General notebook as a tool for self-development

A common notebook (a notebook for notes, a commonplace book) is a repository of ideas, quotes, drawings, stories, dialogues, observations and information that you come across throughout your life. It differs fundamentally from the diary in that it is not limited to recording your thoughts, desires and fantasies. Its essence is to store information that you can use later, thereby creating its huge base. But in such a notebook you can keep a diary, if it is more convenient, then why not.

Perhaps you want to write a book, create a business, improve writing skills or rhetoric - in this case, a general notebook will be simply irreplaceable. You should not show youthful maximalism and say to yourself: “I can still remember everything” or “I do not need the knowledge of other people, I always act in an original way.” All new ideas are a rethinking and unification of the old.

If you reduce the benefits of a common notebook to three key points, then it allows you to:
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learn much faster;
collect a lot of information that is stored in one place and can be easily extracted if necessary;
become more creative person; helps to synthesize and combine different types of information.
But, most interestingly, maintaining a common notebook motivates you to learn more and more, to be in a conscious search for new information, to pay attention to many things that usually go unnoticed.
Example
Suppose you study business by reading a ton of books and materials. In the general notebook you can write out the most valuable information and meanwhile write down your own thoughts, make sketches. All this is close at hand. You can also print and paste some kind of graphics, photographs.

You may still find this approach to self-development nonsense. But many people of the past kept, rather, not a diary, but a general notebook, where everything was written down. So did Aristotle, Michelle Montaigne, Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, John Locke, Martin Luther King, Leonardo da Vinci. The latter left more than ten thousand pages of diaries, equipped with drawings, explanations and timetables. You can find part of the diaries in the British Library or read Oksana Rymarenko's book Leonardo da Vinci. Life and Discoveries ”, where many of his drawings are carefully sorted and sorted into categories.
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In addition, many writers and screenwriters admit that every day they write down what can become a source of inspiration in the future, right down to the funny word heard in the food line.

Virginia Woolf once wrote: “Sometimes a writer looks at a blank page and cannot squeeze a word out of himself. But then he takes out his diary, opens it on any page. Here is a list of outstanding writers whom he admires. Here are quotes from classics that attracted him. Here is a list of books to read. And inspiration comes naturally. ”

How to maintain a common notebook
Below we have gathered many different tips on how to do this. However, it is worthwhile to understand that you can develop your own rules and principles - and they will become much more effective.

Today you do not have to start a notebook in the physical sense, but it’s like someone. Handwriting is also useful because it benefits memory. But if time is short and you do not want to mess with a regular notebook, the electronic version is not inferior, and sometimes even has more advantages.
Read on a variety of topics. Do not limit yourself to just one thing, do not narrow your worldview, be open to everything new - this is how you can find the best ideas.
Write down from books everything that touches you: words, phrases, paragraphs, stories, any information. If you like to read from electronic media, highlight the key, and then copy all the notes into a notebook. If you like paper books, arm yourself with a pencil, sticker or even a marker - this allows you to make each book a work of your art, instills a love of reading.
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Do not be afraid to argue with the author of the book and write down your thoughts. Write controversial quotes and start criticizing. Why not? If you bring strong enough arguments and put your answer in a small essay, then learn to think, master the laws of logic.
Pay more attention to wisdom, not facts. Your general notebook should become a repository of wisdom in a few years, which can be accessed in times of crisis, depression or the search for inspiration.
Be observant. Interesting things happen every minute. You just need to want to identify something interesting and write it down right there.
Information does not have to be from books: these are films, and music, and pictures, and even Internet memes. No difference. The main thing is that it causes interest.
You can combine written and electronic records. The former are good for remembering and creating some kind of “closeness” with information, the latter are for storage and quick search.

Label in a digital application. For starters, this may seem silly to you, but only until the information is needed. Then you will understand how wonderful it is when the desired quote is found very quickly by keyword.
In addition to labels, there are categories - these are the so-called notebooks (in Evernote, for example). However, someone organizes the process so that for him, the labels are primary, and notebooks are secondary. So, the categories can be: “Life”, “Death”, “Philosophy”, “Creativity”, “Self-development”, “Business”, “Books”.
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Remember that you may just be too lazy to write something down. For example, you are lying on the couch, and then a good thought comes to mind. It would be necessary to write down, and besides, choose a specific category. Is it easy to force yourself to do this? In this case, just keep a small notebook next to you. It can be floated dozens of times a day. In the evening, simply transfer this information to the general notebook.
If you have a blog, you can start a notebook where you will write down all your ideas for topics. As a result, such a solid base can accumulate that it remains only to open the records and choose what you like.
Notes can be on a variety of topics, there is no limit to imagination: recipes, cheap flights, a shopping list, finding a good laptop, studying history, repairing at the cottage, friends and potential friends, self-reflection. And all this in one place with quick access. In the same Evernote, you can combine drawings, photographs and text - all in one note.
Make a plan for the day in a shared notebook. And also a list of tasks to be done over the next six months. Something new has appeared - transfer to the note.
Are you writing a novel? Write interesting scenes, dialogs, phrases and descriptions. Recycle it all and create something new. Believe me, everyone is doing this.
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Learn successful people. Do you admire someone? Keep quotes, articles, and excerpts in one place to discover why this person has become so successful.
Set goals and think about ways to achieve them.
In the end, you must develop your own system. It can radically differ from ours, but its essence will remain the same - the accumulation of the most valuable information so that in the future it can be quickly found and used.

Get a shared notebook right now. Do not put off this business. Don’t think about what a wonderful idea it is and what it would be worth doing. Imagine how much information you need in your records in 5 years! And you can use it much earlier.