Note taking with Fountain pen Dutch

notlookingfornemo, 10 months ago

I tried the analog only method. I lasted 3 weeks. As much as I would prefer to do things only the analog way for its benefits, my brain just isn’t wired to work that way.

I use a combination of both for work. For meetings, I take notes on my computer. After, I’ll sit down after, identify anything of actual value, reorganize as needed, and write things down into my work bullet journal. I find the process helps me identify my priorities, break tasks down to smaller steps, and plan out what needs to be done and when.

For to do lists, jotting notes while I’m working, or anything else that isn’t under a time crunch, I’ll use the pen to put it straight into the bullet journal.

In terms of note taking systems, I found a simplified Bullet Journal system works best for me since it’s extremely flexible. I just dropped things that I don’t need (like monthly spreads) and added bits that I do need (extra icons for organization). I use an even more simplified version in my personal life. If you haven’t given that a go, I highly recommend looking into it and see if it might work for you.

Prootje, 10 months ago

@notlookingfornemo Thanks for the suggestion, will try to set something up (again) and see how it fares for a few weeks. Was really put off for bujo since all the terrible YouTube clips of people doodling and not being efficiënt with it.

notlookingfornemo, 10 months ago

BuJo is what you make of it. Just the pretty artsy stuff on YouTube and reddit is more eye catching and brings in the views. There’s plenty of us who use it for what it was originally designed as: a highly customizable no frills organization and productivity system combined with notetaking capabilities.

My suggestion is to do a week or two with the original instructions. At the end of that period, reflect on what you liked, didn’t like, what changes you might want to try for the next 1-2 weeks, and whether you hated it so much you’re quitting. I normally use an extremely stripped down system that focuses on the day to day in my personal life since I have a hybrid system tied into Obsidian and TickTick. I realized with a few days of starting my job that I needed something more structured and capable of longer term work since I no longer had access to those programs. It took some experimenting, but I ended up going back to dedicating full pages to projects, using weekly spreads to organize at work, putting more effort into keeping my index updated, and added sticky note tabs to all the important pages I regularly jump to, like projects, today, this week, and so forth.

Hope that gives you some inspiration!

inksync, 10 months ago

@Prootje Look into bullet journaling (not the aesthetic spreads, the original method which can be found at bulletjournal.com or on their youtube)

Laxaria, 10 months ago

Take notes on paper with fountain pen, take a picture, OCR it, shred the paper.

Otherwise there’s literally nothing special about using a fountain pen for any task a pen can do (other than situations involving particular kinds of paper, like carbon paper or thin scratch pads).

If the convenience of doing notes digitally works better for you, then it is. You can still take out a fountain pen for a variety of other tasks (writing letters, calligraphy work for greeting cards), or recognize that for the time being there’s little in your life that a fountain pen fills practically and just enjoy using one as a hobby

Prootje, 10 months ago

@Laxaria this probably is the most sensible answer. I really liked writing with it and miss that in my current very busy work schedule. Moments to reflect and put everything in order. Will try a simple bujo with the gtd variation I use for some weeks after the current reporting period is finished and there is some time to set it up. Outside of work i dont really use notes, as with my gf we do everything digital aswell. I think you are right though and ill switch back to digital only and continue to use it for other tasks only.