Hey pen friend!

I'm still finalizing my planner and notebook choices for 2027, but I thought I'd share with you the thought process behind my journal and planner system.

When I think about my system, the goal is for it to help me with one of three things: being more productive, gaining knowledge, or reflecting on life. So every journal or planner falls into one of the following categories:

1. Productivity,
2. Knowledge Organization,
3. Reflection,
4. Temporary Storage, or
5. Project Books.

1. Productivity

When it comes to productivity, I have two notebooks that fall into this category:

• my personal planner/bullet journal hybrid, which is currently a Hobonichi Weeks, and
• my work bullet journal, which is currently an A5 Stalogy notebook.

These notebooks are something I utilize daily to track my tasks and events, take notes, and write some reminders about what I did that day.

I chose to separate personal from work because there are times when I write A LOT in my work bullet journal. If I were to mix the two, it'd make finding my personal notes difficult.

I also enjoy keeping things separate because my work tends to be confidential.

2. Knowledge Organization

I also keep two notebooks for my knowledge organization:

• my mind dump book, which is an A5 Leuchtturm1917, and
• my work commonplace book, which is also an A5 Leuchtturm1917.

I feel like life is a constant barrage of information, and it can be overwhelming. So I like to have a place to store all of that information. Sometimes it seems like what I'm writing down is temporary and won't be useful long term, but I find that you simply never know when a random piece of information may come in handy.

My mind dump book is a large assortment of things, which I have a detailed key for organizing it all. I like to keep book quotations, shopping research, research for hobbies, lists, and whatever else is on my mind in this notebook.

My work commonplace book is more of a traditional commonplace book. I tend to only write in it when I'm consuming a piece of text, like a scientific journal article, a scientific standard, or some other work related article.

I wouldn't say I'm in these books everyday, but I use them fairly frequently. It's also very interesting to see how my motivation for specific hobbies come and go because I tend to write a lot in my mind dump book when my motivation is extremely high.

I should note that I'm also attempting to use digital tools for my knowledge organization. Specifically, I like Obsidian.md because it's locally stored unless you choose to use iCloud or Obsidian sync. I also like how minimal it is. I don't find all the features of Obsidian to be too overwhelming. Although, I know there's a whole world of Obsidian plugins that I have yet to explore.

My digital integration isn't fully formed yet, but my goal is to have a digital record of most of my handwritten notes someday to make them more searchable. I especially want to figure something out for my work related notes. Thus far, I'm only consistent at tracking my reading in Obsidian. So I have a long way to go to fully integrate Obsidian into my system. Although, the idea is to start with pen and paper, reflect on what I have written, and then transfer selected notes into Obsidian.

3. Reflection

Currently, I only have one notebook dedicated to reflection, and that's my pocket sized personal journal. I recently moved into a Moleskine cahier notebook, but I also have a ton of Field Notes in my stash. I think it's important to have a space to reflect on life and all the big and little things. I believe that in order to grow as a person you have to reflect on yourself. So it's something I'm trying to do more frequently.

I haven't finalized my 2027 system yet, but I'm also thinking about adding a photo journal as well. I want to be more intentional about printing out my photos instead of having files simply sit on my computer. I also want to take more photos and use my cameras to capture everyday moments and not just my travels. Hopefully, I can incorporate this into my system next year.

4. Temporary Storage

I have a pocket sized notebook that I call my "sidekick." It's essentially an inbox style journal, where I jot things down when I don't have my core system around. There's no rules when using this notebook, and the entries are varied. The goal is to simply write all the things down. So I try to take this notebook with me everywhere, and a lot of times, I'll just have this and my personal planner on me while I'm traveling.

I'll be honest, I probably under utilize this notebook. I want to learn to use it more often, and it'll ultimately boil down to making sure I have it out at all times.

I know you can use your phone for temporary storage of notes and ideas. I do some of that especially with screenshots on my phone. The problem with using my phone though is that I get easily distracted by other apps. So I try not to use it as one of my productivity tools.

5. Project Books

Project books, for me, are books with both learning and fun in mind. Think of dedicated hobby journals, handwriting projects, sketch books, etc. Those are what I consider to be project books in my system.

Currently, the only project book I have going is my currently inked journal in an old A5 Hobonichi Cousin Avec, but who knows what 2027 will bring. I'm contemplating starting a new journal dedicated for book annotations, and I've always wanted to try my hand at urban sketching.

If I have the time, I'll definitely add new project books to my system.

This was a longer email than previous ones. If you've stuck with me to the end, thank you! I hope you enjoyed reading about the thought process behind my journal and planner system.

I honestly don't know what I'll write about next. I'm a little short on ideas at the moment. So if you have anything you'd like me to expand upon, please let me know! As always you can reply to this email or send me a DM on Instagram to chat.

I'll catch you in my next email!

<3, Amy

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