From The Notebook, a History, I learned about Geogia Governor and Senator Bob Graham's intense notebook use. I found this first person explanation of how he uses them
Since 1977, I have carried a spiral notebook. I learned this from my father, a dairy farmer who always had a pad in this work pants pocket. As he walked or drove his World War II Willis Jeep through the pastures, he would note broken fences or sick cows in his pad as a means of assuring he would remember to give them proper attention.
I occasionally used a note book, but not with Dad’s discipline until 1977. In that year I started my campaign for governor of Florida. I was overwhelmed with people who wanted to give me information: a friend of a friend who would be helpful in Tampa or an idea for a bumper strip. I would come home at night with a jumble of slips of paper and no way to be sure the suggestions would be followed up.
Then I remembered my father – a light went off – and I started my own use of the spiral notebook. The spiral notebook has become my signature. Over 2,200 are stored either at a special collections library at the University of Florida or the most recent three years in my personal office. To some the spiral notebooks are a sign of an eccentric, to others an indicator of disciple. For me it is practical means to maintain a degree of control over my life.
Each individual spiral note book is about half the vertical size of a pack of cigarettes: small enough to fit easily into your pocket; large enough to store four or five days of activities. Each notebook’s cover is either blue, green, red or yellow which to me signify he four seasons of the year. I utilize d the notebooks in that order, blue (winter) always follows yellow (fall) and precedes green (spring). As any book covers less than a week, I am typically working out of several notebooks at the same time. The color code is a way of keeping them in sequential order without having to consult the materials in the notebook itself.
I start each month with a fresh notebook, the color which would follow the last notebook of the previous month. On the inside cover of the notebook I write the information which will determine its overall position in the total collection of notebooks (the first notebook used in July of 2009 would be 7/09A), the date upon which the notebook was commenced and completed, and the information which would assist in recovery of the notebook should it be lost (address, home-office-cell numbers and email address) and, finally, an index of when the sections of notebook were completed by my having finished the “things to do” lists in that notebook.
The daily use of the notebooks has four basic sections:
*log: in 5 minute intervals my activities for that day from awakening to asleep. It is a matter of personal needs and tastes as to how much information to retain. I err on the side of inclusion on the basis that you cannot anticipate when some apparently insignificant data may be exactly what you need. For instance, I keep my morning weight which reminds me how many pounds I have gained (or on the good days, shed). I also record where I am throughout the day: driving to the Miami Airport from 9:15 to 9:50; meeting in the office conference room with named participants on a specific topic from 2:30 to 3:45.
The log is not a diary. I do not record my emotional reaction to what is transpiring or enter editorial comments on subjects or individuals mentioned in the notebook. Rather, the level of detail serves as a memory facilitator. If I know the time, place, attendees at a meeting, even if it were held several years earlier, these contextual items facilitate my recall of the substance of the meeting.
*Take aways from individual or group meetings: Depending on the demands of each day’s schedule, it will generally take me six to nine pages of the notebook, both sides, to complete that day’s log. I will skip forward the estimated number of pages and begin keeping notes from individual met (name, a point of contact – telephone number, address or email address), something distinguishing about the person (white male 40 University of Florida graduate 1992 accounting). For group meetings I indicate the topic of the discussion but do not take stenographic notes, frequently I take no notes at all. What I am most likely to record are those commitments I have made (the things for me to do), specific data points to which I might refer later, and the conclusion of the meeting – what did I learn that is likely to be important or useful.
*Things to do: the last dozen pages of each notebook are devoted to daily things to do list. This list is intended to include all the items I want to accomplish on a particular day, with an indication of the relative priority of each item. As I complete an item it is marked with an OK. If items are not completed, they are noted as being carried over and the day to which they have been reassigned.
Since 1977, I have carried a spiral notebook. I learned this from my father, a dairy farmer who always had a pad in this work pants pocket. As he walked or drove his World War II Willis Jeep through the pastures, he would note broken fences or sick cows in his pad as a means of assuring he would remember to give them proper attention.
I occasionally used a note book, but not with Dad’s discipline until 1977. In that year I started my campaign for governor of Florida. I was overwhelmed with people who wanted to give me information: a friend of a friend who would be helpful in Tampa or an idea for a bumper strip. I would come home at night with a jumble of slips of paper and no way to be sure the suggestions would be followed up.
Then I remembered my father – a light went off – and I started my own use of the spiral notebook. The spiral notebook has become my signature. Over 2,200 are stored either at a special collections library at the University of Florida or the most recent three years in my personal office. To some the spiral notebooks are a sign of an eccentric, to others an indicator of disciple. For me it is practical means to maintain a degree of control over my life.
Each individual spiral note book is about half the vertical size of a pack of cigarettes: small enough to fit easily into your pocket; large enough to store four or five days of activities. Each notebook’s cover is either blue, green, red or yellow which to me signify he four seasons of the year. I utilize d the notebooks in that order, blue (winter) always follows yellow (fall) and precedes green (spring). As any book covers less than a week, I am typically working out of several notebooks at the same time. The color code is a way of keeping them in sequential order without having to consult the materials in the notebook itself.
I start each month with a fresh notebook, the color which would follow the last notebook of the previous month. On the inside cover of the notebook I write the information which will determine its overall position in the total collection of notebooks (the first notebook used in July of 2009 would be 7/09A), the date upon which the notebook was commenced and completed, and the information which would assist in recovery of the notebook should it be lost (address, home-office-cell numbers and email address) and, finally, an index of when the sections of notebook were completed by my having finished the “things to do” lists in that notebook.
The daily use of the notebooks has four basic sections:
*log: in 5 minute intervals my activities for that day from awakening to asleep. It is a matter of personal needs and tastes as to how much information to retain. I err on the side of inclusion on the basis that you cannot anticipate when some apparently insignificant data may be exactly what you need. For instance, I keep my morning weight which reminds me how many pounds I have gained (or on the good days, shed). I also record where I am throughout the day: driving to the Miami Airport from 9:15 to 9:50; meeting in the office conference room with named participants on a specific topic from 2:30 to 3:45.
The log is not a diary. I do not record my emotional reaction to what is transpiring or enter editorial comments on subjects or individuals mentioned in the notebook. Rather, the level of detail serves as a memory facilitator. If I know the time, place, attendees at a meeting, even if it were held several years earlier, these contextual items facilitate my recall of the substance of the meeting.
*Take aways from individual or group meetings: Depending on the demands of each day’s schedule, it will generally take me six to nine pages of the notebook, both sides, to complete that day’s log. I will skip forward the estimated number of pages and begin keeping notes from individual met (name, a point of contact – telephone number, address or email address), something distinguishing about the person (white male 40 University of Florida graduate 1992 accounting). For group meetings I indicate the topic of the discussion but do not take stenographic notes, frequently I take no notes at all. What I am most likely to record are those commitments I have made (the things for me to do), specific data points to which I might refer later, and the conclusion of the meeting – what did I learn that is likely to be important or useful.
*Things to do: the last dozen pages of each notebook are devoted to daily things to do list. This list is intended to include all the items I want to accomplish on a particular day, with an indication of the relative priority of each item. As I complete an item it is marked with an OK. If items are not completed, they are noted as being carried over and the day to which they have been reassigned.
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