- laptop
- 6-outlet extension strip
- digital voice reorder
- dongle for controlling my laptop during slide deck presentations
- pico led projector
- Record Book (carried in most office supply stores) - which I use as an engagement journal
My favorite record book is the Staples Black Record Book, 10-7/16" x 8x3/8" (item 217695, model 18658/26510) - which has 300 pages. Today's online price is $64.79
Since the work I do is important to my clients - and I value having quality tools - I don't mind spending the extra premium for a tool that will look good, and last a very long time. The weight and heft when I pull out my journal book is pleasant thing in my mind - and is intended to create and communicate a visual message to my clients: I take my work seriously, and I value the things you may say - so I am going to be sure I capture them in a well organized way.
A comment was made by a younger person that I was going "old school" by writing notes in the journal - as opposed to just typing them into a laptop. I felt certain that the comment had an underlying dig of ageism - and so I didn't want to let it just lie there.
I took a moment to explain that I have found through personal experience that if I write something down, rather than typing it - I tend to remember it much better. I also mentioned that I transcribe my notes to .txt files as a further step in helping me learn the material - and to helping me organize information - and allowing me to rapidly search for information later. Further, I explained that my web searches of cognitive research studies conducted at some universities were actually found to support my own experiential observations that the act of physically writing something down - did indeed result in better memory retention.
The look in the other fellow's eye told me he wasn't buying it.
That has bugged me since then.
So I've wanted to capture some links to have handy the next time someone makes such a remark...
"New research by Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer (Princeton, UCLA) demonstrates that students who write out their notes on paper actually learn more."
- http://www.intechopen.com/books/advances-in-haptics/digitizing-literacy-reflections-on-the-haptics-of-writing
- http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/were-only-human/ink-on-paper-some-notes-on-note-taking.html
"Writing stimulates a bunch of cells at the base of the brain called the reticular activating system (RAS). The RAS acts as a filter for everything your brain needs to process, giving more importance to the stuff that you're actively focusing on at the moment—something that the physical act of writing brings to the forefront."
"During one study at Indiana University published this year, researchers invited children to man a "spaceship," actually an MRI machine using a specialized scan called "functional" MRI that spots neural activity in the brain. The kids were shown letters before and after receiving different letter-learning instruction. In children who had practiced printing by hand, the neural activity was far more enhanced and "adult-like" than in those who had simply looked at letters."
"It seems there is something really important about manually manipulating and drawing out two-dimensional things we see all the time," says Karin Harman James, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at Indiana University who led the study."
Washington University Memory Lab
2011 Addendums
- Better Learning Through Handwriting, University of Stavanger
2012 Addendums
2013 Addendums
2014 Addendums
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/thinking-about-kids/201407/step-away-the-keyboard-how-our-hands-affect-our-brains
- http://www.businessinsider.com/handwriting-helps-you-learn-2014-12
- https://hbr.org/2015/07/what-you-miss-when-you-take-notes-on-your-laptop
- http://www.businessinsider.com/branson-attributes-some-of-his-most-successful-companies-to-note-taking-2015-2
"The dullest pencil will always remember more than the sharpest mind."2017 Addendums
- https://hbr.org/2017/07/the-more-senior-your-job-title-the-more-you-need-to-keep-a-journal
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/timmaurer/2017/02/08/5-reasons-why-non-digital-time-management-is-more-productive/
- "It’s really 'a mindfulness practice that’s disguised as a productivity system'"
- Paul Graham: Writes and Write-Nots
- Handwriting is a Fine Motor Skill That Benefits Us by Stimulating Our Brain, Gina Rich, Washington Post
- source: Alex B's comment on LinkedIn
p.s.
It should also be worth noting that I have journals going back over 25+ years - and they have survived much better than any of the electronic storage mediums that have fallen by the wayside...back-up media for which there are no longer devices being sold, cables that have connectors that are no longer supported on current devices, backup versions that are no longer compatible with current OSs or tools, etc. The journals survive. They are still legible, and because there are separate journals by year, by client engagement - I have a relatively small set to comb through when I need to find something. I've never had a journal 'crash' - and become inaccessible.
