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Deleted20245
Guest
A commonplace book is simply a place where to take notes and write things down that might be useful later. There are a variety of ways to do this: sketchbooks, journals, evernote, text files, boxes, etc.
Sketchbooks/Journals: I've been doing this for years because I'm an artist. The advantage is that everything is in one place and in chronological order so you can see the development of your thoughts. The disadvantage is that you might not write down everything that's interesting, and it's uncategorized.
Evernote: It's really easy if you type and look stuff up on the internet all the time. Your notes can't be stolen or burned this way. Disadvantage: it's not printed and in front of your face, and articles might be there as links, which could die, or be there in full, which would take too long to comb through.
Boxes: Take scraps and notes and throw them in a box labeled by category. This gives you a reverse-chronology of things that interest you about a topic. The problem is that you have to have storage and that you have to tear things up.
The Robert Greene/Ryan Holiday Method: This is where you get 4x6 index cards and boxes, write things on the note cards, and add categories as your interests expand. More on that here.
I use a combo of sketchbooks and the Robert Greene method. I categorize ideas for projects, take notes from every book I read, and take notes from my sketchbooks. It's a great way to synthesize knowledge. It also creates an awesome reference for things you may need later when you're doing a blog post or writing something. It also tracks your interests as they develop. You might find yourself reading biology books and developing a lot of notes on that, and that interest could be turned into something if you see a need there.
Sketchbooks/Journals: I've been doing this for years because I'm an artist. The advantage is that everything is in one place and in chronological order so you can see the development of your thoughts. The disadvantage is that you might not write down everything that's interesting, and it's uncategorized.
Evernote: It's really easy if you type and look stuff up on the internet all the time. Your notes can't be stolen or burned this way. Disadvantage: it's not printed and in front of your face, and articles might be there as links, which could die, or be there in full, which would take too long to comb through.
Boxes: Take scraps and notes and throw them in a box labeled by category. This gives you a reverse-chronology of things that interest you about a topic. The problem is that you have to have storage and that you have to tear things up.
The Robert Greene/Ryan Holiday Method: This is where you get 4x6 index cards and boxes, write things on the note cards, and add categories as your interests expand. More on that here.
I use a combo of sketchbooks and the Robert Greene method. I categorize ideas for projects, take notes from every book I read, and take notes from my sketchbooks. It's a great way to synthesize knowledge. It also creates an awesome reference for things you may need later when you're doing a blog post or writing something. It also tracks your interests as they develop. You might find yourself reading biology books and developing a lot of notes on that, and that interest could be turned into something if you see a need there.
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