Why paper and pencil are my best tools
Just try thinking about how much time we spend looking for an ideal tool for taking our notes, reminders, scheduling, sketching… A tool that gives us the freedom and flexibility to do everything we need. Yeah… so try looking around. Can you see this tool? There it is! A simple paper and pencil right next to you.
I can’t imagine how many ideas and how much time I’ve saved using just this tool, and I will try to explain why this works so well to me.
In all my programmer life I’ve tried to use many tools that could improve my capabilities to remember things, organize to-do lists, improve creativity, etc. The one that meets all my needs and gives me the freedom, and combining all other tools that have separated and specialized functions, is paper and pencil.
Ok, But what about smartphone’s on-screen notifications for your scheduled to-do lists/meetings?
Ok. I know and I use this tool as an extra (Yeah… as an extra, not as the main tool).
Organizing ideas on a paper or a notebook turned me more disciplined than ever, just because I can create mindsets, draw whatever I need to explore, and remember myself emphasizing some topics. This kind of things enforces our memory so well that there will never be a technology to do it in the same way.
Although technology has its credits about many other things, and we are programmers because of it, I couldn’t abandon paper and its freedom.
I made many class diagrams, flowcharts, and database modeling which saved me much time, instead of start coding right away, without thinking carefully about what I could do.
This experience demonstrates that this action saves me much more time than if I had coded first and just then thought about how to solve my problem or applying any design patterns. It’s OK to code directly if it’s something easy, trying to draft this on paper could cost more time than code directly and that’s fine.
Try it, and tell me later about your experiences.
Bullet Journal
Another big change I’ve made on my life’s organization methods is the use of Bullet Journal and I recommend knowing a bit about it.
Bullet Journal helps me bringing my thoughts closer. For a long time, I didn’t feel what it is to do something horrible more artistic, and handmade. Even if simplistic, all that I said above about paper and pencil is more powerful along with Bullet Journal (for this I use a pen :p).
I put down on this notebook my year journey. Every month, every single day, all my notes, to-do lists, and reminders, all in one place, this is a kind of freedom that any app gave me.
Don’t stick with the stereotype that programmers should consume every possible technology that there is.
I hope the experience I shared, at least makes you think about it.