Editing The Pen Addict 391/transcript (section)

== Idea Journaling Practices ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' And I think because that falls into that category. Like some days I don't have time to read, but maybe I meditated or maybe I worked on an online class that I've subscribed to. Those are all are the same category for me. So I think so that category is called self-improvement. And then I added one called ideas. So we might come back to the theme system journal as I talk about ideas. But that morphs right into the third thing I carry. And again, I'm like, I need one of those little library book loops, you know, that you carried when you were at school, Myke, and before backpacks. And you just tie a strap around all your little books and carry them around. That's what I need now for the Hobonichi weeks.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Brad, what do you mean before backpacks?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, you've seen school kids like when they weren't carrying backpacks, they carried their book and basically a strap.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I thought you meant like before the invention of the backpack. How old are you?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I'm not that old. I'm not that old. I know. You saw my pictures where you. Oh, I love those pictures.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's like Brad as a kid. That was so good.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's like I didn't age for like a decade straight.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And then you did a bunch of, then you aged for like two decades and it stopped again. That is like the story of your life. You take these few chunks of time where you stop aging. Like I've known you for nearly 10 years now and you don't look any different to when we first met.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That was hilarious. I couldn't believe that. I was sitting there. I didn't even see that picture at my parents' house first. We'll put a, I guess, I guess we'll link it in the show notes. We will, 100%. But I'm sitting there eating dinner and my sister looks over my shoulder and sees these two pictures because hers was up there too. She's like, oh my God, what is that?

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, yeah, she had the full picture set as well. So, anyway. Yeah. So, no, I'm not that old. But, you know, it's just a little strappy carrier books in. And I see, you know, I picture little British boys in their shorts and loafers and ties. And this just little book. I didn't go to that kind of school. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, this is the movie. This is the movie based. Yes. Movie based carrying set. Yeah, this is the Hogwarts kit. Strap thing.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Tony found one of these on Etsy, which I'm going to put in the show notes in case you have no idea what we're talking about. Yeah, let's see. Right? That's it. That just looks like a belt for the books, basically.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's exactly what I'm talking about. Right? Yeah. And there's a Harry Potter book in the picture. So, there you go.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Perfect. So, I knew I wanted this Hobonichi Weeks because it's the same layout as the William Hanna. Full seven days on the left-hand side, blank on the right-hand side. But it's too skinny, too narrow for me to use efficiently. I need a little bit more space for my weekly stuff. But I wanted to use this. And I was like, well, what could I use this for this year? And one of the things that I have a love-hate relationship when you work for yourself and you're responsible for creating things like every day is coming up with new ideas.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And I'm either really good at coming up with ideas or I'm a complete zero at coming up with ideas. Like if I need an idea, I cannot come up with one. If I don't need an idea, I can list ten. Right? And I don't think that's unique. I think a lot of people have that. Like when the pressure's on, I blank. And I've never taken the time to when I'm having an epiphany of ideas and just an overflow to capture them.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, on my Hobonichi Weeks, every day I write down a new idea. So, it's a lot of times, and most of my stuff is around making stuff. Right? So, I have a lot of jobs that require me to make things. So, I have pen case designs. I have logo designs. I have, you know, new product ideas for Pen Addict or for Spoke. You know, different types of notebook and note card layouts. You know, I have a new brand that I just like had an idea laying in bed one night. So, like, you know, maybe it never becomes a thing. But now I've captured it, and now I've tracked it, and now I can go back and look at it. And it's not just to capture ideas, this book, or my theme. It's to actually pick the ones that are good and execute on them. Right? My ideas are nothing if they just stay on this page. So, just having the idea to track my ideas on a daily basis is an idea.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You know, making new products for the Pen Addict shop was one of the things I'd been wanting to do. And I'd wanted to make these Kikuyu notebooks.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But they are difficult to get made and to source because you have to do it all in Japanese and have to have Japanese accounts and things like that. I was like, but if I believe in this idea, I need to make it happen. So, that's part of the execution phase of these ideas. So, I'm logging my ideas better. I have a lot of ideas. And, you know, they could be 90% crap. But I want to narrow down the 10% that's not crap. Right? Because, like I mentioned before, my job solely relies on me creating things.