Take Notes like and Alpha Geek

Author, blogger, and self-described note taking addict Tim Ferriss shares some of his best tips for becoming a note taking Ninja. I myself have been trying to be better about the notes I take and making sure I do so as often as is needed. Therefore, I find much of this very compelling. Here are some of my favorite take away bits:

>_”Put page numbers on the upper-right of each right-hand page but not on the left (e.g., 1, 2, 3, etc.)… Whenever you complete a page, put the page number in an index on the inside cover (front or back) and a few words to describe the content. If it’s on the left-hand page, just take the prior page and add “.5” to it. Thus, if you flip over page 10, for example, and write on the back, that second page is “15.5” in the index._

I love this idea. Some notes one takes may span half a page, some multiple pages. This is a numbering scheme that can accommodate them all without having to number every single page.

>_”Not all notepads are created equal… This doesn’t mean that one is better for all things, just that you should match the form factor and durability of a notepad to the content.”_

Not to keep being a Levenger pimp but this is one of the reasons I am loving the Circa system. Some notes cry out for a cornell style page while those with sketches may require a grid style. Some may need a letter sized page, others a smaller one. With the Circa, I can mix and match the sizes, rule types (lined, grid, cornell, etc), colors that fit the topic and put them all into the same notebook.

There are many other good take away items in the rest of Tim’s post, well work the read.

_How to Take Notes Like an Alpha Geek _

Hanging with Ryan from Brassing Adds Character

Pen TestBeen a very busy day so far and is only getting more so. Therefore, just a quick post for now…

Had the great pleasure of hanging out for a few with Ryan Roossinck from Brassing Adds Character last night. What a treat it was. We spent hours geeking out over his massive collection of Pens, my hefty collection of notebooks and our mutual eclectic music tastes. I honestly think this kid (yes, I am enough his senior to use that term) is my brother from another mother because we have so much in common it is scary.

The highlight for me though was having the chance to play with a ton of different pens, nibs and ink types. Ryan is a real serious pen freak and has many custom nibs and rare models. He is a deep abyss of knowledge when it comes to pens and their histories so it was fascinating to just sit back and listen to each story behind the pens. His writing is even smaller than mine so he is also a fan of very fine nibs making each pen absolutly drool worthy to use. By the time it was all said and done, Imanaged to fill up a nice sized page of test doodles. Good times…

If I have not said it firmly enough before, Ryan’s blog is a fantastic read and there are more great things to come. If you have any fascination at all with analog capture tools, this is a must add to your daily web reads list.

TaskPaper 1.0

As I have mentioned before, I have been really enjoying a new list management product called TaskPaper which has been in development for a little while now. It is officially released as of today and it is a decidedly simple but stunning effective little app. Not too hard on the wallet either.

What I love about it is that it is basically just an simple interface wrapped around a text file. The features are minimal but effective. It has everything you need and nothing it does not (which seems so rare these days). There are just tasks and projects. Items can have context tags. You can open those contexts and projects in tabs and/or narrow them down with a search. Being that it is basically just a text file, you can easily change the extension and then open it up with any text editor which makes it highly portable.

Larger projects require more levels of detail, so I have not entirely given up on OmniFocus (still in alpha but also very good). I have a couple of “Big P’s” with “Sub P’s” and “Baby P’s” that I still manage there. But for the basics, TaskPaper is just what I need right now.