I’ve had quite a few “ideas” notepads, but I never really considered taking one with me everywhere I go. I might have to give this creativity strategy a try.
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These are the notebooks I filled while working on my Studio. This method really works. I didn’t know what it was called but there is a lot of truth in writing stuff down. Something happens when thoughts get written down.
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Absolutely. It commits your ideas to multiple parts of the brain. (You think about it, you articulate it into words, you write it, you read it back.) It’s why the best study habits involve writing condensed summaries of your own notes.
I’ve said this before, but the best measure we have of our understanding of something is our ability to communicate that understanding. If you practice writing down ideas, you become a better thinker. Your thoughts are on full display as you write and it forces you to contend with your own ideas.
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Yes and handwriting (or drawing a diagram) in a notebook is far more powerful than typing it on a screen. I don’t know why that is exactly, but I think it might have something to do with engaging more parts of your brain.
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It’s called proprioceptive learning. Proprioception is the body’s ability to sense its position and movement in space. Using the body while doing creative exercises reinforces mental exercises by creating stronger neuronal links, aka more better associations.
I used to draw my classmates during lecture classes. I could look at those drawings years later and still remember the exact circumstances under which I drew them.
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Boy, this reminds me…
I had a Venetian-made leather journal that I bought at a little shop across the street from the Pantheon while visiting Rome. I used it - and by used it, I mean lived religiously with it - from 2001 to 2005, filling it with notes, drawings, story ideas, anatomy studies (and apparently, learning to write backwards with my left hand). It was the best-made leather journal I’ve ever owned. I was devastated when I filled it and had to move on. I went through a series of subsequent leather journals but never could find another one of the same particular qualities. It was like the great romance of my life that no other book could ever match.
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Related to this, I find that exercise is the best stimulation for creativity. I’ve done some long distance bicycle trips, and carried a journal on them - which often meant frequent stops along the road to pull out my journal and lay it across my handlebars.
Similarly, I wrote a screenplay during lap swimming (though note taking was a lot harder).
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That made me go nostalgia googling and I just found this, and boooo.
LA CARTA HAND-MADE OBJÉTS VENEZIA ~ ITALY
The owners of this exquisite and tiny jewel of a shop in Venice can trace their ancestry back many hundreds of years - but now the owners have retired and the shop is no more. Hence these superb leather notebook covers are the amongst the last ever to be made at La Carta.
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Oh, here is a general recommendation I would offer, take or leave it as you like – get an unruled journal. Ruled paper boxes you in, IMO. (But what about graph paper, I hear you whine. Fine.)
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Italian paper & bound is one of the best; (side point, is time for my traditional mid-year joke with a friend (which is also a stationery seller), asking for agendas at half price 
)
Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.
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One of the reasons I gave up on Inktober (other than various controversies) was that I filled the notebook I’d used for 3 years and just couldn’t find one I liked as much.
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I’m going to be contrarian and say that doing this mentally is a lot more convenient and allows for a lot more “review” cycles than paper does.
By the time I’m using paper, I have a specific checklist of things I want to include in whatever I’m making. Other things might come up later on, of course.
This probably depends on what your aptitude for certain things is. I’m talking about writing, mainly. I’m not really apt at logic and coding, so I rely heavily on messy paper drafts when it comes time to tackle that side of things — probably even moreso than other people.
I watched that same video and it reminded me that that was exactly what I used to do; write everything down in a notebook without any kind of system. I can testify that it works, and as a result of watching the video I have started doing it again.
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This video talks about the benefits of reading and writing on physical medium. It’s worth a watch if you are wondering why carrying a notebook around with you is more useful than dictating or typing into an electronic device. That sentiment starts at around the 3:20 mark, but I recommend watching the full 18 minute presentation.
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I understand why a notebook is more useful for learning, but why is it more useful for writing down ideas?
Chiefly because using hands to write with pen on paper engages proprioceptive learning – creating stronger neural pathways to the ideas by engaging more of your frontal cortex in motor activity – in a way that typing doesn’t because it simply doesn’t engage as much motor activity. I’m sure there are also arguments to be made about how it makes your notes easier to review, though I suppose that’s somewhat subjective.
Ha, I know proprioception because i was midlly obsessed of that feeling you get when you step on a broken escalator.
The power of writing your ideas down can even be found in ancient proverbs.
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Just don’t ask Socrates what he thinks about that!
Good thing Plato was a rebellious, snot-nosed student.
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