This USDA-Inspired Activity Tracking System has Changed the Way I Look at Myself

A notebook in lab journal style showing a record of job applications for a young job seeker.

Do you ever look back at your life and wonder why you were such a lazy bum at that point? Does that point in your life include this week, yesterday, or this morning? You’re not alone, but a simple lab journaling method I started using years ago in my STEM career has absolutely straightened out … Read more

These 5 Things Matter More Than the Paper When Choosing a Notebook

A C.R. Gibson notebook opened on a bed with its spine, cover, ribbon, and clasp showing.

By this point you may have read about my 10-year notebook, a notebook that’s really stood the test of time and one that I just keep going back to. Does it have special paper, thick and absorbent, filled with dots and grids, lined with inspiring quotes, and formatted specifically for highly stylized journaling techniques? No, … Read more

This Is the Notebook That’s Lasted Me 10 Years and 3 States

This is the C.R. Gibson notebook that the site owner has owned for 10 years.

I have tons of notebooks. Spiraled, composition, small, oversized, unlined, graph paper style, with rippable pages, with torn pages. But only one has followed me for more than 10 years (it’s dated 10/30/15) and been through 3 states of moves and still is my go-to notebook for “important things” and silly things alike. I don’t … Read more