiful to write and sketch on. The flexible paperback makes it tactile. Some have tried to do their own version of it. Nothing comes close.

I like to vary my note-taking. From simple lists, to clusters, to mind maps and pattern forming. 

I used to keep an analogue diary. I no longer do because I find the iPhone calendar suits my needs. So all my energy goes into recording notes and ideas that will always be useful one way or another. 

As the year progresses I'll share more of how I catalog ideas and podcasts.