My Paper Notebook Part 1

Currently I am writing a larger blog post with the topic Podman with VXLAN Overlay Network - the definitive guide. I think I will finish it during this week but today I would like to share some experience about Paper Notebooks. You know, this are this kind of books with a lot of empty pages inside where you have to write with a pen onto sheets of paper 😂

Nevertheless, I love real physical notebooks. They help me to focus on my thoughts and they help me to remember things more easily. And I love this empty white space to build out ideas and concepts.

This post is named Part 1 and maybe, there will be a part two - we will see. The pictures on the left side are the scans from my sketches of the upcoming blog post.

My paper notebook

I am using a XL (19x25 cm) sized black softcover Moleskine notebook with plain (blanco) pages. The quality of the pages is really good, but you should not write with ink or ballpens on it - it might be that you can see your writings on the back of the page. It is best used with simple pencils, normal or, if you like it, color pencils. Maybe I will buy a Leuchtturm notebook next time, because they offer numbered pages.

Usage Tip 1 - Don’t use it for work items

At first, I’ve used my notebook also for work items. For me, this was a bad idea. Every time I opened my notebook to write down some project thoughts I saw my open work tasks popping up. I was disturbed immediately - the thought of the idea was often gone. Therefore I stopped using it for work tasks. Work tasks are work tasks and creative thinking is creative thinking.

Usage Tip 2 - Number your pages

At some point during the work with your notebook you will have to write an index so you can find your entries back. A notebook will have somewhat between 120 to 180 pages and you will use it for 24 month or more. So numbered pages will help you to find things. 🧐 You can find some really good tips about numbering pages here.

Usage Tip 3 - How to reference internet URLs on paper?

I have found this one by myself 😎! I am using a URL shortener, one with the shortest URLs - https://u.nu. If you look at the featured image of this post, you will notice some rectangles there. Inside this rectangles are alphanumeric codes - this are the hashes for the URL shortener. For example, the combination wkd- for me is https://u.nu/wkd- and this will lead to https://blog.oddbit.com/post/2014-08-11-four-ways-to-connect-a-docker/ - simple and efficient!

Conclusion

Try it yourself and have fun sketching your ideas!

Mario