Editing The Pen Addict 682/transcript (section)

== That was just maybe the loudest thunder of my entire life. ==
* That was just maybe the loudest thunder of my entire life.
* Really?
* Whoa.
* That was bananas.
* That was so loud, Brad.
* I'm scared.
* Sorry, Pen Chalet.
* Whoa.
* That was terrifying.
* Anyway, go to penshalet.com slash penaddict.
* Thunderous deals at Pen Chalet.
* Apparently they heard it.
* They heard it on the live stream.
* So that will be in the episode for everybody to hear.
* My word.
* It sounded like an explosion.
* I assume it.
* I hope it was thunder.
* Penshalet.com slash penaddict.
* Thanks to Pen Chalet for their support of this show and relay.
* All right, Myke.
* I'm shaking up over here, man.
* It was so scary.
* I feel you.
* I feel you.
* So you collect yourself and I'll drive a little bit here because I wanted to talk about notebooks that I had a little quick topic I wanted to discuss last week because I'm actively working on finishing another notebook.
* And I thought I would have a topic on how to finish a notebook.
* And, you know, this is always an interesting topic to me because it's always been, I don't want to say stressful or like a limiting factor for usage, but notebooks are hard.
* Like filling notebooks and journaling and, you know, opening the cover of a fresh notebook and finishing out all the way to the end is like one of the hardest things.
* Like we think about it.
* We think about it as stationery users.
* How do you use your notebooks?
* So I thought I'd put down some notes on how I finish a notebook.
* And then we have an additional question that I got just from mentioning the topic and pulling it from last week's show.
* Someone said, well, if you're going to do that, how about you talk about how to start a notebook?
* So we'll save that for the end.
* So I'm just talking about a few rules that I have for using my notebooks.
* And then I realized after I held the topic and thought about it more, I ended up writing it in for Panatic members in the refill newsletter I send every week.
* Why I want to fill a notebook.
* And that's kind of like the prequel version of how the how is the why.
* Like I was just going to last week, I was just going to talk about how I do it.
* But as the more I thought about it, the more I had time to think about it.
* It's like, well, I never talked about why this is important to me or why I wanted to do it.
* And it was as simple as I love seeing finished notebooks on a shelf.
* Like that's a really neat goal to have for me.
* Like I decided my goal was to have notebooks that I've completed stacked on a shelf.
* Like that was it.
* It wasn't to like, hey, let me pour my guts into this notebook and have like a journal that like really is meaningful and precious to me.
* Like that's part of it.
* But that's not why I was filling up a notebook.
* I wanted it because it seemed difficult to start and finish a notebook from front to back.
* And it is difficult.
* I'm living proof of that because I went for years and I'm sure many of you can relate.
* I went for years starting a notebook and not finishing it and moving on to another one.
* Like that's just kind of what we do in the stationery world.
* Oh, you know, shiny new toy.
* Let's play with this notebook.
* Oh, here's why this one's different.
* I'll just start using this one now.
* And you have all these uncompleted notebooks.
* So I decided that I want to complete a notebook.
* And the why that I want to complete it is I just want to see it done on the shelf because that gives me a sense of accomplishment.
* So that was kind of the prequel version of why I got there.
* And I explained it more in the newsletter.
* And I might eventually publish that on the blog because I thought it was a good little piece on there.
* And then the how is what I want to talk about last week and this week.
* And the how is what things clicked with me to allow me to finish a notebook.
* Look, I remember the first notebook I tried when I said I was going to do this.
* I only used one side of the page.
* And I get asked that question a lot.
* Do you use one side of the page or do you use both sides of the page?
* And honestly, when I started the very first notebook years ago that I was dedicated to finishing, I never thought about using the back side of the page.
* I just never did that growing up.
* I don't know why.
* You know, if it's just ink reasons, right, legibility reasons.
* But now I can't not use the back of the page.
* So I have even more pages to fill in the notebook.
* So I made it even harder for myself.
* But as everyone says who preaches using both sides of the page, you're only using half of the notebook if you don't.
* Like what are you going to do?
* Like you have a whole other half a notebook that you paid for.
* Why don't you use it?
* So I gave myself the task to fill it.
* And since I don't have a traditional journaling habit, I think a lot of people who do have traditional journaling habits, this comes a lot easier, right?
* Because you'll pick up your journal and you'll say, you know, today, you know, X, right?
* And you'll write for two sentences or two pages.
