by Uri Fridman
Even though I live in the digital world, I am at heart still an analog person. Growing up in a time when digital was just appearing and analog was still a big part of the world, I learned early onto appreciate the power that good quality things can bring. One of the things that has stayed with me since then was the need to jot notes and ideas on paper as opposed to using software.
I’m on the road a lot, but I also have periods of time when I’m in the office. When that happens I rely on a Saddleback Leather Shop Notepad Holder to hold my notepad and pen. The pen, by the way, is a Titanium TiBolt made by Fellhoelter. Both pieces are extremely well built and provide years of use and abuse for the money.
Usually my ideas start in this notepad. I just create a brain dump of what I have in my mind and I begin sketching out the different options. it’s not unusual to have 10 or more pages full of notes and sketches at the end of the “session”. Usually, they are like a puzzle and you can line them up together to form the whole idea. To me it’s a great way to quickly and clearly begin working on the idea. From there, I call my team and we’ll translate this to a whiteboard, where everyone adds their part.
The thing is, having a good pen and a piece of paper makes you feel that the ideas, the information you want express, is actually alive. Sure, you can use brain-mapping software or just jot notes in a text editor, but on a piece of paper, with your hands… It fees real. It feels like it’s not going to be deleted and you can work with it.
Again, maybe it’s the fact that I lived through those years of analog and digital, but – like a good quality mechanical watch – I think some of the analog world is still superior to the current, increasingly digital world.
By the way, when I’m on the road I use a Baron Fig Apprentice to do exactly the same.
Uri is one of the writers at redteams.net.
