Use two notebooks, simplify your life
For the past few months I’ve been using two simple notebooks to organize my life, thoughts, tasks, and creativity.
Despite the dozens of productivity apps out there, I find this setup to be the most effective yet.
If you’re feeling distracted when using your phone or computer – I can’t recommend this simple setup enough.
The Notebooks
Here’s what I use:
- A5 notebook (Moleskine cahier)
- Pocket planner (Moleskine Weekly Horizontal)
The A5 notebook is my “daily driver” so to speak. I fill 1-5 pages of it on any given day. And personally, I feel that this is the best size of notebook for (almost) everything.
I didn’t start using one til mid-2024 and it’s been a total game changer for me.
I use the A5 for:
- daily journaling
- capturing ideas + brainstorming
- doodles, design, and drawing
- outlining videos + newsletters
It quite literally becomes a space to capture anything on my mind. And it’s awesome.
And then I use the Moleskine Pocket Planner for:
- weekly planning
- organizing
- and accountability
2-Step Simple Workflow
Most often, I’ll plan my week on Sunday evenings.
First, I’ll use my A5 notebook to write down any and everything on my mind. This includes tasks, to-dos, appointments, meetings, and anything causing me stress.
Then, I will transfer the top 1-5 priorities as to-dos in the pocket planner. I’ll add them to a specific day at a specific time.
This ensures they’ll get done.
This simple workflow allows me to plan my week and alleviate any overwhelm before it begins.
And then (almost) every day throughout the week, I will write a simple morning journal entry in my A5 notebook to clear my head before I begin the day.
It can be easy to overcomplicate your creativity and/or productivity system — but I find this to be the perfect balance of simplicity and effectiveness.
I’ve been journaling more consistently than ever using this setup, and it’s simply because it’s fun and easy.
And that’s what creativity is all about, right?!
If you want a concise collection of my entire creative workflow, I walk through each of these steps (and more) in detail in my course The Genius Journal.
That’s all for today, have a great week my friend!
–Eric
(P.S. The links above are affiliate links – if you purchase through them I may receive a small commission. Thanks!)
