My Notebook Ecosystem
I have been seeing a lot of YouTube videos recently where the creator is explaining their notebook ecosystem. I felt inspired to do the same here as a solid jumping off point for what Sigils & Codex is all about. I deeply hold the belief that knowledge is power, but not in a controlling others sort of way. Knowledge gives me the power to do my best, to be at my best when my best is required and to always be looking for ways to do better next time. This philosophy leads to a two-prong approach. There is the basic knowledge of subjects, topics, events, and ideas. However, there is also the knowledge of self. How I think, how I interpret the world, how things make me feel, even my own patterns, strengths, weaknesses, and behaviors.
With all of that being said, I am a Systems Thinker. It is deep in my DNA and it shows up in most of my endeavors from planning to execution to maintenance and ongoing actions. I mention this as a gateway to acknowledge that my current notebook ecosystem is and has been evolving for decades now. So, don't try to dive in and just duplicate what I am currently doing. Take the ideas, the concepts, apply what fits who you are and where you are in your journey and ignore the rest. This is a very Bruce Lee approach to life. Now, without further adieu let's get into my ecosystem.
I have 6 notebooks in regular use and a handful that are used as time, need, or energy allow. For the purposes of keeping things from getting too wordy I am going to only briefly touch on each, focusing mainly on what it is used for and less the specific notebook, pen, or layouts in each. I have a set, 5 in total, of Field Notes in a Passport Notebook cover. One of the Field Notes is for tracking my spiritual journey. I keep my daily gratitude journal in there as well as notes from my devotional reading, weekly sermon notes, and a running list of prayer requests. The second Field Notes is for my physical health. I track my sleep, my water consumption, my daily step count, the weather and temperature as well as my energy, mood, and stress levels. I keep a food diary and a daily activity log in there. It also houses my weekly weight loss progress and progress reviews. There is also a tracker for my blood glucose readings. I'm a Type 2 Diabetic. Field Notes three is for tracking my daily spending whether its from my main account of something bought with a credit card, every purchase gets listed. I also keep a running list of my investments at the start and end of each month and my overall network as a tracking metric. Field Notes four is for habit tracking. I have a page a week for each of the big areas of my life I'm working to improve: health, wellness, faith, finance, and my own development. The last Field Notes is a list of questions. As we go through the rest of the ecosystem you will see where these questions come from. But, for now let's focus on what they are used for. I use these list of questions to provide a measurement of what things I'm interested in, what brings me joy, curiosity, and makes me feel excited. It is also stuff that I'm not understanding. It could be a basic topic or a specific aspect or use of something. Whatever the question is, this is where it lives until its been explored.
I carry a Waste Book. This is basically what it sounds like. It is a catch-all. Everything in my day goes here: lists, ideas, reminders, recipes, thoughts, video notes, notes from something I've read or conversations I've had. I burn through these pretty quickly as a result so I order them in multiples.
Next is my journal notebook. This is a hybrid use. I use it for morning pages journal, daily schedules and to-do lists, my top priorities personally and professionally, an inbox of tasks, to-dos, projects, action items. It has my daily bullet journal and my daily review journal practice in it. As I look back at my entries and journal pages, when questions arise they get added to the Questions Field Notes.
Then there is my Thinking Book. This is where I start to use progressive summation. I take notes from my Waste Book and thoughts from my journal and expand on them. I talk ideas out, plan projects, hone my thinking or understanding of topics. I even ask myself questions and then explain it as a method of thinking things through on paper. As questions arise from these pages they get added to the Questions Field Notes that I carry.
Lastly is my Commonplace Book. I perform another round of progressive summation as I move information from my Thinking Book here. I expand on ideas and create fully formed thoughts and beliefs on topics or ideas and put a fine point on my understanding of topics in this notebook. Any questions that arise get added to the Questions Field Notes.
Now, here is where I apply this mental work. I also maintain an Obsidian vault that I use as a digital second brain based on the book from Tiago Forte. When I review my Waste Book weekly i take anything item and create a new capture section note for that small, specific fact, thought, "a-ha", etc. These are reviewed weekly and added to any and all relevant "Areas" pages where that data could be applied. Then that singular note is moved to the "Resources" section. When the "Capture" fold is empty I go back and review all of the "Areas" pages that had new information added. I review the new piece of info and adjust the summary of that idea if necessary. I log the new note in the Maps of Content section on that page and append it to the bottom. Lastly, I review my projects list to see if the newly summarized "Areas" page might be relevant to any new projects that I have ongoing. If this process sparks any new questions, those questions get added to the Questions Field Notes and the funnel starts all over again.
One last note, here are some of the other topics or notebooks in my system. I have a notebook for quotes. I have a notebook for Shadow work and personal development journal of various kinds. I have a notebook for my Bible study practice. I also have notebooks for some of my side hustle ideas and one specifically dedicated to helping me tweak and build recipes, especially those that can go into rotation for meeting my health and wellness goals or things for specific events like date night or holiday parties.