Editing The Pen Addict 503/transcript (section)

== Hobonichi Planner ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. My Hobonichi planner has been very live for 2022, Myke. I wanted to give an update on that if that's all right. Yes, please. As things go. So, as we talked about at the beginning of the year, I switched up my planner style for 2022. And I'm using the Hobonichi Cousin, the A5 size, which is, for all intents and purposes, one page a day, right? It's a one-page-a-day planner. And that's a little bit bigger than what I had been doing. I've been basically doing two-page-per-week planner, you know, days on the left side, notes on the right side type of thing. So, I was anxious to give this a go. I did a little recap at the end of January for Pen Addict members. I, like, looked back at my month, wrote down, like, all the products I use. I track all the products, like, the pens I use every day in there. Did, like, a little count of what pens and inks and all that stuff. And then February ended up flying by. We're already into March, as we're recording right now. And I still, I was very consistent throughout February. Like, I haven't missed a day yet, even weekends, even if I write just a little bit, right? I'm just doing a little bit of writing maybe on the weekends that, you know, I'll track some things. But I've been very pleased with myself. I'm patting myself on the back here. That it's kind of integrated itself, as I hoped, right? Like, I don't, when you change, like, the way you use a planner. Like, I wouldn't sit down every day, necessarily, and do my planner. So, I was a little bit worried about committing to this every day thing. And I'm pleased that it's just integrated, right? It's what I do. And it's been easier. I don't have to, like, set a reminder to fill out your planner, right? You know, silly things like that. It just kind of works for me, you know? So far, again, we're only two months into the year. Things could change drastically later. But the way things are going right now, I don't see them changing because it's just a very good experience. I use the planner more the day after to recap the previous day, right? So, like, today, I'll write down a bunch of stuff about yesterday on yesterday's day, if that makes sense, right? I'll have a little schedule. Okay, so you reflect. A little bit. Like, it's a little bit of combo. So, like, the way the cousin is set up, there's a little time section, like a little 24-hour block in there. Actually, I don't think the dailies are 24 hours. Say, like, an 18-hour block. So, I'll go in during the day and kind of fill out my day, right? I'll kind of block off, hey, these are the things I need to do today. This is around the time I need to do that. I can write down, like, what pen and ink I'm using. And then, unless I have, like, something very particular I want to write down on the notes, I'll usually go back the following day, say, hey, I'll look at these things on my schedule, and I'll kind of recap how they went, right? So, whatever I had written down to work on, I'll then later have this kind of note somewhat tied to it, somewhat more generic on the right-hand side of the page and just write as much as I feel about the day and then just add in different notes about, you know, how it went. So, it's not necessarily active throughout the day. It's active in the morning, and then I'll kind of flip back to the previous day and, you know, like you're saying, like, kind of recap how things went. So, you're using the A5 Cousin, right? Right. Okay. It's an all-in-one. This is an all-in-one book for a full year. There's a different one called the EVEC, I believe, that's split into six months and six months for just, you know, a little bit of different carry. Is it in English or Japanese? It's in Japanese. Okay. But, like, I've never once, not of this model, no, but not, I have never once needed anything. Like, all I see is the day dates and days and dates and months and days of the week. Like, there's no, you don't really need an English version for that, right?

'''Myke Hurley:''' But they're in English, right? Yeah. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, like, I just flipped it open because I had a piece of paper in here. It's, like, I say 2-26 Saturday, right? Okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, there is some, but everything else is written in Japanese. Everything else is in Japanese.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. I think I used one of these back in the day. I think this is what I had, which helped me end up developing what I wanted for the theme system. Right. Right. Because I remember it was small. I remember there was a lot of Japanese text at the bottom, which I assume is some kind of information or inspiration quote type dealio's going on at the bottom there. Yep. Is there anything that you think that is specific to Detet your cousin that is making this experience such a positive one?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The layout. I'm a layout person. Okay. Right. If I don't have either the enjoyment or the freedom or the structure. Like, I'm using freedom and structure in the same category because I do believe you get a little bit of both with this. If I don't have kind of all those things and then on top of the quality of, you know, the paper and the construction and just like the neatness of the aesthetic, right, that I like the Japanese design, which I prefer. Sure. It's definitely an all. It hits all the things for me. Right. But I always will lean into structure. Right. That's why I chose my previous journal. I chose my previous layout, the two page per week, because that's how I was working at the time. Right. So that comes first. It's like, I need this to give me some visual structure to my week. Right. That's why I use an analog planner as opposed to a digital planner, even though those are visual as well. This is a little bit different. Right. And then I'm involved in this in a tactile sense. So layout always comes first. And, you know, I spent, you know, probably two years, maybe a little more two years with the previous layout until the layout wasn't as good for me. Right. I needed more. So. I looked around, found what I thought was going to be a good layout for me, took a shot with this. Honestly, you know, you don't know if it's necessarily going to work like full time as a product. Right. And it turns out like just being able to research and read about all these things and see how people use these different products and looking at the structure and how other people use it. It fit. Right. It fits how I visually want to see my days and weeks and months. Number one. And then number two, it's a pleasure to use. Right. So that's kind of my my ranking on how I would pick out a planner. Right. So there's there's a lot of combinations. You can get one or the other that, you know, you can have a great layout and it'd be annoying to use, whether it's paper quality or construction quality or things like that. Or you can get just a beautifully constructed book. But the structure does not allow you to be your best you when you're using it on the daily, weekly basis that that works for you. So, so far, this is fit what I wanted in a planner. And, you know, it wasn't again, I talk about the ability to like look at these things over the long term before I make a purchase that goes for planners to and notebooks and just like it does for pens. You know, if I'm going to make it a expensive pen purchase, I rarely just start clicking buttons. Right. I try to read research as much as I can to make sure I'm making the best decision for myself. And then you hope it works out. And so far, the the A5 cousin has and I don't see any reason that it's not going to continue for the rest of the year into the into the next. So it's it's really working well. I enjoyed a lot. I'm able to use every type of pen and pencil with it. I'm not hesitating to use pen. I mean, to use like ballpoint pens or pencils in, you know, on a 52 GSM to Moe River paper. Right. It's all been enjoyable. But of course, you know, the fountain pens are great. And that's what I'm using a lot. But my God, it doesn't keep me from using absolutely everything I have on my desk. And that was a that was a goal as well. So, yeah, I'm two thumbs up definitely so far for the A5 cousin. So I just wanted to give a little recap two months into it. And I'm mostly like I'm I'm happy with myself that I've been able to keep this up because, you know, I've the weekly journal or the weekly planner is. A little bit of a different commitment. It's more of a write in it once a week and then refer to it throughout the week. Maybe jot a little bit different notes. So this is a little bit different process, more daily and more. A little bit more commitment. But it's the right amount of structure that I need to to actually have it be like a good product for myself. So very happy with it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Nice.