Pen on paper

When I started my new job, one of the first questions was whether I needed a notepad for taking notes. Of course I did. I always do. I’m an avid note-taker ... on paper.

This reminded me of an earlier job, years ago, when I was working as a digital project manager. I was the only one focused solely on digital projects, surrounded by colleagues working on other kinds of things.

One day, a director said to me, “It’s peculiar that you, of all people, "a digital project manager", work completely analog.”

He had a point. I had my computer for emails, documents, presentations. All the essentials. But everything else? My notes, to-do lists, sketches, planning? All on paper. Always.

He followed up with, “There are so many digital tools out there. Why do you still work on paper?”

I thought, Maybe he’s right. 

Maybe it was time to try something new.

Paperless would be better for the environment, too.

So I gave myself six months. A clean experiment to go fully digital. Try the tools, and adjust my habits.

And I crashed and burned ...

Even when I found ways to make it “work,” something was off. I started missing vital details. I wasn’t retaining information. Sure, I could find anything quickly, but I was relying on the tools too heavily. They remembered for me.

When I wrote on paper, I didn’t need to look things up nearly as often. The act of writing itself, that tiny friction between pen and paper, locked things in my memory. Deadlines. Changes. Names. Dates. I remembered them, not because I memorized them, but because I’d written them down.

When I switched back to paper, everything flowed again. It made me realize something about how our brains work, or rather, how mine does. Some people hear something once and never forget. Others need to see it, or write it, or say it out loud. For me, it’s writing. It’s seeing the words form.

It’s the same with names. If I don’t see the letters, I won’t remember. You can tell me your name three times, and I won’t remember until I’ve seen it written somewhere.

It’s also why I need subtitles when I watch movies. Not because I can’t follow along, but because the words anchor me. The subtitles have to be in a language I understand. They can even be wrong, and I’ll still manage to follow the show. But if they’re in a completely foreign language, like Danish, my brain freezes. It refuses to engage.

It’s fascinating how our minds build their own systems.

And yet, we live in a world that keeps telling us how we should work. There are endless frameworks, tutorials, videos, productivity coaches. All preaching the “best way” to do things.

But there isn’t one best way. We absorb, remember, and create differently. What works for one person might not work for another, and that’s fine.

So find what works for you.

Find your rhythm, your medium, your system. Take inspiration from others, sure. Learn from their methods. But don’t let anyone convince you that their way is the way.