I’m talking about real notebooks here. Not a note taking app on your phone nor a laptop, but just a pure simple notebook/scratchpad/moleskin notebook.
I first noticed this phenomenon when I accompanied my previous boss and the managing director of the company to a prospective client meeting. I went there with my bag, had my phone in hand with me, but with no notebook.
Both my bosses however had notebooks and pens with them. And boy, they were taking notes! And it looked legit.
I took notes and key pointers down on my phone, however this had the effect of me looking like a true imposter in that meeting.
With an age that is increasingly admonishing the use of the ubiquitous phones and other such devices in our workplace, the rise of notebooks as weapons of consolidating our thoughts are surely making a comeback.
Carrying notebooks around with you — whether for a quick coffee meeting with a business stakeholder, a prospective meeting for a job interview or a brainstorming session with your team — is a surefire way to —
- Project confidence onto others by being perceived as a person who is serious about and is interested in the meeting
- Capture easily recallable notes (written in your own handwriting)
- Gather your thoughts on a piece of paper, work on a problem during the meeting (maybe even for some quick math), or to jot down something quickly for rumination later
- Act as a pseudo minute-taker through the old school way, since we don’t have the luxury of having meeting — minute takers anymore.
Do you carry a notebook with you in meetings or rely on your laptop/mobile?
