Use your pocket notebook as a coaster

I want to share a small revelation I had in the past week. But first, a bit of context: I am a big fan of note taking and personal knowledge management systems. For years now, I’ve been trying to be as intentional as possible with both what I produce and what I consume. And, as you can probably imagine, the biggest fight I have to face in this war is against the passiveness that doom scrolling on social media brings into my life - and probably most of everyone else’s -.

In an effort to mitigate this problem, I wanted to find a way to trick my brain into not getting distracted by those addictive apps, at least when producing notes. On top of that, I also love stationery and the act of writing on a physical medium, so the natural consequence was to replace my distracting device with a pocket notebook.

Removing friction #

I’m one of those who believes there’s something romantic and pure in writing or drawing on paper but, at the same time, I am a also a strong supporter of using digital tools, as they allow us to store and connect an insane amount of information. They both have a place in my day-to-day life, they just serve different purposes: a software like Obsidian serves as the perfect personal knowledge management system, but its flexibility and complexity make it not ideal for storing quick and instant notes.

Anyway, aside from the specific software or app, I realised - like many others before me - that there’s too much friction and distraction in using your phone to capture sudden ideas or notes. I am a programmer, and I know how much it costs, in terms of UX, to add even a single click to a pipeline.

Take the “watch later” feature on Youtube, for example: to add a video to the watch later playlist, you have to hit Save, check the correct playlist from the list and close the pop up window. And on desktop, the save button is also hidden behind a three dots expandable menu. That’s 4 click to add a video to the watch later!

I know that someone might find that a trivial issue, but believe me when I tell you that, for me, even one additional step could tip the scale into procrastination. And that’s what happened when I tried to use my phone as my main device to take quick notes: the thought of having to take it out of my pocket, unlock it, open the notes app… All that while trying not to get distracted by social media/notifications. So much energy that my brain subconsciously decides it isn’t worth putting in the effort just to write down a handful of words.

Pocket notebooks didn’t solve the issue #

This isn’t the first time I try to move from digital to analog note-taking. For as much as I tried, I could never stick to capturing my thoughts on a notebook. In some ways, I was experiencing the same amount of friction I had when using my smartphone.

But this time, I was really motivated to find a futureproof solution. So, as it often happens when I approach this kind of things, I became obsessed with the topic and went on a deep dive on YouTube, in an effort to distill every trick to establish the best notebook practice possible.

The solution disguised as a minor example #

My content odyssey didn’t bring satisfying result. I couldn’t find the secret recipe to a consistent note-taking habit. But, after watching several videos from different creators, I noticed one curious thing: more than one creator was mentioning using their notebook as a coaster. Here are two of them, but there were more:

• This pocket notebook saved me from scrolling - Tony Ramella
• TEN YEARS of using POCKET NOTEBOOKS - Blank First Page

At first, I didn’t make much of it. It was only an example to convey how you shouldn’t care too much about ruining your notebook. But, after hearing that sentence multiple times, you could say I got influenced by those youtubers and, in the subsequent days, I started to take out my notebook every time I placed a drink on my desk. Two weeks passed, and I realise the secret tip I’ve been looking for.

A habit that I already have is to stay hydrated. During my day, there aren’t many moments where I don’t have a cup of coffee, tea, or my water bottle within arms reach. So, when I started to follow this trend, I was involuntarily removing one of the few obstacles that remained between me and the act of writing: keeping my note-taking device close and in sight at all time. Now, whether I’m sitting at my desk in the office, or relaxing on the couch in my living room, I actively look for my pocket notebook to place my cup/bottle on top of it and, every time I reach for a sip - once every couple of minutes, on average - I am reminded of its existence and usefulness.