PaperBased.net

I know - this is a fairly obvious use for a Moleskine as they already come in a range of planners and diaries with different page configurations. It’s still a cool use for a Moleskine though!

I currently use a red pocket sized weekly planner and love the calendar page/notes page layout.  My appointments go on the calendar side and my weekly to do items on the notes side.  It’s a perfect size for my handbag, the red cover distinguishes it from my journal and it keeps my organised.

Did you know though that you can get the same effect, or an even more personally customised one, simply by altering a plain ruled or squared Moleskine notebook?  There are some great examples out there from people who have done this, like Mike Rohdes’ post about creating a custom Moleskine planner, complete with a fully annotated photo on flickr.

For anyone who’s read anything about David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) revolution on the net, you’ll soon notice that a large number of GTD’ers proclaim the virtues of a Moleskine notebook.  Amongst other uses within the GTD setup, a Moleskine notebook or cahier makes a great device for recording your to do list items.

There are many ways to structure your to do list within your Moleskine.  The simplest is to just have one list and add all your items.  As each item is done simply cross it off the list.  GTD provides a more structured approach by splitting your list up into seperate context lists - you have a Next Action list, a Someday Maybe list and as many relevant context lists (for example @phone, @computer, @desk) as necessary.

To find out more about GTD and keeping a to do list in your Moleskine see these sites:

• David Allen’s Official GTD site and What Is GTD?
• My favourite paper-based GTD group - AnalogGTD at Yahoo! Groups.
• Web Worker Daily’s great posts Five Reasons To Use A Paper To Do List and Six More Reasons To Use A Paper To Do List
• Moleskine To Do Lists on Flickr

I’m starting to accrue a bit of a collection of Moleskine notebooks and it occurred to me that I may never get around to using them all.  That got me thinking about all the different ways I could use them and this blog post was the result.  What will follow is 52 posts on different ways that you can use your Moleskine notebook.

The #1 position on my Uses For A Moleskine Notebook list is taken by the Personal Journal.  This is what I use my current Moleskines for.  They contain daily what’s happening entries, responses to journal writing prompts, pasted in items such as movie tickets and programme clippings and anything else I feel like adding.  As well as creating an historical record, journal writing is a great outlet for your day to day worries.

Moleskine’s make great journals, the paper is lovely to write on, the notebooks are sturdy and hardwearing and the back pocket is a great place to tuck mementos.  I also love the size, the pocket Moleskine’s fit nicely in a handbag or pocket so you can take them anywhere.  That said though, I have to admit that my next journal is a large sized one - all that more space to journal in.

There are some great resources on the web for starting your own personal journal.  Here are a handful of sites to get you started:

• How To Start Writing A Journal Or Keep A Diary at webdjinni
• More How To Journal on Oprah’s website 
• Inspired To Journal - possibly the very best journaling site on the web 
• Why journal?  Check out this list of 100 Benefits Of Journaling
• Photos on flickr of other people’s journals

I wrote yesterday about my first Moleskine and what a great little journal it was. I retired it at the end of 2006. I then went and did something very silly. I had a pile of blank notebooks I’d acquired over the years and rather than spending money on a new Moleskine straight away I thought I should use these other notebooks up first.

My new journal for 2007 was a pocket sized Debden lined notebook with a textured red cover. The red cover was cool - it went very well with my Moleskine 2007 red pocket weekly planner + notebook. The pages were a lovely off-white colour, a little more yellow than a Moleskine but still pleasing to the eye. The price tag wasn’t painful at all - I could afford to have a whole stack of these for the cost of one Moleskine! That was about as good as the notebook got though … you really do get what you pay for.

Firstly, there was no back pocket. Nowhere to stash the cool little bits and pieces I pick up and mean to someday glue into the journal. Then there was the fact that my ink bled completely through the page - I could only write on one side of each. (At least that meant I’d be finished with the book sooner.) Also, after only a couple of weeks, the cover was beginning to look grotty from bouncing around in my bag all the time. The Moleskine cover had obviously been a lot harder wearing, and the black had hidden any marks The most annoying thing of all though was how the notebook wouldn’t lie flat properly. It was such a pain to write in that I began to feel reluctant to journal at all.

By the first week of February I’d had enough. It had to go. The next Thursday evening I dropped into Borders and selected a nice pocket sized lined Moleskine. No price tag hesitancy this time - I knew this little notebook was going to be worth every cent. That night I carefully transposed the few journal entries I had made and then ceremoniously tossed the Debden notebook in the bin.

Lesson learnt!

When I first read about Moleskines it was in a post on 43Folders. I’d been link surfing through various articles on David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) method and came across the post. The notebooks sounded cool, but I remember thinking “what’s all the fuss - they’re just a notebook?”

Soon after I dropped into the Brisbane Borders store to grab a copy of David Allen’s book and noticed that they had Moleskine’s in stock. I picked up a pocket sized one for a look and was immediately struck by the feel of the notebook. I don’t know how to explain it, but they really do feel different from other notebooks. They’re very solid and have a nice weight about them. The pocket sized ones feel good in your hand. I liked them immediately.

They are a little expensive … I have to admit the price tag made me hesitate. I rationalised that the notebook would become my new journal and therefore a priceless possession to me, thus making the initial cost negligable. Ha ha! There was not arguing with that. A squared pocket sized one ended up coming home with me.

That little Moleskine became my new journal and has seriously been the most comfortable journal I have ever owned. It was comfortable to write in, comfortable to hold, a comfortable size to throw in my handbag (which meant it went everywhere with me), and even a comfortable colour with it’s plain black cover and off white pages. Beyond comfort though, I just enjoyed it. It added something extra to an already enjoyable pasttime. It was a sad occasion when I retired it at the end of last year, but 31st December 2006 seemed such a fitting day for an ending.