* Well, however long it takes.
* And you're going to do that again tomorrow.
* And you're just going to fill up the notebook.
* That's not me.
* And I think that's a lot of other people can relate to that.
* So I think people with like traditional journaling habits, like this comes easy to them, but it's never come easy to me.
* So I just kind of write everything in a notebook.
* And the first kind of step in allowing myself to write everything is the availability of the notebook, right?
* I'm not going to use the notebook if it's not around me.
* Now, I'm lucky that I sit at a desk at home.
* So my notebook that I'm currently using, it's the Life A5 Hachimanjia notebook, the pink one and purple one that I take a lot of pictures of.
* It sits at my desk.
* It's always with an arm's reach.
* Which I've tried to carry it around the house with me.
* I don't leave the house for work.
* If I did, it would go with me like in a bag or a backpack.
* But you have to have the notebook available.
* Because the way I'm filling the notebook is random thoughts, ideas, notes, lists, literally anything.
* So I'm looking at this page now that I just, I wrote for last week's podcast.
* So on one page, I have podcast notes.
* I have notes for this week that we've talked about.
* I have my tariff math that I wrote for last week's episode.
* So I could do the math.
* And then across from that, I have a set of lyrics that I wrote for a review.
* That's just like on one spread, like on a left page and a right page.
* I will literally write anything in this notebook.
* So having it, that availability is one, to where I can just pick it up and write nonsense if I need to.
* Or write something important if I need to.
* It doesn't matter what I write in there.
* And I had to get through my head that that's okay, right?
* Not just important stuff has to go in my notebook.
* To that point, I've also just been completely open in what I put in here, in this notebook.
* There's ink samples in here, Myke.
* There's washi taped receipts from a trip I went on in here.
* There's stickers that I've picked up on the trip.
* My goal is to fill up these pages of this book, and I don't care how.
* So it can just be scribbles.
* It can be sketches and artwork.
* There's a ton of ink samples in here.
* There's stickers.
* Oh, look, here's an ink pony that I drew that I taped in here.
* There is, what's this?
* Oh, there's some video game notes in here.
* When I was building a character for Path of Exile, like it doesn't matter.
* I just want this thing full and on my shelf.
* So everything goes in here, right?
* Literally everything goes in here.
* And it's not pretty and it's not precious.
* And allowing yourself to be open on those pages has really freed me up to where I don't have to restrict myself to my innermost journaling thoughts to be allowed to write in my notebook.
* And maybe you have a separate notebook for that, right?
* You can have, it's okay to have multiple notebooks.
* I don't want to have too many notebooks going on.
* I have this notebook and I have my work plotter and that's pretty much it.
* But it's okay if you do have like a journaling ritual to have one notebook for that and then maybe one notebook for like the type of journaling I'm doing, which is like literally anything goes into this journal.
* So, and the last thing, which is these all things kind of tie together, the availability of the notebook, the openness of what I put in the page, which is literally anything.
* And then the grace to myself if I don't fill a page.
* Like it's okay.
* Like if I don't write today in the notebook, guess what?
* It's okay.
* Like that is totally fine.
* So I'm just letting myself, allowing myself to be open with these notebooks.
* And now I think I'm on like my fourth one doing it this way.
* And I found something that works for me, which I never thought I would be just like a consistent notebook filler.
* The other thing.
* It's absolutely a practice, right?
* It is.
* And being able to let go.
* Like I kind of felt a little bit anxious when you said like, I'll write ideas in here.
* I'm like, oh, but I want to find them again.
* Yeah, that's okay.
* Yeah, I guess it is.
* They got out of my head.
* This is the thing too, right?
* But like I go through this with digital systems where I'm like I'm working on something and I'm like, all right, I'm going to write it down in this place.
* I don't know if I'll find that again.
* But it's kind of not the point.
* It's like verbalizing it or writing it down is sometimes all of the work that is required.
* And then it's like in my, it lives in my head now.
* And yeah.
* That's exactly right.
* Like I have to get things out of my head.
* So they go, they go in the notebook.
* And I am not fast.
* Like there's no time limit on this, right?
* This is going to take me at least a year to fill this notebook, right?
* It's not like I'm filling an A5 200 page notebook every quarter.
* Like this is going to take me at least a year, if not more.
* And that's okay.
* Like I'm good with that.
* Now that I know how I use notebooks and what my goal is, like literally my goal is to fill every page and put it on the shelf.
