Things to note in a physical notebook

Submitted by Michael Lehmann
in
General Questions and Comments
Dear Manager-tools community, I plan to improve my note taking practice in a physical notebook (because that is what I normally carry with me during the whole day). Unfortunately standard notebooks do not provide a structure but only contain plain pages. This makes it hard for me to track different types of notes. An ideal notebook should contain sections e.g. - to capture meeting notes (although this could be easier done nowadays with Copilot) - to gather feedback notes - to do lists - to capture ideas, suggestions and brainstorming In addition it could contain this year's objectives, DiSC styles of my main contacts, self-development goals, a one page calendar and maybe even horstman's laws What are your thoughts on keeping physical notes and what would help you to do that more effectively ? Regards Michael
Submitted by Steven Walton on Monday September 29th, 2025 11:48 am

OneNote. Full stop.

I went through High School before laptops were a thing, but in Community College I could bring in a tablet, a keyboard, and digitize all my notes. I repeated this in undergrad, a Master's program, and am currently repeating it in a doctoral program. I have tried paper notetaking and it just doesn't work. If I need to write, I will use a Remarkable or eink Android tablet as to not have a laptop open, but will still record notes in OneNote.

I can't beat good OCR, being able to search my notes, and being able to access them on basically any internet connected device. If there is any slight boost to paper-based notetaking, it just doesn't account for the benefits of using a good online solution.

Submitted by Joseph Beckenbach on Tuesday September 30th, 2025 5:43 pm

Should you not require the additional legal documentation which bound notebooks provide, perhaps go three-ring binders or equivalents, such as the Circa system of edge-punched pages held together by specially-shaped disks which let you slip pages in easily. Comb-binding sets of pages can get the same effect. You will want to have a good master copy of each custom page you want to use, whether a hard-copy master or soft-copy partnered with a reliable printer.
 I simply gather into a hard-bound notebook, then scatter ('processing' in GTD terms) to more specialized places. Eg my calendar, lists in my Reminders app, OOO binder, planning documents, tickler folders, quick reference files, or the like.