Editing The Pen Addict 113/transcript (section)

== Chronodex System ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' So last week we mentioned it was almost in passing. We did talk about it for a minute. But we talked about the Chronodex system that's spearheaded by Patrick Ng of Scription.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And we reached out. I think I said, hey, if anyone uses Chronodex as a system, shoot me an email. Let me know what you think. I got a handful of emails and they just weren't regular emails. They weren't like, hey, I use Chronodex. It's great. It was hundreds of words, passion pouring into this system that people just love. It was like really, really ingrained into the people that were emailing me. So it's like, okay, I've got to look more into this. So I put together a few links and I still haven't like totally figured out this system like to the core. You know, it's still a little bit intimidating to me at this point. But you know what? At some point fountain pens were intimidating to me too. I remember. If I, you know, put some more brain cells on this, you know, I think I can figure it out. Because what it does, it allows you to have, we've talked in the past about you and I and things like planners. So like I tried the Hobonichi planner this year and a bunch of people asked me about that and how's that going. And we, you know, we got the tweet about the, you know, how are our new year's resolutions going and things like that. And I talked a few months ago about how I failed miserably at the planner, but that has nothing to do with the Hobonichi brand itself. You know, it's an awesome product. It's, it's an elite product. I just can't use a system very well where I have to go to today's date and fill out those things for that date.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's just not how I, I don't think it's how my, my brain works. Like I just start new pages where I need them. Like exactly. But maybe it's because I've never used something rigidly enough, but.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. So I think you and I are the same in that aspect. So Chronodex is date, it's date based still. So you, you use a specific day, but you do a more visual representation of what your tasks are that day or the things you have planned for that day, or even to-do list. I mean, it could be anything. So we've put a, I've put together a bunch of links in the show notes for those that are interested in the Chronodex. And, you know, I'd love to hear if someone tries this out, who's never had any experience with it and takes the plunge. So what you can do is there's a few things. So we'll have the link into Patrick Ng's introduction, basically to Chronodex and the reason behind it, some general tips on how to use it. And I want to make a point of mentioning that Patrick does all this for free. And at the time when he introduced this, this was 2012 or late 2011 for the 2012 year, his, he was going through some tough times with his father being ill. So he said, you know, I never want any payment for this. And I never want anyone to use this as a product of their own and make money for it. But I'm asking for your prayers from my father, who's going through this illness. So I thought that was a really great thing. You know, he's, he's pouring all this in, giving it away for free and just wants you to pray for his dad. Who's really, really sick. So his dad ended up passing in 2013. So Patrick has still continued to update this, continued to make all these files available for free. And his mom got really, really sick. So now when you download that, he asks you to pray for his mom. And I think that's the least you can do for all the hard work that Patrick puts in to making this chronodex system, what it is, making it available, keeping it updated, like in current to the years. So that's the least you can do. So one, you need to read the story behind why Patrick did this.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Secondly, you can look at the download of the current 2014. Um, chronodex. And if you're brand new to the system, if you have no idea what's going on, Patrick has like a full description in the border of this PDF that you print out for the chronodex. So what you do is you download this file. Let me pull it up right here. It's a big PDF. It goes from, uh, what's the date on this one? This is the second half of 2014. So the last six months of 2014, he has it formatted. He's got the dates. He's got the chronodex, um, laid out for you. You just have to go in, print this out. And he's has the instructions on how to cut it. He's a huge Midori Traveler's Notebook fan, Myke. So he's designed this for that. And other people have taken this style and modified it to other notebooks. And they believe in the same thing that Patrick does. They believe in, you know, their modifications. They're giving them all away for free. So you print this out. And then he has a full instruction set on the first page in the, um, in the sidebar. So it tells you how to use it, um, what you should be thinking about when you're using it, and how to nail this down into a system that works for you. It still may not be a system for you and I, Myke, but the passion I got behind the answers to last week's question made me realize there's really something behind this that people like really live for this system. And it's really changed how they plan their days, plan their lives. Um, so I wanted to gather all these links up, get as much information as I can, and put it in the show notes. And then, so we've got the Facebook page in there. We've got a couple of reviews on the system. On the Chronodex system in there. So if you're interested at all in a different planning system, check this out. And, uh, I'm a huge friend of Patrick. He's a friend of mine. Um, and the thing that's always struck me with the Chronodex, Myke, is how a filled out page looks. It's stunning. It's literally beautiful to look at. The images that you'll see of people's Chronodexes who have filled out. I'm such a dork. I could frame some of those and put them on a wall. They look so cool. They look exactly like the type of thing that I like. So I still don't know if I can work with a date based system. You know, that's just a personal thing. But anyone who's looking for something like this, take a look at the Chronodex. And, um, it's just pretty cool. And I wouldn't have talked about it again if people didn't reply so strongly about how much they love this system and how much it's changed how they work. So I just wanted to throw that out there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think you mentioned, like, you know, why people should maybe consider trying it. I think if something has an effect like this, like if it has the ability to change people's lives, then it's definitely worth a go. But as well, like if you think that you want to have a new system, then maybe if this you should give this one a go if people have seen such success with it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And it's just it's a different way of looking at things. And, you know, I'll let everyone know if I commit to this and try it. I haven't yet, but I'm keeping it on the radar, if you will. And I've got some plans up my sleeve that might be able to work this in, too. So I think I want to try it. I need to read up more to learn how to use it. It's it's totally intimidating to look at. So I just got to get past that part. And then we'll see how it goes from there, really. So.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Excellent.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. So aside from that, we've got a bunch of questions that I just wanted to go through real quick. And one of them has come up several times. And I didn't necessarily attribute it to one specific person, but I've talked about it in the past. And I wanted to ask you, Myke, and I know we've talked about this, but I can't remember if I asked you specifically. How you handled this. But I've noticed with myself for years and years and years, I used gel pens, roller balls, ballpoints. And when I use those, I had a certain writing angle that I use with those pens. My writing angle has always been more vertical. Like the pen barrel is more vertical to the page. I'm showing I'm showing that to the microphone, by the way. Like if this was on video. The microphone can see it. Yeah. I'm holding my pen up vertically to the microphone.