Editing The Pen Addict 430/transcript (section)

== Journaling Practices ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' If I had a notebook and was writing in the notebook, what would I do kind of thing? Yes. Mm-hmm. It's both. So I will... If I start writing but don't have two pages worth of writing, I will only write on the right-hand page and then start a new page for a new day or whatever on the next right-hand page. Right? This is the same with any notebook. But if I have something that's going to continue over more than one page, I will write on the left-hand page on the other side.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Does that make sense? Yeah. Oh, yeah. So to me, you're a both sides of the page user. You just would. I would never... My continuation would start again on the next right-hand side page. My continuation would never be to the back of the page I was just on. So to me, we differ. I think you... A lot of people answered, it depends. Some people, if Tomoe River Paper, it ghosts a lot and you could see through it so you can't see your writing. It's like, I get that. But to me, you're looking to... Your preference would be to write on both sides of the page, the way people answered. So I did a poll just in the chat and it was like three to one, four to one, people using both sides of the page versus one side of the page. I was like, man, am I... I thought my guess would have been like 50-50, maybe a 60-40, one way or the other. I didn't even know which way. But the one side of the page vote was such a small percentage, I took it to Twitter. I was like, I'm going to put this on Twitter where I get a lot more reaction to a real poll. And you can... Twitter's poll feature is actually pretty nice. You can set it up, set it for a timer. So I asked the question, I said, when writing in a notebook, do you use... And you had two choices, one side of the page or both sides of the page. And I ran it for five hours. We got 221 votes. Myke, 20% of people use one side of the page. 80% use both sides of the page. That's 221 votes. 80% use both sides of the page. I'm blown away. I don't know what to say about this.

'''Myke Hurley:''' See, I think this is one of those things where you've been... I think personally, you've been bitten by the wording of the poll. And I bet that there are a lot of people that do what I do. Which is, I only use the left-hand side of the page when I have something to put there. But by and large, if I haven't filled the page, I will start on the next right-hand side. I bet that there's quite a lot of people that said both sides of the page also do what I do. Which I know what you're saying, but it's not complete, right? Where it's like, if I wrote on a right-hand page, the next day, I'm not going to pick it up on the left-hand side. On like overleaf, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. But you consider it when you're writing at the time. And I don't consider it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I think there's three groups of people. I think there's you, there's me, and then there's people that will just write on whatever page is open.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So let me... So I'm understanding what you're saying. But to me, that's only two choices. You choose to write on both sides of the page. Like that's an option for you, where to me it's not. So the real question is why, right? Why do I write on one side of the page? Or why do people who write on both sides of the page choose to do that? And again, I was caught off guard by the answer. And the answer is waste. People feel like they've paid for 100% of a notebook. And by only using one side of the page, they're only using 50% of the notebook. Therefore, not getting the full value of what they paid for the notebook. And that shocked me. I don't know why this shocked me, but it did. And now I'm like, I'm like rethinking my life choices at this point. Like, what have I done? People really adamantly use all of the paper to where I am like taken aback at the amount of... And I'm more taken aback that I didn't consider this more than I have, right? Like, I get using the back of the page, but the theory that I use the back of the page because I've paid for all of this paper and I want to ensure that I extract the most value was never a consideration of mine. My idea for using the back of the page was, well, I write a lot and I'm going to use the back of the page and, you know, it's going to, you know, I'll be able to write more in this notebook before I have to switch notebooks. I guess that's a value choice in the end, but like the thought process of it never really never really hit me. So what do you think? Do you think if you were only using one side, do you feel like you're not getting the most value for your money? Do you feel like you left in your case, you know, 35 or 40% of the paper unused in your notebook when you completed a notebook? Are you happy with that? Because some people aren't happy unless they've used 100%.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think I'm fine with it. Most people.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think I'm fine with it. Mm-hmm.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But like I said, like the ratio was what got me the most. If it was closer to 50-50, my eyes wouldn't have popped out of my head like they're doing now. But I'm like, wow, I really have seen this wrong for the entirety of my existence. Or not seen it wrong. Hadn't considered. Hadn't considered the reasoning. Number one, the amount of people that write on both sides of the page. And number two, the reason why. And I think it's awesome. I think it's fascinating. I love doing this. So I thought that was pretty cool. Like I rarely get surprised with stationary these days. Because that surprised me.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' People loving the G2 don't surprise me. Irrational love for the G2 does not surprise me.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It doesn't surprise you that people don't use... I don't know why that says...

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, the rate... It doesn't surprise me that people use both sides. It's the ratio. It's the majority of people use both sides.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And it's a big majority too.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's a big number. It's not even close.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But what if there was a third option, which was my option? Would you be so surprised then if that was high? No, because... Like I'll use the other side if I need to. But otherwise I'll skip.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, but like if I write something on the right side. And I'm kind of done. Okay. But let's say I need to add a note to what I wrote. I would do it on the left side. I'm not anti. But I don't think that's the same category as what you're saying.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, but what I think... So this is the thing. Like I think... You are being surprised about a thing. But I'm not sure... I'm not sure that the answer is as simple as it presents itself. Which is that 80% of people always write on every left page. And I don't think that that's the correct number.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't know. I kind of think it is. Even though a lot of people did say both.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, you know why, Brad? Because I voted and I voted both sides of the page. Yeah, you have to. Because that was the only option available to me. But I don't always write on both sides of the page. Right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. In a notebook. But I think you voted correctly.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. What is the only option? I had to vote.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, but I think you're a both sides of the page writer. Even though you don't always use it. Like, again, that's an option. Like, I don't see it as an option.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' When I write. All right. You know, my continuation goes to the right hands, to the next right side of the page.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Which makes me a one side of the page writer. Okay. Which is vastly in the majority in this polling. So, that's what's throwing me off here. I'm... Yeah. That's what's throwing me off here. I love this conversation so much. I got a lot of great feedback in there. And almost all of the feedback were people in the both camp. Right? But a lot of it, most of it was visuals, though. Most of the both camp was, well, sometimes there's paper that I just can't see my writing as well. Not that I sometimes... Not what you're saying, where my continuation goes there. Or, you know, like I'll say, like if I was in a meeting and I had to... Couldn't... I wanted to have all this content on one page. Sure, I'd use the left for something. But to me, it's never just a continuous option that apparently most people think it is. So, I am wrong in that. Myke was right. Brad was wrong. Or not. Brad was...

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Eye-opened. I guess. It was like, wow. Okay. So, now maybe I need to think about if I'm going to start using the other side. And I don't think I can. Like, after all these years, I don't know that that's a switch I could make. Could you make that switch to where you fully use the backside of the page constantly?

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, I wouldn't want to.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' This is where your both comes in, right? This is where it depends comes in, right?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I wouldn't want to. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, anyway. Something to think about. It was an eye-opening Twitter poll. And I appreciate all the feedback. Like, I love it. And definitely keep sending me your comments on it. I'm very pleased with how this turned out that I got to learn something new today, Myke. That both sides of the page writers are the vast majority. And I love them for that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' If you want to find links and information and stuff about this episode, you can go to relay.fm.penaddict.com. You can find Brad online at thepenaddict.com and knock.co. Don't forget to go on back. The Knock Kickstarter, which is going on right now. Brad is at Dowdyism on Twitter. Penaddict on Instagram. And we mentioned it already, but every Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. Eastern Time, Brad streams over at twitch.tv slash penaddict. I am at iMike. I-M-Y-K-E. And thanks to Canalea Penco and Harry's for the support of this episode. And to you for listening. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.

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