Lessons Learned from My First Completed Notebook

As a stationary enthusiast and current job hunter, my life revolves around three main things: job hunting, researching and learning new things, and programming. I have found a way to balance all three, and I’m excited to share my secret with you. Are you ready? Drumroll, please… It is pen and paper! Specifically, a system called a “commonplace notebook.”

After delving deep into the Common Place Notebook rabbit hole, I discovered that each book is unique in its own way. It took me some time to create my own, but I finally created one.

What sets mine apart?

A commonplace book is a personal notebook or journal used to collect and organize information, ideas, quotes, and observations from various sources for future reference and reflection. Mine has three unique ways:

• Each topic ends with a single page summary. I force myself to write a summary using my own words so I can improving my writing comprehension.

• For safekeeping purposes I have a digital backup of the completed commonplace book to reflect and keep track of the information.

• ICreate a “Found Objects” Section that include stamps and physical items unique to this time. for example I found my a TTC card from 2016.

I began keeping a commonplace notebook while studying The Odin Project in the second quarter of 2024 to demonstrate that I wasn’t just mindlessly scrolling through social media, but actively tracking the topics I was learning. It was a way to show others that I’m continuously learning.

Nowadays a chuck of my time is spent writing things on pen and paper and writing has been a great blessing. Why? I get to keep tabs physical timeline of things I’ve researched. Creating a summary at the end of the topic saves me time re-reading all the topics, while enabling to come up with new topics to talk about.

So if you ever are on the fence of buying a notebook I would highly recommend making that purchase and looking into writing a Common Place Notebook for yourself and seeing where it leads you on your journey.