I always say my mind is like a fireworks show I I got to write it all down putting it on paper has significantly helped me tame all of that two years ago I made a video about a notebook and how writing in a notebook for 30 days changed my life I write my ideas to-do lists sketch doodle anything at all but I always keep that Notebook on me well it's been 2 years since that video and I'm still using a notebook and it has still absolutely changed my life but not just me it's changed yours as well I was astounded to see how many people resonated with exactly what it was I was saying I've wanted to do a follow-up so I sat down to make the video but I couldn't really register what I wanted to say I went back through an old notebook from a year and a half ago and found five pages written out entirely a full concept with title options for this very video and I kind of felt really just kind of case in point now what do I use it for the same things I used it for two years ago I write my video ideas down to-do lists I'm trying to learn how to draw so sometimes I just sketch random stuff speaking of sketching that is a skill I'm trying to start learning my friend Mike phenomenal photographer phenomenal artist is really good at sketching he was over the other day gave him a field notes book and told him sketch me something there's so many uses for a notebook it is honestly unbelievable and the physical striking of an item on a to-do list is immensely satisfying it's gamifying it and then you want to do it again the next day you want to make that list even bigger and you want to keep using the notebook then it just becomes a part of you and it becomes your habit and they say it only takes around 30 days to build a new habit it's also a habit for my friend Zach this is the first time you'll be meeting Zach on the channel here and I'm excited for you I've been consistently keeping a pocket notebook for the better part of 13 years and I'm going to tell you a little bit of my what how and why all right let's kick it off with the leatherbound ruled softback mol skin notebook that notebook will last me about couple months to 6 months just depends on what's going on in life at the time and so it does get a little beat up as does a lot of my gear I'm kind of hard on my stuff then something interesting happened about four or five years ago I got a cell phone I know I'm a bit of an outlier um I don't like cell phones I didn't want to get one I'm only going to have one for another two years and as a result carrying around one of those mol skins was like carrying around two phones it was super super annoying I fought it for years and I finally just got to the point where recently I had to evolve and I am carrying a field note style notebook because obviously it's much thinner it's malleable and uh super light I originally just started carrying it in Pocket similar to the mol skin and I knew that wasn't going to be a long-term solution I decided to investigate into pocket organizers I carry a couple Tools around with me every day I just like to be a handy helpful person just who I am carries my tools carries my wallet cards and cash and then it also allows me to carry my pens the one caveat with this particular pocket protector is that uh it's not quite wide enough with the way that I have it loaded out to fit a regular size field notes and so I just take my pocket knife out when I get a new one cut about a/ inch off and it works perfectly fine the reason that I carry a pocket notebook practically I had a lot of ideas I wanted to be able to jot things down Carpenter by trade being able to like write down even just measurements do lists lists to go to Home Depot with but the Romantic side of it is is that a lot of the guys that I looked up to in history it turned out a lot of them carried pocket notebooks as well right and I'm like well I want to be like those guys I'm going to carry pocket notebook I'm a car and motorcycle guy so if I go buy a car that's got something cool on it I will literally write hey I think this thing is rad will you call me and I'll put my phone number on it I have 100% success rate on that by the way I think people are just excited to see the note and know that you appreciated something they have final thing that I do with my notebook fairly regularly actually especially now that it's colder is I will use uh a page out of my notebook every once in a while as just a quick kindling for a fire so whether I'm out in the middle of the desert uh which probably isn't a normal thing for most people or just like in a buddy's backyard making a fire right and nobody has lighter flute or whatever it makes great kindling so kind of a random one but it is one that I use pretty regularly Zach has a great Channel going over everything outdoors everyday carry he's a real unique individual Zach's got some wild stories but I'll save those for his channel which is fantastic you should go check them out be sure to subscribe to Zach wild stories remember that one where he like just pieced out found a house party then came back in the morning with a pizza box it's classic Zach man there's other ways of getting your thoughts out it's not necessarily writing them down on paper maybe it's a Blog do you remember blogs with a B you could still make a Blog with Squarespace you get a nice little one-page website your url there pick a nice easy template fire up a Blog on the internet and just start dumping your thoughts newsletters are making a comeback blogs and the written word is making a comeback just like cassettes do you know cassettes have like a 30% increase globally right now as far as sales go I saw a Tik Tok dude where some girl was like cazette is that someone's last name how does music get on to tape that would be another great option if you didn't want to actually carry a notebook try blogging get a website fire it up it'll take you less than a day Squarespace have an all-in-one platform that make it super easy and if you are someone that wants an online business you want to be able to have a shop and sell paygate things send out newsletters Squarespace can do all of that as well they make it really easy I can save you 10% off your first purchase if you use code McKinnon at checkout so head over to squarespace.com McKinnon get started make your presents online back in the day wedding blogs were the like were the thing you would shoot a wedding you would come back you would organize all your pictures you drop it into a blog post you'd have your engagement session