My notebook choices

I write a lot with my pens. As an IT guy and programmer who built my own digital collection system, I still believe in analog writing. The writing process is a reflection to myself every day. It is kind of diary but divided into 3 stages: 

1. Planning the day in the morning
2. Fragment notes during the day
3. Reflection at the end of the day

For the notebooks, I switched between different brands. They have different purposes for different scenarios.

MUJI 5mm squared 30 pages notebooks that I carry in my back pocket every day. It is one notebook per month. Mainly diary there but there are also creative drawings and ideas.

Baron Fig Vanguard dotted softcover notebook for meeting notes at office. Putting all meeting notes in specific set of notebooks helps me to have a single point of backup for those meeting notes. I scanned all meeting notes right after meeting so I have a digital copy anyway.

Leuchtturm 1917 dotted grid, in medium or large size, was my every day notebooks until I switched to MUJI. Leuchtturm 1917 replaced my Moleskine normal notebooks usage. For anything that doesn’t fit into my 30 pages MUJI notebook, I put it on this notebook.

The Moleskine two-go is the go-to notebook for event-based note-taking. For example, I use it at WorldSkills to record the whole two-week journal. Indeed, I use one for preparation stage and one for competition week. The two-go is not as thick as Leuchtturm 1917 so it is easier to carry around during the trip at WorldSkills. The blank left side and lined right side allows me to both sketch and write for the same topic. That encourages thinking, planning, drawing and recording information at the same notebook. Often I finish around 85% of the notebook after the event and I can have few extra pages for writing reflection and lesson learnt of the event.