Going Deeper
I’ve found myself focusing on nothing lately. By “nothing,” I don’t mean devoid of anything, but rather allocating my time to trivial pursuits that do not enrich my life. I’ve been mindlessly scrolling and not going deep into an subject matter. Some of this is natural as the year winds down and we begin to enter the darker winter months here in the northern hemisphere, but it didn’t sit well with me.
I began considering what a richer intellectual life looks like. There were indeed many areas of improvement readily available at my fingertips. First off, I wasn’t consuming the news in any meaningful/consistent way. Next, I hadn’t read any more than a few pages of a book throughout the past months. Finally, my bullet journal had a several month’s gap in it where all my activity was lost to memory.
As a technical person, my initial, somewhat embarrassing, instinct was to seek out new gadgets to address my concerns. This lead to a several week deep dive into the current market of e-ink devices that, in theory, offer superior note-taking and reading experiences to traditional screens. I must admit I was very taken by this promise. I’ve owned a Kindle for a few years and really enjoy reading on e-ink.
What was particularly intriguing was the idea of an e-ink writing tablet that would let me collect all my notebooks in a single device. This is where I delved deepest at first, looking at such devices as the ReMarkable 2 and Supernote Nomad. These devices focused on providing a distraction free note taking experience that was also digital in some essential ways. First off, the notes could be synced with sundry cloud services, could be viewed from your phone or computer, and even offered on-device handwriting recognition to convert hand written notes into typed notes.
This all sounds wonderful, but I decided to forgo buying one of these devices. While doing research into all these devices, I came across the book Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. The book suggests a different approach to interacting with technology.The first half of the book discusses why one might want to adapt a minimalist (as in philosophical stance) approach to adopting and utilizing technology. The second half offers up practical suggestions for adopting its philosophy. The main call to action for the book is a 30 day purge of non-essential tech to get a new baseline. This doesn’t include things like work email and what is needed for you to accomplish your job, but does include almost everything else such as social media, video games, streaming services, and, for some, the internet all together.
While I personally don’t plan on taking on such a challenge, nevertheless the ideas found within the book have been intriguing. What if the problem of not thinking deeply could be cured with less technology, not more. This really opened the floodgates to a more thoughtful approach.
I decided that instead of buying more tech to take notes, I would double down on my analog note taking systems. I’ve been an avid bullet journal keeper for years and have several past notebooks in my bookshelf. While the bullet journal is great to act as a place for thought, tasks and notes, I felt like it didn’t offer everything I needed. This is where I started down another rabbit hole of the types of notebooks one can keep.
During one such deep dive, I found the concept of a commonplace book. A commonplace book is a notebook of quotes, aphorisms, proverbs, sayings, etc from others that the author of the notebook finds inspiring or useful. Unlike a catch-all notebook of quotes, a commonplace book typically has a table of contents and each page or spread of pages has a single topic denoted by a heading.
Where does one get these quotes? From songs, from books, from podcasts, conversations, from any activity upon which one wants to reflect or remember certain ideas. This is essential. It turns the activity of passively consuming media (even books) into an active activity. What is more, one can then later reference all these quotes and ideas anytime they want. One YouTuber in particular claimed he reviews his commonplace book every time he wants to begin mindlessly scrolling. While I doubt I will be able to maintain that level of discipline from the start, it is certainly something to aspire to.
So, what are my next steps? I purchased an A6 pocket notebook made by Leuchtturm 1917, my favorite notebook company. This is going to be my commonplace book once it arrives. If keeping a commonplace book leads to any major insights, expect to find those here.
As for media consumption, I’ve decided to take a several pronged approach. First off, I am picking a particular type of media for each leg of my commute. The morning commute is for news podcasts (NPR’s Up First, Bloomberg’s Daybreak, NYT’s The Daily), while the afternoon is for a commentary podcast or music. In the evenings I am doing my best to read books and articles found online through Instapaper. I am currently planning on finishing Digital Minimalism while also reading another book called Daily Ritual: How Artists Work by Mason Curry, a collection of micro-vignettes showcasing some 100 artist and thinkers daily routines.
With all these changes, I am looking to build a newer, better life intellectually. As the year comes to a close and we begin to consider how next year looks, I invite you to do the same.