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And whether that's with Jeff at Knock or with Brian at Spoke or with me at Pen Addict and you and you with the Pen Addict podcast. Every day, I have to have new ideas. And that's tough. Like, that's one of my biggest challenges. You know, I have a huge response. I feel a huge responsibility to Pen Addict members. Am I doing enough for them? What new things can I do? So, like, I capture these ideas. And even if I'm not going to use them at the moment, maybe the more I think about them, the more they morph into a thing that I can do and execute. And that's what I want to be better at this year is not only capturing the ideas, but executing on what I think are the good ones. And you know what? If I execute them and they suck, that's okay. I at least did it. Like, I'm okay with having a miss. Right? Like, that does not phase me. What phased me is starting it in the first place. Right? That's my hang-up. So, that's what I want to work on this year. That's what I'm using my Hobonichi Weeks for. And it's a really good layout. And, like, I'm up to yesterday. Every day since... So, these Hobonichi Weeks start, like, November 25th this year. So, every day since November 25th, that's an idea. So, I can just flip through this book. And, like, I'll go through the book. Like, if I'm having trouble coming up with one idea today, I'll flip through the book. And maybe something will trigger me to write down a new idea. And then, all of a sudden, I have five. So, my only rule in this is I don't have to do it every day. Like, I can catch up three or four days, like, over the weekend. But I can never go ahead.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, I can never bank ideas in the future. And that may be a bad idea on its own. But my reasoning is that I want to be fresh when I think about this. Right? So, maybe if I've remembered the ideas I want to bank the next day, then maybe it's a better idea. Maybe it's a more valid idea. So, that's the only thing I don't do is I don't bank ideas ahead. Like, I will not write tomorrow's idea today.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, can I ask you a question? Sure. Why not put this in the theme system?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I want to keep it separate. Okay. I mean, that's perfectly fine.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' This does, to me, feel like something that very easily fits in one of the boxes, right? Like, even in the small little box at the bottom. Like, that's something you can put in. But if you already have a system which is working for you, don't adjust it. But, like, it would fit because you'd at least be there anyway, right? Like, filling it out. But I guess if you also want, and this is not a bad thing, you want an excuse to use the other notebook, that's totally cool too.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's 100% part of it. But the main part of it is having that separation of usage, right? That's why no planner items go in the theme system journal, and no ideas are going in the theme system journal for a similar type of reason, even though it's a perfect spot for it. Now, it's one more thing that's overbearing to work in the theme system notebook for me. Yep. Right? So, now I have to think about one more thing aside from the other things that I'm committed to.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right, because you don't want to, like, you don't want to put yourself off filling out the theme system because you're struggling with the idea thing today.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, like, I feel like my theme system's set. That doesn't mean it can't change. It should change.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But I, yeah. Like, it's something that should adapt with you as your themes change, because in theory, a theme changes every year.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. So, like, I just changed my habit tracker. So, that's one of the things. One thing about theme system, and we'll move on, some last year's theme was the theme of experimentation. That theme doesn't have to end, even though, like, I don't think I totally succeeded at that, at what I wanted to accomplish with that. But it can live on as a choice and an idea.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, this is one of the things about the themes. And an underlying theme. That, like, I meant to kind of touch on this in our last episode of Cortex, but we only, we didn't, I didn't say it in an explicit way. One of the great things about living a yearly theme is, like, once it's done, the things that you have learned and put into practice, they stay with you. Like, even if you move on to a new theme, the old theme, like, I guess I did kind of cover it, actually. There are, like, things that you put into place, which means that those ideas will stay. But also, themes can last more than a year, they can last less than a year. It's one of the reasons we put four theme pages in the beginning of each book, in case your theme changes, in case you, like, want to do something else. Like, you're not just stuck to one.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right. So, I feel like my theme of experimentation is still, like, an overarching theme, right? When I'm making a buying decision, I'm sitting here, I'm looking at fountain pen inks, do I choose the blue-black ink that I know I have 50 of already and I know I'm going to like? Or do I choose this weird reddish-brown color, you know, to, you know, that I don't know if I'm going to like or not? Like, that's what I wanted to try to accomplish with the experiment. Not that I have to do that, like, every time. Not that I can't just buy the things that I want. But to branch out more. So, you know, that's just one thing I wanted to point out.