A number of years ago I fell in love with the idea of the notebook. It had taken me a long time to understand exactly what a good notebook was, but once I got it I found it to be one of the most useful tools in my arsenal in life.
To make a long story short, when I was a boy I noticed my father and grandfather using notebooks in the electrical engineering field. They had these magical little books that they wrote in and checked constantly and it seemed to my young eyes that everything about their jobs could be answered in those little black notebooks. In fact, I was not the only person who thought this. Others would often ask to look inside my Dad's notebook to write down a formula or check a fact. Dad was always generous and allowed them to look, but that notebook was never to leave his side.
Years later I was working on a project that required me to learn an entire skill set in a very short amount of time regarding a manufacturing process. I simply could not remember everything and just started writing the most important facts in a notebook so that I wouldn't have to look them up again. After a year or so of this I had a notebook very similar to what my dad and grandfather had had. People asked to see it. A couple people, only half-jokingly, said they wanted to steal it.
I've been fascinated with the idea of notebooks ever since. Partly because I have failed to repeat my first success. Each subsequent notebook I started just became a mishmash of random information. Something wasn't right and I couldn't figure out what it was. However, I think I'm starting to get it.
First of all, the notebook is not the goal - it's simply a tool. If I spend all my time trying to make the notebook into the goal then I quickly lose interest. However, if it's a tool where I crank out the information I can't or don't want to keep in my head then it quickly becomes valuable. Part of the reason that first notebook worked so well was because I was under intense pressure. I didn't have time to think about the notebook, I was too busy learning the job.
Second, the notebook worked best when each page was a discreet set of information. I was building miniature "cheat sheets" in my notebook and over time it became the fastest way to find the information that I needed for that particular discipline. Even now, almost a decade later, I can open that notebook and find exactly the information I need. Sure, some if is outdated, but most of it is not and it is still one of my most valuable reference books.
As an INTP I love information, but I want it quickly, cleanly, and intuitively. I've begun using notebooks again and loose documents kept together in a folder as a type of folio. The most important part of this process though is to create a single-sheet design for each type of information that is uniquely suited to convey the information that I need as quickly as possible.
Whether the format is a notebook or a folio, I find that the art aspect of creating such a document appeals to me greatly and keeps me focused on what I am doing. Even mundane tasks can present me with a great deal of pleasure if somehow they are tied to one of my notebooks.
One final tip, the more "secret" my notebooks are and the longer I can keep them like that the more likely I am to be successful at developing them. If I tell other people about it or they find out then it's almost as if someone has taken a look behind the curtain - there's no reason to continue.
My notebooks are part of my secret world as an INTP. They are for me and for me alone. However, they are not the goal, they are the most beautiful and useful tools I have to achieve those things that I work so hard to do. They are the place where I deconstruct, synthesize, analyze, and convey the knowledge that I have learned.
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