Editing The Pen Addict 288/transcript (section)

== Retro 51 Pens ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' So like the fact that they've decided to make this pen is an interesting and maybe kind of peculiar thing. Mm-hmm. So yeah, I'm keen to see how it performs and if people actually want to use it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. So and then that'll make me want to maybe consider one of the Retro 51s, which I always wanted last year, but I never got around to it because I thought, well, I have so many other Retro 51 pens I just use as pens. Why do I need an additional thing to live on my desk that is a Retro 51? So I don't know. I think it's interesting that we're starting to see that. And, you know, all of us analog users, you know, we definitely like to see some of this old stuff brought back and like these old, you know, aesthetic of a desk pen is just kind of cool, like in my mind. So, but is it functional in the way that I work at my desk? I don't know. We'll see. So I have the Y Studio. I want to try that out. It's pretty cool. It's extraordinarily well made. And I know I'm going to like the pen, but am I going to like the desk pen setup? Is that going to work for me? So we'll see.

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'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, I believe in Harry's almost more than any other products I use, including a lot of pens I use. It's my daily driver of shaving awesomeness for, what, the past several years? Once I found out about them through this show, actually, and started using them, I realized that they were different than what I was using previously. Number one, the quality was superior to anything I could buy at the grocery store. And number two, it was a fraction of the cost. I mean, it's the no-brainer of all no-brainers as far as shaving goes. So, yeah, I'm all in on Harry's, and I don't see that changing for a long, long time.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So, look, stop messing around and get started shaving with Harry's today by claiming your free trial set. Just go to harrys.com slash penaddict right now and get started. You just need to cover the shipping. Thank you so much to Harry's for the continued support of this show and RelayFM.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I actually need to go place a new Harry's order. I just realized after this last trip I took, I order the two different size shave cream, shaving lotion. They have the large kind of, you know, keep-it-home size with a bigger capacity, and they have a smaller size that fits in my travel set. And getting ready to start traveling back up here in another month or two. It's getting close, so I need to refill that for the year. So, look for another order coming soon, Harry's. All right. Speaking of next year in travel, I want to talk about planners for a second. We're not going to get into the weeds on this. But you've said something in the past. A little bit. We've both said things in the past several months that made me want to put this in as a show topic, just to kind of hit the high points.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I've mentioned that I'm going to move into a Hobonichi Cousin for 2018, which is their large A5 size planner. And it's big, and it's intimidating, and I'm a little bit scared to commit to it. But I'm going to do it because I have some things I want to do, some projects I want to have kind of all in one place, some projects I want to do with the Hobonichi for, you know, like Instagram or Panatic members, things like that. And I also get to use a new Nock product that everyone's waiting for and yelling at me about, that I get to use it and they don't, but you will get to use it soon.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But it's a little intimidating, like I said. So I'm going to take the tact, which isn't... Like if you go to, you know, like Tim Ferriss would probably have a conniption about what I'm about to say, but I'm going to go into this with kind of no plan.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Because anytime I've done, tried to do any type of structured plan, I've failed because I don't do good with structure. You know, bullet journals, GTD, any kind of check box, you know, move things around system. None of that has ever stuck with me. You know, I write things down to do, then I check them off. And then I have planning, and then I have notes, and then I'll have things like I want to do next year in my cousin. I want to do like one pen a day review in the cousin, you know, like a Twitter length review of one pen or pencil or ink for 365 days. You know, I want to keep... The goal for me is not to figure out the most amazing system to perfect my productivity. The goal for me is to keep this notebook in my hands for 365 days. That's all I need. If I could do that, then the other stuff's easy. But keeping that notebook active for a full year is going to be my challenge, and that's what I'm going to work on. So I have lots of things we can talk about later as we start going through the year, what I'm putting in the notebook. But I'm definitely going in with no system other than that notebook has to be the core of my day every day all year long. Then everything else will fall into place. Like, I'm not concerned about that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You, on the other hand... No. You've never... Well, you've never been a planner person. I don't expect you to ever be a planner person. But you've mentioned that maybe bullet journaling could be for me. Have you thought any more about that? Are you going to do anything about that? Or just kind of go with... I mean, if you don't need it, you don't need it, right? You should never force anything.