How to Make a Complete Map of Every Thought you Think | Page 6

print them onto printer paper, and include it in your notebook.
Printer paper doesn't come in 8.5"x11". So you have some big pages and some little pages. Yuck! When it comes to quickly flipping through pages to find a particular page number- yuck! It gets difficult.
So get 8.5x11" college ruled 3-hole-punch paper.
BINDERS.
Major important.
First, let me dispell notebooks: Don't use them. I'm talking about spiral bound notebooks.
I used to use them. I have a huge collection of spiral bound notebooks in my closet. I love them, they are so cute and self-contained. And partitioning them is kind of fun, even.
But the binder system just so completely blows them out of the water, that I will just never go back to those things.
This isn't to say that notebooks don't have a place- THEY DO! Just not in this system.
Notebooks are great when you are doing a straight chronology. Or you are keeping JUST RECORDS. Not a big fat intricate total-thought-keeping system that I am describing here, but rather, I'm talking about- you have a business, and you are keeping records for it, and so you buy a notebook because it's nice and self contained and stuff like that. Another nice thing is that you know the pages aren't going anywhere. There are times where that's not what you want. And you can turn pages easier. It's just easier.
But this system that I am describing:
Impossible. You cannot do it like that.
In this system I am describing, you MUST be able to insert pages between pages. And it's so incredibly useful to be able to lift 50 sheets and put them in another binder entirely.
Okay, so, please don't use notebooks. You will die. Quickly.
Now, on to Binders.
What you want to look for:
* Inside Pockets * Transparent Outside Pockets * Obstructions on the Outside Spine * Sheet lifters * Ring Type * Width/Size * Durable vs. Sucky
So, let me start with the last one. I forget what they call the "non-durable" ones. They cost less. Maybe "Economy" or something like that. DON'T GET THEM! YES, they are CHEAPER. BUT, even on the budget that I'm on, you do NOT want them. Because they are going to snap open when they shouldn't. Believe me, there's nothing worse than being on the bus, hitting the notebook the wrong way, and suddenly WHAM- 100 pages on the floor. Luckily they are numbered and you can put them all back in the original order, but-
TRUST me- Go with Durable.
You'll have to unchink both sides to open the ring, but you'll do so with the knowledge that it's keeping your data safe!
DURABLE! All the way!
Okay, next, we'll talk about width/size and the ring type.
If you are getting, say, a 1"-1.5" notebook (my carry-about notebook is somewhere in there), then just get the normal rings. They are three loops, bound to a metal binding, blah blah blah.
But if you are getting anything larger (and you should have at least one of these, for your common store- it's going to be BIG), then you want to get what I call a "half-loop". I'm sure there's formal names for this stuff, but I don't care. These things look like one half is a loop (as normal), but the other half is straight, and has a 90 degree crook at the end. ALSO, it's not attached to the binding of the binder..! It's attached to THE BACK SIDE of the binder.
These things are SO great. It costs more, but GET IT.
What it does is it keeps your papers from flying out all over the place when you open your deeply packed notebook. That little 90 degree crook stopes the pages. It's great. You'll have to see it to believe it, but do. It's wonderful.
So: Big Notebook, get the half-loop. Small notebook, I think they are all just normal full-loops. Never seen a small notebook with a half loop.
Sheet lifters. If your binder has a sheet lifter, Awesome. I like these. I'm not sure why. They just seem to help. This is more of a spiritual belief on my part; I'm not really sure. But I leave them there and they seem to be useful.
Now I'll talk about inside and outside pockets, and then the possible obstructions on the outer spine. Then we'll be done talking about binders. (It's a fetish thing, I guess.)
The inside pockets are really useful. I use them to store tabs in when they aren't in use.
Oh- REMEMBER that you (if you could) bought those pockets, right? Stick one at the front of every binder. Store donut holes and stickies in them. That's just the place to do it. And you'll store the tabs' "guts" in there too. You know, these long sheets of 1" wide paper, periforated at about 1/6" in height. You write whatever the tab's name is on them,