In which I kick my 3 notebook a month habit, thereby solving the problem of never being able to find that one page I wrote those meeting notes on
Last summer I rekindled a relationship with an old flame, sort of.
The Palm Pilot III was one of my first digital loves after some ill-advised early crushes on the Atari 400 and Commodore 64. (Summer Games 1984 edition, anyone?? I was always Italy, and my specialty was high diving.)
My Palm III is in the electronics graveyard in my bedroom closet, along with my Nokia flip phones. It's still safely contained in the cobalt blue zippered neoprene case I bought in 1997.
I spent weeks practicing the proprietary shorthand system using the stylus pen and could take notes faster than anyone else in meetings. (This was before laptops were the norm.)
I also drew wireframes with colored pencils in a giant spiral sketchbook to share ideas with the engineering and design teams. (And this was long before adult coloring books became a thing. Do you people know how easy you have it now with all your digital prototyping tools?)
Anywho, although I do take notes on my laptop often when I started working remotely during the pandemic, I switched to old-fashioned notebooks. It feels awkward to type notes while on camera in a one-on-one zoom call, and I'm a loud typer, so it can be distracting..
I have at least 30 filled-up notebooks piled up in the corner of my office and can't bring myself to throw them out.
The problem with this system is twofold: first, I rarely take the time to go back and consolidate notes or action items, and second, I can't search, and despite my multicolored post-it flag system, I often can't find what I'm looking for in the moment. My colleagues have no doubt gotten used to seeing me hold up my finger saying, “Hang on, I wrote something down from a related conversation that could help,” while I shuffle through the last few weeks' notes.
I first discovered the Remarkable last summer when one of my badass lady writer friends, Catherine, was scribbling furiously on digital paper during a workshop. “Woah, what is that?” How did I not know about this?
I had never gotten into using iPads with a stylus, but as soon as I felt the surface of this new device, I knew was something I would use.
Founder Magnus Wanberg wondered why humans still write when we have so many digital tools. “Paper, he realised, is the ultimate tool for thinking. It improves our focus, engages our brains and sets our minds free to work and imagine, without restrictions or distractions.”
Yes! I need fewer restrictions and distractions.
I bought myself a Remarkable for Christmas but just got around to setting it up a few weeks ago, and guys? I'm smitten.
It's not perfect, but who is?
But the ability to change my writing style at will? Love it.
Convert handwriting to text and export any and all of it? Can't believe how accurate it is.
Pinch and zoom? Swipe up to make more room? Notebooks labeled and nested in folders? Search? Import PDFs and scribble all over them? Drawing diagrams! Cut and paste anything you draw or write! Real-time syncing?!
Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill me!
It's early days and I'm still learning all the tools and I already burned through my first pen tip, but it came with backup nibs.
I realize I could probably do all of these things on any modern tablet with the right tools and apps, but I never did. And this feels different.
I am hooked on the old-school feel of paper and the lack of blue light. The “notebook” pages are endlessly scrolling so I can pick up right where I left off and can refer back to the previous meeting notes easily.
It's fun to be able to choose and change backgrounds at will — lines, grids, dots, blanks, even music staves.
I doodle in the margins. I can even highlight (and when I export those show up in yellow — everything else is grayscale).
And think of all the money I'll save on Pilot G2 1.0 bold gel pens! Except when I send paper cards — I'll still mail those for the human touch.
Get your own Remarkable 2 here.
What are you using to take notes these days? Any favorite apps or tools? Any other Remarkable users out there? Who else still has their old devices in a box? I'd love to hear from you! Drop a comment below.
Maura Charles is the founder of Keep it Human. As a Product Leadership Coach and Consultant, she is on a mission to help teams and organizations embrace human skills like communication and emotional intelligence in their ways of working.
She brings 25 years of experience as an editor, product manager, and digital business leader to bear on the challenges of building human-centered high-performing tech teams.
If you'd like to develop more human business and tech teams that hum together to drive results, check out Keep it Human and follow Maura Charles on LinkedIn.