* I'm not trying to like find myself within the pages.
* Is I'm trying to release, release myself onto the pages and, and then just move on.
* So I think it's a little bit different way of looking at it than a lot of, a lot of other people use notebooks, which there's, there's no right or wrong.
* Like we just have to figure out what's, what's good for you.
* So like I said, this notebook that I'm referring to when I'm talking about this is not my work notebook.
* Like I keep works in a separate, my narrow plotter.
* That's a separate conversation.
* So there's no, like there's notes in here.
* Like there's podcast notes as we're talking.
* I'll, I'll write things on the notes, you know, maybe a show title or maybe a follow-up question.
* That's fine.
* But I'm talking about like work schedules, tasks, to-do list and like work related stuff that goes separately.
* Um, this is just literally everything else.
* And, um, it's been working for me for several years now.
* Uh, I think this is, this'll be like my fifth, fourth or fifth notebook filled, I think.
* Um, which for me, I, like, I never thought I would have one.
* And despite as much as I write, it was literally more in like pads and loose sheets.
* And like, I have probably- You would get a notebook, but use four pages of it and then move on to the next one.
* I would use more than that.
* No, but like, I'm exaggerating, but it's more than like you were never filling.
* It was just like, I'll use this one until I get another one.
* Yeah.
* I have a stack of loose sheets.
* That's probably, that are filled loose sheets.
* That's probably four to six inches high.
* So that's a lot of notebooks worth of loose sheets.
* That's just like random that I've kept over the years.
* How long is it taking you on average to complete one of these notebooks?
* Yeah, probably a year.
* Like I looked, I put the start dates on them and then, and then that way I know how long it takes me.
* And they're all around, uh, 12 to 14 months, I think.
* So it's not a fast thing for me.
* No.
* Which is okay.
* It's my thing, right?
* Yeah.
* So I'm very happy with it.
* So that's kind of, I know I kind of like rambled a little bit.
* So if y'all have questions on like how I do it, um, like, again, I can only tell you what I do and what's worked for me and just giving myself the freedom to just do whatever instead of having rules is, is what's worked for me.
* So that brings up the question, which why don't you read that for me real quick and, uh, so I can take a sip of water.
* Uh, this comes from John who says, uh, I was thinking of a similar topic just the other day.
* Um, and I wanted to get your opinion on it.
* How do you start a notebook?
* I can't seem to start one.
* I've just bought a ton of different notebooks to try out the paper, but I can't bring myself to actually start using them.
* I'm waiting to find the right use for them.
* So I don't start one and waste pages if I don't finish it, or I try to put too many things in there and run out of pages.
* I think a gaming notebook would be fun, but how much space do I leave for one game before starting the next?
* What about leaving blank pages or worse running out of space because I started another section too close and didn't leave enough space?
* Yes.
* That's all out of order.
* I don't know if other people have this issue, but I would love to get your thoughts on it.
* Maybe this is the kind of thing you were thinking you were getting out and finishing a notebook.
* Yeah.
* So this is a great question.
* And I think this is a more common question than me jumping, jumping into like the middle of an incomplete notebook and saying how I use it.
* Um, excuse me.
* It's different.
* I'm giggling because I'm thinking about this notebook.
* It's like, why did I choose to start this notebook and, and how did I start?
* Um, so number one, thank you for the email, John.
* I appreciate it.
* It was, it was perfect timing.
* Um, I chose this notebook because it was pretty and I thought I would like the paper and I like the style of it, which made me want to use the notebook.
* Right?
* So I have a stash of notebooks I could grab and use any day I have, you know, without counting probably 20 or 30 notebooks I could just go grab that haven't been touched and need a use.
* But this one compelled me to use it because I thought it was cool and interesting.
* So that was number one.
* Like I had a product like with blank paint with that hadn't been used that I found compelling.
* So that was one.
* And then second goes into what were my goals before I even started this notebook?
* Um, my only goal with this notebook was to finish the notebook.
* So it didn't matter to me what went in there.
* So I do think you, that, that was my goal.
* How do you start a notebook?
* So you have a goal in the end.
* My only goal is to finish the notebook.
* So it didn't matter what went on the first page.
* I opened this up.
* There's literally a sticker on the first page that someone sent me on a package.
* It was on the outside of the package.
* It's a keyboard image.
* It says I was here.
* That's literally my first page is a sticker.