in a blog post you'd have a thing off to the side where they can contact you I miss blogs I miss that all of that to say you should have a presence online if you do anything creative you should have a presence online so when clients when people when fans when friends and family inevitably try to find you there's a space for them squares.com now you might be asking why don't you just use an app why don't you just use your phone well again I'm a bit of an outlier I don't like phones at all I try to not use my phone for as little as I possibly can but more importantly I think there's something really interesting that we're not really talking about yet but I think we're going to start talking about soon and that is that so much of our Lives is on a digital thumb print that we don't own like I don't own my Instagram Instagram owns my Instagram I don't own my Facebook Facebook owns my my Facebook right I don't even own my iCloud Apple owns my iCloud right I don't know my Google Drive Google owns my Google Drive Right like all these things and I think the thing that's really interesting about that is I had an interesting experience about a year ago my grandma passed away and I was going through doing some family history work I just like doing that and I found this schoolwork journal from my grandfather's mother the oldest date and it was like 1894 and uh it was just spelling stuff but there were a couple notes in there a little short story she had written and it was really neat to get a snapshot not just because it was my family but just in general to get a snapshot of what a little girl in rural Utah was thinking in 1894 and I think that what's interesting about that now is when we think about just the random like me and you people right like the people that that that uh just exist and then we think about like you know the people that will Bubble Up and people be talking about in 500 years 200 years 300 years or whatever it may be we're not going to have access to like what were their YouTube comments what what was their Instagram that won't be around anymore and I think that it's this really interesting idea of so much of our lives and our identities became ours uh you know during the Industrial Revolution and literacy rates and photography for the masses we had all these physical artifacts that we were able to pass on and that we're able to see and now we've moved all of that to digital and the fact of the matter is is that we don't own those things when you look back at 13 years of taking notes and to-dos lists and projects and ideas and all those things that you can do and all those things you can see in a library that's special like this is you can see who you were you can see where you're coming from and you can see where you're going so you see these common threads of ideas you see these common concerns and it just turns down some of the noise that we deal with on a daily basis there's a million in one different ways that people will tell you to like you know oh take a cold shower or go for a run or meditate or whatever it is to turn that noise down but I think that a really concrete way to do it in physical time and space is with pocket notebook the act of analog anything I feel is good for the soul the process of slowing down in all things analog putting a vinyl on right it's not just double clicking on a song in your iTunes library or on Spotify you should have to go find the album put it on drop the needle down adjust it the crackling it's the whole experience of opening the notebook you're staying at a cabin you bust out the notebook the fire is going and you write down the date and the weather and what the surroundings are like around you it's the experience of that that I feel really enriches everything it makes the Small Things big things probably the same reason I really liked shooting film this year is the analog process the slowing down of everything being able to appreciate the craft more learn more about the craft take more time in the craft and then I go back and I write about it while I listen to a record and then I walk home 20 miles you know ultimately the realization of this whole video and the reason I've crafted this is because 30 days yes you can start to build a habit and you can have a bit of an opinion of what it's like writing in a journal or a notebook or keeping notes Etc I think two years in gives you a pretty good idea and quite significantly moves the needle as far as does it help you or does it not and from a creative person that can never Focus has a hard time getting started has a hard time applying myself to any one thing for any amount of time I'm a squirrel I see something shiny I go that way there's a noise over there I go that way I start a video but before I start I got to do 10 other things but those 10 other things are just distractions so I don't have to start I struggle with that stuff every single day I overthink things I talk myself out of ideas all the time if I don't do something right away the next day the thing I wanted to do now doesn't sound as good to me and I'm not going to do it but yesterday I was stoked on it why didn't I just do it yesterday oh because I had to do three other things that I probably didn't actually have to do you get it it's a snowball effect of of nonsense of craziness it's I always say it's a firework show they're just shooting into the air and they're exploding and I want to capture all those details before the next one goes up but we're in the grand finale [Music] so I I got to write it all down putting it on paper has significantly helped me tame all of that into just a quiet controlled environment that I can make sense out of the simple task of writing things down has made my life better it's made it less chaotic it's calmed and quieted up here and that's brought me a lot of value just by simply putting a pen to paper uh and that's all I wanted to communicate today is that 2 years in I'm still doing doing it and it's still very helpful and I highly recommend you give it a shot Beyond 30 days commit to it and see if it can help you calm the storm be more productive get things done and ultimately reach your goals that's what I want for you guys to reach your goals now I know that wasn't a photography specific video but it relates to to creatives and that's what we are creative people trying to do creative things and it's not always as easy as it sounds hope you got some value out of that I did felt good to get that done I'm going to cross it off my [Music] list