J.F. Charland’s Blog

Here’s my “way” to introduce a new Moleskine into my world when I’ve run out of room in my current Moleskine:

• Reference: Number all the pages on the top right of the page (only odd OR even pages are needed). This will take 5 minutes or so and yes it’s tedious, but it’s really useful … Besides being a helpful reference, this allows you to use “analog hyperlinks” using a notation like “-123->” which would mean that I’ve made a link to page 123 from where I’ve written something. This is very powerful!!
• Front page(s): Keep a blank couple of pages at the beginning of the Moleskine to create a table of contents that you can add to as you fill up the book with pages that are worthwhile bookmarking. In theory, you would start your notes on page three or so, depending on how much you expect to use the Table of Contents.
• Last page: Keep a log of cool hacks on the back page and “new Moleskine startup tasks” so that when you start a new Moleskine, you’re up and running quickly and consistently.
• Back Pocket: Transfer stuff from the back pocket of the old Moleskine to the new one: business cards, receipts for expense reports, reference sheets you may keep, sticky post-it tabs for keeping track of certain pages (like the current day)
• My categories: I keep a sticky post-it tab for each:
  • Master List: This is at the very front and requires about 10 pages or so to log and keep track of high-level goals and aspirations.
  • Projects: This section gets broken down by however number of major projects I have on the go (work or personal) and different colored sticky notes identify wherever I’ve left off.
  • Today: moves from the back to the front to eventually meet my note-taking somewhere in between the front and back of the Moleskine

Do you have any new Moleskine best practices that you’re fond of? Please add a comment so that we can all benefit from the productivity boost!