* Let me go into the, the second page is a bag of coffee.
* And then the third page is on January 1st of 2025, like a bunch of different things where we had podcast notes, um, some little clips that I guess I was thinking about and a quote in there that I wrote in Robert Oster fire on fire.
* Like that was it.
* And then I just went, right?
* So my goals were to only fill the notebook.
* So you have to figure out what your goal is going to be.
* Is this going to be a journaling notebook?
* Is it going to be a work notebook?
* Is it going to be all the things notebook?
* It's hard, um, to, to do in all the things notebook.
* Like I don't consider this in all the things notebook, even though that's literally what it is because I do separate work.
* I separate work.
* Yes.
* So like, I do think for me, I couldn't have work in this notebook.
* I wouldn't use this notebook for what I want to.
* If it was work, I do have to separate work.
* And let's just call it play.
* Um, one of the interesting bits that John wrote about is, um, the spacing in the notebooks, like leaving enough pages or having gaps in the notebook.
* So I do two different things.
* Once I've decided what I'm using this notebook for, for, since I play a lot of video games, I start that in the back of the book.
* So if I open, if I go to the back cover, I start having pages and pages of video game notes starting from the back.
* So I'm basically, um, you know, there's only like five or six pages filled that way, but that's a nice way to separate.
* If you want to have a certain topic, like if you just want to have, you know, regular day to day thoughts or ink samples or whatever you want to write in the front of the notebook.
* And in the back, I put my video game notes in.
* I, I'm totally fine starting at the end for a second topic in the past in other notebooks.
* I've done that for music.
* So I would do album lists starting backwards to front and then everything else would be in normal, you know, front to back type of writing.
* So I always, I pretty much most of my notebooks these days have something that starts in the back and goes forward, um, as opposed to the traditional way of writing.
* Um, and then the last thing related to space is sometimes I don't have much to say or much to write.
* I'll flip through a page that's 20 pages ago I used and then has like a quarter page gap in there.
* I'll write something in there just randomly because it doesn't matter.
* Like I'm not putting, I don't have dates on any page that I write, right?
* It doesn't matter what day I wrote the thing on, right?
* I'm just writing.
* I guess I do.
* I mean, I guess there are a couple of dates, like I'll have a podcast title or something like that.
* So you can kind of date things, but like, yeah, I'm not, if I open this notebook today, you know, I'm not writing down the date on what I'm about to write.
* I don't generally do that.
* So that allows me to go back and fill up space that I've used.
* The only caveat to all of this in the way I use it, and you alluded to it earlier, Myke, is I'm probably not going to find anything in here.
* And that's okay.
* Because if it's that important that I need to find it again, I'm going to transfer it maybe into my work notebook or something more specific, maybe digitally, right?
* Put that on a task or something for future or a list that I need to keep that I want to refer back to again.
* That's going to move out of here.
* Like the notebooks that I've completed, I don't think I've ever gone back and flipped through them, you know, because I'm not looking for anything.
* If there was something important enough that I think, oh, I probably need to remember that so I can find it again.
* It's probably going to go somewhere else, you know, nine times out of 10, probably digitally to be quite honest, like to where I can search for it faster, things like that.
* So I don't scan my completed notebooks.
* I don't do anything like that.
* They literally sit on the shelf and look pretty.
* If you have questions about how to fill a notebook of your own or about how Brad fills his, go to penaddictfeedback.com.
* You can send us any questions there.
* You can also email them to brad at hello at penaddict.com.
* And we'll get to those in a couple of weeks because we're both going to be preparing for the podcast-a-thon next week.
* So there'll be a guest episode that Brad's going to be recording, which I'm excited to listen to.
* The podcast-a-thon is part of our St.
* Jude campaign.
* Go to stjude.org slash relay to donate today and learn more about what we're doing to support the life-saving work of St.
* Jude Children's Research Hospital.
* You can find the show notes for this week's episode, but you can also find the link for Brad's personal fundraising campaign over at relay.fm slash penaddict slash 682.
* Thank you to HelloFresh and Pen Chalet for sponsoring this week's episode.
* If you want to find Brad online, he's over at penaddict.com, twitch.tv slash penaddict, and spokedesign.com.
* I'm at theenthusiast.net and cortexbrand.com as well.
* We'll be back.
* The show will be back next week.
* We'll be back in two weeks.
* Until then, say goodbye, Brad.
* Goodbye, Brad.
* Dead.

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