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“Keep it simple Stupid”. I beg your pardon; I mean no offense, but this is a slogan I heard years ago in a sales meeting, and I find it helps when I apply it to the most basic, and often necessary task of note taking. For those of you out there who, although a tad technologically savvy, still need the comfort of a paper notebook and pen, I bequeath to you this invaluable gift.

I, too like the soft and pliable feel of paper under my finger tips; the indentation a pen makes on the middle finger of my right hand; the combined smell of ink and paper; the rustle of a gently turned leaf. Aaah. I love it all, and I especially love the fact that I can put my thoughts down when I get them, so that my aging mind does not have to retain more than it needs to. I know, I know, you can just as easily log on to your smart phone, your tablet, or some other space age device, but then I forget how to pull up the darned information, so I use the good old fashioned notebook.

But here’s the trick:
Only use one notebook, for EVERYTHING!

I see people with a notebook for every subject, every season, and in every color. They have ‘post its’, and index cards, even a napkin with vital information scrawled on it. No! STOP, right now. This will drive you crazy. You will need a notebook just to tell you what notebook you can find information in.
Get a nice binder if you like, but within it, have a refillable notebook and section it out with colorful tabs, or some other marking device you like. Create sections that are meaningful to you.
Here are some of mine:
TO DO, CONTACTS, MARKETING, VOLUNTEER, CLIENT HOURS, BOOKS, RESEARCH, TO BUY, BILLS, EXERCISE, QUOTES, MISCELLANEOUS, FACTS, WORK HISTORY.
You can customize these to your hearts content, and this will be your bible where you have everything. If you find yourself reaching for a ‘post-it’ pad, quickly transfer it to your ‘bible’ as soon as you can. Otherwise it will be swept away like an autumn leaf and never to be found again, like the missing socks.

Let me know your favorite note taking methods.