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, yeah, that's my analog side of my planning, journaling, and now my idea notebook. My Hobonichi Weeks is my idea notebook. So, if you hear me talk about that, that's specifically what that is. So, I'm very happy with the setup. I've been using this setup for months now with the Hobonichi Weeks just coming in at the end of November. When the date started. And I'm very, very happy with this layout so far.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' All right. Let me take our second break and we can touch on more of this stuff because there's still more that we want to get to, right? Yep. Just a few things, yep. All right. Today's episode is also brought to you by Squarespace. Make your next move with Squarespace. It's the time, right? If you've got a new idea, you've got a new thing that's bouncing around in your brain and you want to act on it for the new year, go and get a website. Squarespace will let you easily create a website for your next idea or project. You can register a domain name. You can take advantage of and customize award-winning templates. You can set up an online store, a portfolio, a blog, a site for an event, a site for a club. No matter what type of website you want to make, Squarespace is the all-in-one platform that can help you do it. There's nothing to install or patch or upgrade. They've got all of that covered and back it up with 24-7 customer support. We've spoken a bunch about thethemesystem.com today. It's a place where I put a lot of my thinking and laid out some more information for people that want to use the theme system. It's all on thethemesystem.com, which of course is a Squarespace website. I wanted to make sure I had this information up and available to people. And I was able to do it super quickly because I didn't want to have to fuss around with getting the website created. I just wanted to get the content out there. Squarespace let me do it. It looks awesome and it's super easy to do. You can go to squarespace.com slash penaddict and you can sign up for a free trial with no credit card required and start building your website today. Then when you're ready to launch it to the world, you sign up for a plan. They start at just $12 a month, but you can get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain and show your support for this show by going to squarespace.com slash penaddict and using the code penaddict at checkout. Once again, that's squarespace.com slash penaddict, the code penaddict for 10% off your first purchase. Our thanks to Squarespace for the support of this show and all of RelayFM. Squarespace, make your next move, make your next website.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Another tidbit on the theme system. I told you this when I first started that that page was very helpful. That's what the page that I read before I decided how I'm going to use my different journal pages, how I'm going to set them up. So yeah, very helpful.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. One of my goals over the next month or so is to get more examples on the website for people to see, including yours. So there's more kind of variation and so people can help understand their ideas a little bit more. But I think I'm pretty happy with that and I've gotten good feedback from people about like this is a good place to really get the information. So I was pleased I was able to put that together.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So last little bit for my stuff, my writing, planning, theme system ideas, all that's analog. I do use digital tools to help with a lot of this. Fantastical is why I don't use it's a calendar app that kind of works better for me than the two page per month calendar layout. I'm still trying to figure out how to sort that, but it just works because it syncs. And that's why I used, that's why I used Todoist for, you know, recurring tasks like pay bills and, you know, take medicine and, you know, whatever, you know, kids practice or whatever. Like Todoist is my to-do app and I don't ever need like a hardcore to-do app like something like OmniFocus, like where you track projects digitally and, and have different tasks and things like that. That's like too much for how I use things. And the last one is drafts, which is where a lot of my ideas go. If I don't happen to have my notebook with me. Right. Lots of quick snippets. I use, I use drafts probably more than those first two things combined just to write down just randomness, whatever. Like anything can go in there. You know, if I'm sitting on my phone, see a tweet, it triggers an idea, throw it in drafts, and then I can go flip through my drafts and, and then transform into whatever notebook I need. So, yeah, that's kind of my layout. Do you, so like, I know you, I'm going to talk about your stuff real quick, but I just to set this up big picture wise. So, you obviously use the theme system journal, but do you have paper planners or other paper tools for planning? Because you have a very different, yeah, you have a very different requirements than I do, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, tell me, tell me what's up. I mean, so obviously I use the theme system journal. Like, I am genuinely really happy that I still want to use this product every single day after using it every day for six months. Like, that makes me feel like I did what I set out to do. Like, I created a thing that lets me use my tools, which I want to use on my pens every day. It's like, the main reason that I do journal is because I, and do it on paper, is because I want an excuse, like a reason to use my pens, right? Totally. Because I could, in theory, like write this stuff into a spreadsheet, but it just doesn't work the same way. Like, my brain works better for reflection, which is what I use my theme system journal for. It's for reflecting on my day. It feels more efficient, not more efficient, more effective for me if I'm doing it with pen and paper. It's just the way that my brain works. So, I really like it for that. But outside of that, everything is digital. Like, because for me, all of that stuff is like, I want access to it anywhere. I don't want to lose it and lose everything, right? Like, if I lost, if I was keeping all the stuff in a planner and I lost that planner, then what do I do, right? So, this is a combination of like Fantastical, Todoist, and Apple Notes, mainly for this kind of stuff for me.