bullet journal as an antidote to screens
I have been using Microsoft Onenote for all notes for about 6 months, ditching the notebook and pen.
I have really liked the ability to take notes and quickly turn into other things, an email for example. The ability to tag it as an outlook task is really handy and is a timesaver. I thought I would use search and tagging much more than I have done but on the whole was pleased with it. I had even built a Power Automate ‘script’ to create a daily note template. All good?
Well no, on reflection there have been some downsides:
- I am now staring at a screen all day, even in meetings where I used to get a break and focus my eyes elsewhere.
- I carry the laptop everywhere.
- The laptop now appears in front of me, even in one 2 ones - creating a barrier between me and other people.
- I know that others are participating in email/IM when they have their laptops open in mtgs. I don’t do it (often) but the temptation remains. I want to ensure I am fully focussed on the event in hand - not a faff that has just been IM’ed to me.
So I am going back to a simple notebook and pen and try the bullet journal approach for a while. I had a previous attempt with it and failed to engage, probably because I don’t do much note taking in my personal life. Interested to see if this will be different with work where I regularly take notes.
I will be looking to see if processing from paper to my outlook todos helps with clarification of the task - something David Allen pushes in the GTD methodology. Sometimes the task from my Onenote daily note made little sense as it was not fully thought through and I would have to rack my brain to remember - automation sometimes doesn’t help!
Will report back.