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I have a bullet journal. I have it all set up. I've read the system. I understand the system. And, like, I would like to start doing it, but there is something getting in my way, and I don't know what it is. I think you kind of hit the nail on the head a little bit about, like, needing to have it in my hands all the time, and I think this book is... It just feels too big for that. Like, what I really want is something which is, like... What is it? Travel notebook size? Yeah. I mean, what I want... Okay. What I believe I want is the travel notebook seed thing that you're making. Yeah. This is in my mind, right? Like, in my mind right now, the only thing that is stopping me is the fact that I don't have the right equipment. Right? Sure. That's all it is. The only thing that's stopping me is that I don't have the right notebook and notebook case to... Because I think what it is is, like, I looked at bullet journal and I thought, oh, this is a really good idea, and then I kind of realized that I don't actually want that. So, then... What is it that I want? And the thing that appealed to me about bullet journaling, as appeals to me about some types of journaling, is the idea of taking time to reflect and write something down every day. But, like, I just don't know if I'm going to do it, and if I'm going to do it, then I kind of want the right notebook for it, and I don't think that I have that right now. I think I want something small and not something Moleskine-sized or, like, term-sized. So, that's kind of where I am with it right now. I like the idea of taking some time to reflect on something every day. I like this 365 project that you are working on. Like, I know people do this. Like, Stephen takes a picture on Instagram every single day. I would like to do something like that. I just don't know what mine would necessarily be. But, again, it's like the bullet journal system, I could kind of understand it, and I got my head around it. I was like, this seems really good. But then I've kind of shied away from it because I don't want to replace or supplant my to-do system.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because that's kind of a big part of it. And I was like, at first I was thinking, this is a good idea, and then kind of realized to myself that I don't like the idea of, like, taking my to-do system, writing everything out, and then at the end of the day checking back in my to-do system. This is how for myself to get lost. Right? Yeah, absolutely not. This is how stuff gets lost. I think, for me, I'm going to pick one or the other, and I'm not moving away from Todoist. Like, that's wild.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Sure, sure, sure, sure.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So I like the idea of the journaling aspect, maybe trying to write something down every day. That seems nice because, again, more uses for my stuff. But I don't feel like I have the right thing for it. And honestly, like, I know it's silly, but, like, I do want to have that, like, that little system. And I was looking at Hobonichi's, and I've been looking at, like, the Midori stuff. But I want to wait for your thing because I actually do really like it, and I do want it. So this would give me a reason to buy it. So you just need to make it, and then I can buy it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, it's in the queue, and the reason why... I know, I'm pulling, you know. I know. But no, the reason why I actually like that system, and that's what I've used for a while, because it's not... It's completely open, right? There's no rigidity to the Traveler system. Even if you get their calendar system, well, you can fill in the days and dates. You can do what you want to do, right? So the one thing I want to make out of a planner is I want to make it more of a journal. I want to make it more personal than... Personal-driven than task-driven, I think is one of the ways I'm going to look at it. So, you know, we'll see. This has always been a struggle for me. It's always been a failure in using these types of things for me. I'm trying to come up with the things that work for me to keep that notebook in my hands for a year. I like the idea of going this path. I think it's going to be fun. So I'm using the Cousin, the Hobonichi Cousin. There's lots of other things. Like, I love seeing other people's products. Like, I put a few... Or how other people use their planners going through the year without getting into the full hashtag Bujo stuff that you see, where it's really intense artwork in these setups. I like to just see the regular use. And so I put in, like, other links for people who are looking to do something with a planner, you know. Hobonichi, we talk about that a lot. The Traveler System's great. I also put in the Stalogy, which that's another word I don't know how to say, Myke, because it's spelled in a way that I don't know how to say it. The Jiban Techo, which is another hugely popular Japanese planner. It's made by Kukuyo, which they do... They make wonderful products. If you're looking for something really, really simple, like the word standard memorandum, it's just like a day jotter, almost like the Field Notes Resolution Edition or the word larger to-do list edition. And then my sister just emailed me the other day a thing called Year Compass, which isn't necessarily a planner, but it helps you close out one year and start a new year by asking, like, leading questions, like, how did your year go and, you know, the plans for next year. It's like this little... It's a free thing that you just, like, print out and answer the questions. So that's something I want to check out a little bit more. It's kind of a guidance type of thing as opposed to a, you know, a system or any type of planner, you know, and it's like a free download. But that's something I want to check out. So I hope that we're talking about this 12 months from now because that means I did pretty good. Like, this is my task for this year. Like, we've talked about how we don't really do resolutions and things like that before, but I do like giving myself tasks and projects, right? That's fun. Like, I'm looking... One of the things I wrote down in these show notes, what I'm going to use this for is knock production planning. So I've talked about how we manufacture a lot at knock and how it's kind of one product at a time, one color at a time, and then the line's always going so things have to slot in in different places and to get them made. Like, I could lay out probably the entirety of 2018, you know, in this notebook today. Like, that's how far out I have to know some of this stuff. So there's a lot that can go there. And if I keep it more personal, I think I will use it, you know, a little bit more than having it just totally task-driven. So that's the plan. We'll see how it works.

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