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And you have a decent amount of stuff that's shared, too. Like, other people need to have some of the information that you have. Like, I don't necessarily have a lot of that. Like, Jeff and I use Slack. Brian and I use messages and email. But we don't necessarily have, you know, work tools that are like cross-pollinated with stuff like that. So, yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That is definitely part of it. Like, I can't, it's like irresponsible for me to not have that stuff shared sometimes. Right, right, right, right. So, like, I can't really do it even if I wanted to.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. So, just a theme system is pretty much your analog journal. Yeah. Have you kept other journals before? I know we've talked about this. Yeah, I remember I had a Hobonichi. You started.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like, the idea for the theme system came out, was born of my frustrations of using a Hobonichi Techo. Right. Like, I wanted it to be different. Because I basically created the theme system in using a Hobonichi. Like, I used to just break up the page into all these boxes and stuff. Yeah, I remember seeing the pictures. Yeah. So, like, that's where the idea came from. Because I started doing a journal every day. And I was like, there are a bunch of things I want to do differently. Why, no. Why don't I just make my own one? And so, that's kind of where the idea came from, right?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. I mean, I think in the big picture, anything that any of us are going to choose to use, it just has to... There's got to be no friction into using these things. I have a huge friction problem, like, in using certain things, right? Exactly.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Which is why, like, I created a system where there's no fixed, defined system. There are just sections. And then you create your own system within it for the thing that works best for you. That's where it came from.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right. So, my, like, if I'm going to make it easy and not intimidating for myself, it's kind of funny that I need three different notebooks to do that with. You do you, man. But, like, I don't, like, I sit, I'm sitting here looking right at these things. And I don't see anything I would change. I don't say, well, what if I could combine all this into, like, the William Hanna notebook and make these pages and do this and that. It's like, I don't want to do that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Which, like, technically, the William Hanna is perfect for it because it's, like, a modular system.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But I'm with you in the separation. I'm very big into separation of things.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Yeah. Like, I think it's awesome. Like, if I could have one notebook and just do all these things in it. But that's intimidating. Like, I just, I would be more concerned about am I doing it right than actually just, like, accomplishing something. You know? I'd be more frustrated with, like, okay, how do I put all this in here than am I actually gaining, like, efficiency or whatever I'm trying to do by having these things. So, I like my setup. I'm very, I've never been as content with a setup as I am right now. Um, which is very, very much not like me at all. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, I'm going to be very keen to see how this progresses throughout the year. Because you have had a less than stellar track record when it comes to planners and journals. Yeah. Like, I think over the time that you've been trying to do this over the many years, this kind of, like, there's just a slight evolution of what you were doing last year. It's, like, mostly the same with, I think, the weeks, right? As you say, it's, like, that's the addition. Everything else is, like, mostly the same but slightly amended. So, I'm keen to see if you keep it up. I mean, it would, history would suggest you won't. Right. Like, long-term history. But short-term history would suggest that you will because this is maybe the only time you've had something carry over.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's correct. Like, so, we're not, I'm not starting anything fresh right now. All of these products have been used in some cases for months, like, 6th, August, September type of timeframe. Um, and, like, I am not wanting for anything. Right? I have what I want. And it's working. And I'm using the things as I intend them. Um, you know, that's, I think that's important. You don't have to use things as someone else intends them to be used. You can use them how they work for yourself. Um, so, yeah. The, the, the hardest, the hardest thing I had to figure out with this little setup is how to carry it. Like, I was, I was joking about the strap before. But I sat at my desk. I was like, I have to, I was not happy with how I was carrying all these things. Um, so, like, I finally figured out, like, I used the Not, NotCo Burton, um, the wax canvas, like, open pouch. I was using that for, like, some of my visual journaling kit. Like, you know, different pens and markers and washi tape and scissors and notebooks and scraps and things like that. And, and, I was really wanting to use the NotCo seed case for this. Well, the William Hanna cover doesn't fit in that. Plus, you're kind of losing the visual beauty of what this cover is. It's a leather