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Using Paper for Everyday Tasks

christine.website

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Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks

#41
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends. If you throw the paper away then sure, it's waste. But... if you keep it then suddenly you're doing carbon capture. Saving the environment one bad meeting at a time. Or riveting collections of todo-done. But yeah the idiots who use the "I don't have paper therefore can't take notes." They're the worst.

There's no way, currently, for digital to compete with the precision and tactile feel of paper. One day we may get there, we are advancing remarkably quickly (pun intended).

I think it's certainly remarkable too.

Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks

#42

Lately I've been writing a lot in paper notepads and I've favored pens over pencils. I don't remember where I heard this idea originally, but there's something about using a pen which makes you grow a bit more comfortable with accepting that errors and mistakes will always happen but you can take action later on to correct those mistakes. With a pencil you often erase your mistakes and pretend they never happened. Yo…

Depends on what you do. I've been glad to use pencil in the past, since it is water resistant compared to pen. Useful when you spill coffee on your notebook, or leave your hiking journal in the rain like me ...

Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks

#43

Lately I've been writing a lot in paper notepads and I've favored pens over pencils. I don't remember where I heard this idea originally, but there's something about using a pen which makes you grow a bit more comfortable with accepting that errors and mistakes will always happen but you can take action later on to correct those mistakes. With a pencil you often erase your mistakes and pretend they never happened. Yo…

Depends on what you do. I've been glad to use pencil in the past, since it is water resistant compared to pen. Useful when you spill coffee on your notebook, or leave your hiking journal in the rain like me ...

Or just change pens. You can find permanant markers in a fine tip, artist pens are sometimes waterproof once dry, and different pens are more/less waterproof - though it has been a while since I tested standard pens, and a ball point (or mechanical pencil) is much cheaper than the waterproof options.

I'd think that the bigger problem when leaving a journal in the rain is trying to keep the pages from sticking together as it dries. Probably a lesser problem with the coffee unless you have a major spill.

Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks

#44

Lately I've been writing a lot in paper notepads and I've favored pens over pencils. I don't remember where I heard this idea originally, but there's something about using a pen which makes you grow a bit more comfortable with accepting that errors and mistakes will always happen but you can take action later on to correct those mistakes. With a pencil you often erase your mistakes and pretend they never happened. Yo…

Depends on what you do. I've been glad to use pencil in the past, since it is water resistant compared to pen. Useful when you spill coffee on your notebook, or leave your hiking journal in the rain like me ...

Fair point! All tools have their uses, go with whatever works best for your situation.

I reach for a light mechanical pencil when I need to sketch a diagram or visualization since I tend to be terrible at estimating how much space will be taken up.

The article recommended Field Notes are water-proof as well, if weather conditions are a concern.

Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks

#46

I love the idea of wasting trees because you just prefer to write things down on paper. Been in the workforce for decades and I've met more than a handful of people who love writing things down and, of course, drawing stuff. I've had a guy justify not taking notes because he didn't have a pen and paper on hand...WHILE having an online meeting. On a computer. Now, these people don't have much in common but they tend t…

Just out of curiosity, do you use toilet paper? Or do you use a bidet? or do use textile napkins that you wash regularly?

Look, quite a lot of new timber is used to produce toilet paper. But OP was complaining about people cutting trees to take notes. Seems reasonable to ask if they also have a problem with toilet paper, which probably will use more wood pulp over the life time than their notebooks ever will.

Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks

#47
Good read! My system is similar:

- Yellow (legal) pad for daily todo. Use pen on this pad because it is ok to not keep it neat because the page will be thrown away next morning. So, next morning, tear off the top leaf of yesterday, start no a fresh sheet with the date on top, and transfer any todos that need to be carried forward. Typically, a todo is either done, or not needed, or still pending. The pending ones make it to the fresh page.

- A notebook for note taking. E.g. meetings, or plans etc. I use a mechanical pencil and an eraser with this one. Mistakes and badly written words can be erased and rewritten. When I reference this notebook, it is good to see that things are legible even after a few days.

Summary:

- Legal pad and a pen for tasks. Start a new leaf every morning.

- Notebook, pencil, eraser for notes. Keep it neat, and can be referenced later.

Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks

#48

> If the item either can't or won't be done, cross out the - to make it into a *. How about put a circle around the - to make it a "stop" sign?

I'll look into that! X is a bit easier for me to write consistently though (really bad handwriting).

Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks

#49

I love the idea of wasting trees because you just prefer to write things down on paper. Been in the workforce for decades and I've met more than a handful of people who love writing things down and, of course, drawing stuff. I've had a guy justify not taking notes because he didn't have a pen and paper on hand...WHILE having an online meeting. On a computer. Now, these people don't have much in common but they tend t…

As a consumer, the trees are already wasted. Nothing you can do will change that fact.

Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks

#50

As I see it we live through a period where two incredible capabilities remain unreconciled. The free format ability of paper to capture nuance, creativity and complexity in recording information versus the powerful augmentation of search / modify / repurpose existing records that you get with digital tools. Not sure there will ever be something that can support both but it does not sound forbidden by some law of natu…

The iPad + Pencil + Notability is the perfect device for me. All I really use it for is note taking, and it has completely replaced pen and paper in my life.

I can search, organise and back up my notes, and also share screen / convert them to PDF and send them to colleagues easily. I can also easily rearrange the page and convert my scribbles to text so other people can understand them.

It was expensive compared to a notebook, but well worth it.

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