That panda Hobonichi looks great, have fun setting it up!
1 Like
Yesterday I brought home a Travelerās Notebook - my first! I will have to see how it fits into my journal system, but I think it will be an art journal, daily journal, and gratitude journal. I am especially excited to decorate the pages, but I donāt think it will be an organisational journal, as I am still true to my Leuchtturm1917 as a bullet journal that I set up myself.
But today, Iām here to talk about two new online platforms I have recently set up to help me project manage two personal projects. I was inspired by (aka I imitated) this third-year PhD student on Twitter, who posted about her workflow using Zotero and Notion, plus a plugin to transfer data between the two, called Notero.
Firstly, with my reading/research: I would find some interesting article online, keep it open on a tab (I have a million tabs open all the time), and it would languish there. I would never read it or record the citation down. When my browser would malfunction, I would lose tabs and that was it. So Zotero is good for that, and I installed the āSave to Zoteroā Chrome extension. So now, when I find an article, I save it to Zotero and it keeps the citation/URL for me. (You can sometimes attach a PDF file of the article too.)
Next, I wish to make notes and keep track of what Iām reading. Thatās where Notion comes in. I have set it up so that the bibliographic material is recorded, but also has spaces for me to write reviews and reflections, give it a star rating, and classify it according to subject, etc.
For example:
(I use Goodreads too, but Goodreads doesnāt work for news articles, podcasts, academic journals, conference talks etc.)
This helps me bring the readings to the next level of processing it and recording my reactions to it. In this way, a year down the line I can recall what the article was about and my thoughts on it, so I could incorporate it into whatever studies or topic writing I am doing at that time.
Secondly, I have a personal target to achieve some writing goal by the end of the year. So I have set up Notion to help me project manage. I used Notion to structure a running task list and a Gantt chart.
Time will tell how effective this will be but I love to set up systems that help me with my workflow and the aggregation of disparate and similar source materials for my reference. I found that using spreadsheets just wasnāt cutting it. As my programmer friend said the other day, spreadsheets arenāt databases and shouldnāt be used as such. This was news to me, but it makes sense! (Currently I keep track of Postcrossing things using many spreadsheets, but if Notion continues to click for me, I might migrate all the data.)
This was long; thanks for reading! I hope this was entertaining and/or educational for someone out there! Have you heard of Notion or Zotero before? Do you use them? How do you keep track of your projects? I would love to hear about it!
1 Like
The Travelerās Notebook has such a dedicated legion of fans, it must be great to have your own ā they look really nice when theyāre all written and filled with memories! 
I enjoyed reading about your organizational suggestions as well! I use Notion for keeping track of mail (just a straightforward database, with dates, descriptions of what was sent and a checkbox so that I know whether it arrived), and also to take notes about bread making or community studiesā¦ but I confess it hasnāt been working very well for me so far. I canāt even explain why very well, itās just tooā¦ flexible? Sometimes, a tool is so versatile that youāre faced with a blank canvas of endless possibilities and donāt know how to go about stuff.
Maybe I should check out Zotero ā that does sound like a more organized way to keep notes on the things I readā¦ 
Ok, downloading it!
2 Likes
Itās that time of year again! Iād love to see what new planners and agendas people are getting for the new year of 2023. Pictures would be lovely!
3 Likes
Iāve got a bullet journal for 2021 and enjoyed it so much that I needed one for 2022 too (in fact Iām waiting for the next one to start in 2023!). I use it to track certain (mostly health-related) things rather than planning. I am using an A5 dotted one like this (photo taken from Google Images):
I love everything stationery, but with how much time I spend at the computer, I prefer certain tasks to be done digitally. This year I discovered Obsidian, which seems somewhat equivalent to Notion I think (I read about them in certain contexts, but never used the latter). I think the difference is cloud vs your device and more reliance on community plugins, but more cool options. I use it for taking notes, but also for tasks. I want to try to use it for recipe/meal-related purposes in the future.
I heard about Zotero as well, but only in academic context. One more thing I use is Raindrop to make bookmarks less messy. I tend to save a lot of articles āto-readālaterā.
One more thing about bullet journals: donāt be like me and if youāre starting, donāt set too high expectations for yourself. I saw a lot of beautiful, colorful, decorated notebooks, and felt a bit bad about my just-letters-on-paper one. But it serves its purpose and with time and ideas, it will get better and prettier.
2 Likes
I agree, @ABA-Donna ! I think people who first start out with bullet journaling get inundated with images of pretty artistic spreads and get carried away or scared off by the aesthetics before discovering the practical beauty of the system. The flexibility and personalisation is the key for me - I ignore the aesthetics because Iām more utilitarian. Iāll use washi tape and the occasional sticker to pretty it up but I donāt bother with the fancy lettering etc. It doesnāt feel authentically me, it just feels like a facsimile of something I saw on Pinterest.
Iām trying to decide if I should stick with bullet journalling in my travelerās notebook for 2023 or go back to a Leuchtturm. I will decide todayā¦ wish me luck!!
3 Likes
Wow!!
Iām a fan of Hobonichi techo, too!!
Have you already acquired 2023 Hobonichi?
Iāve been using Hobonichi for over 15 years.
The papers are so nice to write 
. I also love weekly quotes on the left sideā:two_hearts:
For the first several years, I bought Original Hobonichi, but recent years Weekly is my favorite
For 2023, I chose purple one.
I decorated clear cover with washi tape and stickers. I like to change decoration depending on my mood.
Hobonichi is like a best friend spending a year together 
2 Likes
I used to buy an Exacompta Horizons 15 agenda every year, but I got a Leuchtturm1917 A6 one for Christmas and I am liking it so far.
4 Likes
honzuki, I love the matching pen! What a satisfying combination!
Right ?! People know what colours I like. 
1 Like
YES! Well, not acquired (itās a gift from a friend), but Iāve received it and started using it already!
This year, he chose the One Piece themed Hobonich Weeks, and although I never read the manga or watched the anime, I really like it! The design and the little embroideries on the cover are really cute.
Plus, for the first time, I have an English version of the planner, and I can finally read the texts on it. It feels like a whole new world opening upā¦
4 Likes
Thatās exciting!
The beginning of a new adventure together with One Piece charactersā:pirate_flag:
!!
Have a joyous 2023ā¤ļø
1 Like
Certainly Iāve used a variety of ways to organize my life but canāt seem to find a consistent style I really enjoy. I tend towards google calendar now but Iāve tried Notion, Trello, Sunsama, Asana, and some more but I seem to stick towards paper lists and google cal. Iāve used Hobonichi yearly before but find it bulky to carry around and was not able to use it consistently.
1 Like
Hi @Mocal, welcome to the forum!
Yeah, I also donāt carry the Hobo with me in the day-to-day, when Iām doing stuff around town for instance. It stays home, and I update it when Iām back. Iāll take it with me if I know Iām going to be away for more than a day or two though ā i feel a little lost without it. 
Thank is such a pleasing colour match, honzuki! Could you please tell me the colour of the Leuchtturm notebook and the pen make and colour too? 
The colour of the agenda is port red and the pen is a Uni-ball Signo in bordeaux black. 
1 Like