-
Taking Notes
I wish I could have that kind of open affair with my Moleskine like every other proud owner has had with their notebook. I own quite a few, each varying in size and paper formats and my intention investing in them was so that they could serve as an invitation to pour out casual ideas while on the go but lately I’ve done more carrying than writing with it. I think I’ve become just enamored with the concept of owning a Moleskine with zero substance in saying that I used them.
It’s not that expectations weren’t met with them but I’ve concluded that it’s my commitment to the actual note taking with a pen and paper that I lack. I do well in a work setting but not in my personal life. Most of my organizing, scheduling and writing is accomplished electronically and I’m more quick to whip out my iPhone than to scrambled to find something to write on.
Just recently I was grumbling about my aversion towards Marker Felt, which as you know is the default font in the Notes application. Simply put, it’s just ugly to look at and if the purpose of taking notes is to ultimately refer back to these important tidbits of information, the font itself will keep me away from ever looking at them again and that’s just silly.
Light at the end
Fast forward to a couple days later and DF goes and writes a detailed piece on an app that truly lives up to its name: Simplenote. Gruber writes:
Simplenote’s developers clearly studied what is good about Notes and thought about how to make something that is good in the same ways, but improves upon its major shortcomings.
I love the minimal elegant interface, the instant search feature but above all the syncing that the application uses with a secure web app. There’s no need to transcribe anything back to your desktop because it’s readily available for you to copy & paste anywhere you want or to continue any thought you had started on your iPhone.
Copying an idea just doesn’t work. You have to improve on what’s already out there and Simplenote does an exceptional job in accomplishing that. Mostly importantly to me, it’s instilled back the beauty of on-the-go note taking even if there’s no pen involved. Ultimately it’s the content that matters.
-
Do You Read Enough? →
We’re all fascinated with being informed and I typically am the kind of person who craves keeping up with current events for the purpose of feeling grounded and knowledgeable. Interestingly enough, unlike all the hurtle of commuters I come across going to work in a bustling city like New York, I personally can’t in every respect think back the last time I carried around a newspaper to feel enlighten.
Most of my reading derives from magazines I subscribe to, online newspapers and of course blogs but regardless of what medium serves as the scoop supplier, there’s one valuable piece of information from Mark Shead that I look at everyday to remind me that it’s not about how much you read but about the caliber of material that makes you feel that you’ve read something worth analyzing and subsequently added value to you.
I can tell if I’ve been reading enough high quality writing based on the number of ideas I have. For example, if I sit down to write and have a very difficult time coming up with anything to write about, it is usually a sign that I haven’t been reading enough. On the other hand, if I’ve been reading a lot of high quality content, the ideas just seem to flow.
Do you feel this way with what you currently read?
-
Behind the Blog: Jack Cheng →
Jack Cheng is one of those few skillful writers whose pieces you can’t help referring back to because there’s bound to be one more tucked away message you failed to notice the first time, which you can smartly apply to your life.
In a recent interview with Apartment Therapy’s Unplggd, he spoke about an attribute which I believe is the driving force behind his influential writing:
Even though the end product of most of my work lives on the computer screen, I spend a lot of time away from the computer — sometimes I’ll grab a notebook and sit down with a fresh pot of tea in my living room and do some sketching and writing. That way, when I’m back at my desk, I have a plan for what I need to do, instead of just surfing and wasting time.
Quality writing entitles the person to be taken seriously; a trait which is always vital when communicating ideas and if that means generating eloquent pieces away from the computer that will eventually draw readers back, then so be it. If a person’s words seem awkward and tactless, readers get the misguided opinion that the person is that way too and so will everything produced by them later on.
In adding to Jack’s outlook, I often refer to ProBlogger Darren Rowse for influence when writing, which keeps this message in mind:
When you know how to write well you don’t have to waste your time trying to write, you can simply focus on the central message and the right words and expressions manifest on their own.
