I know what all you tech geeks out there are thinking right now, notebooks are a little old fashioned for this day and age aren’t they? Well, no they’re not. There’s a reason that the notebook has remained a timeless creation for all these years, and there’s a reason why you (yes you, with the iPad) have clicked on this post. This post is all about that ‘why’ and ‘how’.

How Could A Notebook Make You More Successful?

1. You’ll Be More Organised

If you can visually see the tasks that you have set yourself for the day, before it has even begun, you can prepare your mind for them and adjust the order of your tasks to suit the times of day when you are going to be best free and focused.

Having this flexible way of organising your mind is a great way to ’think outside the workplace’ even when you’re still sat at your desk. What’s in those pages is yours. You are in control. You are in charge. And that notebook is the organised portal to your success; you can escape to whenever you need to.

Additionally, by having all your lists, tasks, goals and to-dos in one place, the process of preparation and organisation will become a routine and you‘ll know exactly what you want from each day, thus maximising your efforts and time.

2. You’ll be Less Forgetful

There’s a reason students take notes in class and that’s because a notebook is like a handheld memo board. It’s your brain on a page, a place for you to keep the ideas you have and the lessons you learn in one place for when you need them. In this sense, keeping a notebook will give you something to fall back on when things go a bit haywire.

3. Mind Map Your Thoughts

It’s been psychologically proven in the past that the way we mind map, echoes the way in which our brain makes decisions and ideas. Having paper, a pen and a bubble is one of the best ways to come up with ideas and develop them, particularly in the designing stage because we can get a better understanding of what we want out of the final product and which direction it could take.

4. Sketch Your Ideas

Sometimes the best way to envision an idea is to physically envision the idea. Does it look right on the page? Would it look better in blue? If you rearranged the shape here, here and here does it become a more efficient product?

Something that computer-work lacks is spontaneity and in the designing stage it‘s these ‘rough’ ideas that are most important.

Additionally, explaining our ideas to others can sometimes be a tricky affair, but by sketching out the idea or showing them the process you went through in your notebook, collaboration often becomes much easier, friendlier and two sided. I’m a writer but I admit a picture sometimes speaks a thousand words.

5. Helps You Into The Mindset Each Day

Keeping a notebook is a great way to get into the mindset to work, not only from an organisational viewpoint, but from a philosophical one too. Just including a few quotes, dreams or photograph pages in your work notebook is a great way to remember exactly why you are doing this and how it will contribute to your future.

You may only glance at it for a moment or so on the train to your next big meeting/conference but it will make you feel motivated to achieve your final success in the end. Personally, I like to keep a few photographs and letters in the back pocket of my journal, usually just a few mementos from the people I am closest too.

6. Helps You Break Down Tasks

So you’ve just started a new project and there seems like so much to do – before you panic – write it all down. One the best ways to plan or de-stress at the start of any new adventure is to get everything down on paper. That way you can see all your thoughts and problems and ideas for what they are; achievable, breakable and stepping stones to your one life success.

7. You Can Track Your Progress

This point is last on this list but certainly not the least. One of the biggest benefits of having a notebook over a million and one word documents is that you can see what you have achieved, how you have achieved it, how to go about what your working on now and what you want from the future.

It’s like a story. And the facts is, you can shape it anyway you want, but it’s still yours. In this sense keeping a notebook like this is one of the best ways to reassess your progress and set new aims.

A Final Note on Notebooks

So, ask yourself, why not carry a notebook in that expensive briefcase of yours? Why not take that trip down to Paper Chase on your way home tonight? How could keeping a notebook make you a better, richer, more creative and more successful person?

To get some great ideas on how to shape your planner towards your own purposes why not click here and see Joe’s examples. These examples provide some great tips on how to keep organised and focused, but remember to make it your own. The whole point of all this planning is to achieve your success, so ensure that your notes reflect it.

Wrote by Aimee Hall