cover. It's colors I got to pick out. It's cool looking. Um, so, I said, well, let me try to put the theme system journal and the Hobonichi Weeks inside the seed case, right? Because I can use, like, the front cover and the back cover to fit those things. I was like, well, the, it works technically. But the balance was off. Like, I didn't like the aesthetic of what it looked like when it opened. So, I finally figured out that I needed to move out my visual journaling stuff into this new pouch that I got for Christmas from Superior Labor, which allows me to carry, like, more weirdly shaped items like washi tape that have more bulk to them. So, use the theme system and the Hobonichi Weeks go in the Burton with a bunch of different pens. And, you know, I can keep loose note cards and things like that in there if I need to write some random note or whatever. And then just carry the William Hanna as the notebook itself.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Which pouch did you get from Superior Labor? Was it the engineer pouch? Yes.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yes. So, it's like a, I got to take a picture of it. But the way that pouch works, think of it like a Burton but with a base, right? So, it has, like, almost like a triangle shape, right? It has a base and it goes up to the point where the zipper is. So, that base, that width allows me to throw, like, tape in there and scissors, things that don't, like, traditionally fit super well. And, like, some of the cases that knock designs.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, yeah. So, and that lives on my desk, right? I don't travel with that. So, I can just have it, like, it's my bulk bag, right? If you, we can throw it back to years ago. Wow. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Bulk bag.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And the other stuff just fits perfectly in this. So, yeah. And then I have an idea for my seed case, which is, like, one of my favorite designs and the favorite colors. Right now, I have a different idea for that, that I have listed in the idea notebook.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That you're going to use it for? Yes. Oh.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay. It's not a, it's not a planner, it's not a date-based type of system. It's just a kind of a fun type of system thing. Goes along with some of the, like, I'm doing, like, some hand lettering stuff. I'm taking an online hand lettering class. Oh. So, I can use, like, I can use, I have, I'm getting that set up for when I start doing more practice work on that. So, yeah. Oh, cool. That's just one of those things.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I've talked a lot today, Myke. Well, we had to get it out there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is a big, this is a big thing, because I think it's going to continue to inform a lot of the conversations that we're going to be having over this year, right?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, and I was excited to talk about it, because we've been kind of, sort of, talking about it for months. So, I wanted to just get it locked in. This is what I use, and this is how it's going to be going forward. Maybe there's a change later in the year. We can talk about it then, but I'm super happy right now with my setup. And now, I'll just get to rotate all kinds of new pens and pencils and fun stuff within this system. Maybe the Platinum Curie DOS later, sometime next year.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I'm looking, well, what, next year? The Curie DOS? Oh, man.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We're in 2020, baby.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Wow. It's going to be a year. I'm feeling it. I'm super positive. I'm super hyped. I'm in a good place. Good. I'm busier than ever. Want to do more than ever. Want to get it right more than ever. So, here's to a big year, boss.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' New year means new organization. A great place for organizational products is at knockco.com. You can get seed cases for your lovely journals. You can get cases for your beautiful pens. You can get all of those there. Bags, right? Burntons there. We've got the linears all there. Hines of stuff. Paper goods. Man, head over to knockco.com. Treat yourself. Treat yourself. The best note cards. The best note cards available today. You can find Brad online at penaddict.com. He's on twitch.tv. He's on penaddict. He should be starting that up again next week.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Next week. Yeah, we'll be back on it next week. It's tough with kids being off and vacation and people going this way and that way to stick to that schedule. So once life gets back to normal next week, we'll be back on our normal Twitch schedule every Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. Eastern.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You can go to instagram.com slash penaddict or dowdyism on Twitter, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. I'm I-M-Y-K-E on Instagram, on Twitter. Go to cortexmerch.com where you can currently find the theme system journal. I will say that as we've been recording, still selling. So get one. If you want one, get one because it's going to be a while again as usual until we can get these things back in stock. That is a big goal for me in 2020 is to somehow iron out that process. But it's a huge learning experience for me. But that'll be fun. We'll see. We'll see how we go there. You can find the show notes for today's episode at relay.fm slash penaddict slash 391. Thanks to Squarespace and Pen Chalet for the continued support of this show into 2020. Much appreciated from those wonderful companies. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.

[[Category:Podcast Transcripts]]
[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]