An Ode to Tool-Agnostic Systems

This year, I am trying to make use of what I already own. I started this challenge because I want to focus on core habits, simple workflows, and tool-agnostic systems.

Overall, I am doing fine, but one morning, I woke up and had completely convinced myself that I needed a mini binder, a smaller one than my mini six rings. It had to be five rings because I wanted to comfortably keep it in my pocket. Although it was probably the many subreddit ring binder and stationery pages that convinced me of this, I was sure I needed it. I picked out the exact size, color, and accessories. I didn’t buy it. But, eventually, my partner did.

I feel okay about adding a smaller binder to my daily writing practice because the tiny, take-nearly-everywhere size is convenient for me, and I am recommitting to simple and sustainable systems that allow me to work with what I have now. Below, I explain a couple note-taking methods that I currently use in my daily life. .

Daily Notes

I write a log of each day. The log helps me keep tabs on how I’m feeling, what I’m doing, how long I’m doing things, when I’m doing them, and what I eat. It gives me a visual account of why I might be feeling a certain way. I sometimes take notes about food that I can tolerate before a run and habits that help me wind down my day and ease into sleep. If I don’t track these things, they might get lost with other spirals of thoughts. Keeping daily notes helps me manage my life.

My daily log starts on paper. Depending on the day, I add snippets of texts and interstitial thoughts to my digital daily notes in Obsidian, which is just one text file per day. I keep a digital summary of my daily notes in Obsidian. This practice gives me an outline and overview of my day, and, importantly, I could use any (small) notebook or text editor for my daily notes. This practice is tool-agnostic.

I allocate about one or two pages for each day. I prefer to start each new day with a blank page. Tiny pages help me feel less wasteful if a bit of space is left blank at the end of the day.

Dot → Line → Done

This is a play on the bullet journal method. Instead of using dots and crosses to mark a task as complete, I sometimes use dots (for open tasks) and lines (for completed tasks). For partially completed tasks, I mark a small dot above and below the dot for the task indicator. Glancing at the line shows me the current status of my task list. I can use the dot-line setup anywhere that I can write (even with a tablet and stylus). It is not bound to any particular notebook, app, or device.

A Quick Tip: Avoid Social Media (or Mindfully Consume It)

I am a note-taking enthusiast. Over the years, I bought a lot of note-taking products. I took a deep dive into e-ink note-taking systems and maybe an even deeper one in the stationery world. Something that I’m learning with my low-buy challenge is that social media can act as an endless advertisement, even when not explicit with affiliate marketing or business-related promotion. A lot of the social media pages that I follow (and often enjoy) seem like magazines for certain brands. I support the brands that I like using by buying refills as I need them because I want to continue using those products, but I don’t want to influence people to buy products with the assumption that said products will change something about their lives simply by acquiring the products. Our consistent practices or systems are often more important than the tools.

In my personal life, I am limiting my engagement with social media. I am focusing on note-taking and writing practices and how they translate to meaningful change (like improving my overall sleep health, establishing deeper social connections, and feeling more joy from the act of writing). I think I get more out of well used tools than new ones. I have binders in which I’ve written outlines, stories, poetry, and prose, that I’ve run long distances with, and jotted down notes for drafts that I later enjoyed writing, sharing, and discussing. Having used those tools to create something from my little scribbles leaves me with the history that I can do it again.

Notes

• This month, I also wrote about running with a notebook and taking writing breaks during long runs. Check my substack page to learn more about that workflow.
• I’d love to hear from you. Chat with me directly and send feedback, questions, or article requests to my new email: thoughts at emilyhokett dot blog.
• Find more of my writing on Substack, Medium and here at emilyhokett.blog.

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