Thursday, April 17, 2008

Non sequitur

I just got a catalog for Levenger. As someone with a penchant for office supplies, I enjoyed perusing the pages of fancy pens, desk accessories, and their analog-cool note cards-organization system (the FranklinCovey'esque descendant of the hipster pda). But it was their pads of specialized paper -- or more specifically, their argument for its benefits -- that was blog-worthy. Seems interruption (1, 2, 3, 4) is being invoked to shill paper.
Why Levenger paper may help you think better

How tempting it is online to switch from email to spreadsheet to Internet to document, each time interrupting your flow of thought. Paper, on the other hand, has a way of grounding you, even as your thoughts race across the page. Focusing on the paper in front of you—especially well-designed, high-quality stock—can give you more time to stay with your thoughts.

Try the paper method for at least some of your note-taking and see what—and how—you think. It may lead you in new direction.
The paper is cool; it's the argument I don't buy.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

While I surely doubt that expensive paper is better than cheap for this, it does help me to have a tangible thing in hand sometimes when I'm writing. Seems easier to mentally hold my place in, say, the meeting agenda email I'm sending out while I refer to a print-out of last week's minutes than while I open the Word doc (which involves navigating a deep folder system and sometimes even remapping the department's shared drive...our drives like to disappear at random). Or maybe it's not about paper vs. electronic; rather long vs. short process. Maybe I should open all the files I'll need before I start writing my email. But I'm never that organized.