Just receive my bridle personal!! Can’t wait to use this binder to manage my PhD project 😭😭😭
I have made several plotter style project folder but still struggling for the insert layout. I feel like different projects intrinsically works better with different management. Anyone also meet the similar situation???
I’ve used my PR for a month now. The picture is the conditioned leather under different light.
I generally used pocket size more. But I bring both of them in my bag everyday. One thing really hurts is that the pedant keeps scratching every leather object in my bag😭😭maybe I should give up pretty pedant
Ever since I started to pray rosary, I always want to make my own one with the natural stone I like. And now I made this single decade rosary for my partner. It’s made of kyanite (Our Father) and silver obsidian （Hail Mary). It came out just as beautiful as I imagine!!! I’m going to make a full decade version for myself with this design as well. Ask me anything in the comments!!!
Edit: To be clear it’s a decade rosary. The full rosary comes with 5 decades.
Edit: the style in full rosary is in the comment
So I’ve been using Paper Republic for a month now. I want to share how I use it and my current journal ecosystem.
Rusty Rose is sooooo pretttttyyyy
I’m currently a female ADHDer and a PhD student in STEM field. Sometimes my brain runs by itself without issues and I’m capable of executing complex tasks. Other times, it just paralyzes, like it rots, and that makes my performance very unstable.
I’ve tried physical planner books, bullet journaling, Notion, Obsidian, any productivity tool I could think of. They just don’t work for me, because my mind doesn’t stay the same from month to month. So the system that works for me also depends on my current status.
I also suffered from doom scrolling a lot when I’m in a bad status. I get distracted by everything that shows up on my phone. That’s why I need an offline system to make sure I won’t be trapped.
Therefore, what I need is a very flexible system that’s capable of: (1) capturing my thoughts without using my phone, (2) making them easy to track and transfer afterward, (3) providing space for permanent notes, and (4) making it easy to adjust the system.
And that’s how leather cover journals came into my eyes. The fact that I can put any type of refill notebook in it and swap it based on my needs might be exactly what I’m looking for.
So I bought a Paper Republic pocket size to start with.
I currently have 3 book/notebook refills in it: (1) weekly planner from PR (for meeting notes—I’m still experimenting), (2) dot grid notebook (my common place notebook), (3) dot grid notebook (my shopping list and the seed of projects).
Let’s start with the most important entry in my journal system: the common place notebook.
(left) Label system (right) daily journal
On the cover page (left side), I ’ll set up a label system. For any thoughts I want to transfer later, I ’ll use these marks to remind me which notebook that note will go into. Sometimes there’s no home for a certain thought, but I still want to keep it—I’ll put an asterisk*.
The right side is the layout of every page, drawn manually. I’ll put the date of the current day on the top row, then start my notes below
Day with lots of label and timestamp
My current note method is a combination of Bullet journaling/Interstitial journaling u/novie-bythesea/Zettelkasten.
At the start of the day, I write a list of brain dumps on the right side. It can be a to-do list or what I’m worried about. Then I’ll mark them as either personal/work/shopping list, etc., in the narrow left column, and choose one task to start with.
Some days, I can check boxes nonstop—usually when I’m in the follicular phase. My brain is crystal-clear and energized.
However, when entering the luteal phase, my ADHD symptoms kick in: my energy level drops, my brain “rots,” my executive function is dead, and I have no motivation for EVERY ASPECT OF MY LIFE. This is when interstitial journal jumps in.
I ’ll put a time stamp on the left column, write down my thoughts, and write down the smallest step I can do to move toward my current goal. Then I finish that tiny step. After that, I come back to write down what I’ve done, what the next tiny step is, and keep going. See this video from novie for a more detailed process.
This cycle is meant to give you momentum when your executive function is dead. By finishing the tiny task, you create a new one. Finishing them can generate dopamine in your mind. The more cycles you complete, the higher the dopamine level becomes—helping you keep moving.
Compared to a brain dump list (which usually works for me), when my executive function is dead, I’m literally unable to list tasks I need to do before even starting them. A long list of tasks also overwhelms me so much that it triggers my anxiety and stress. This is the moment when bullet journaling fails—and why I need interstitial journaling at this stage.
I usually enter flow status after a few cycles. This works pretty well for me. In the moment between, it’s easier to get distracted, or have thoughts pop up—but I don’t need to address them right now. I just write them down and label them, then come back later in the week to transfer them.
This freeform journaling can generate different lengths of content for each day. That also reflected the reason why fixed-date journal pages don’t really work for me. Also, some seed thoughts are hard to track via indexing, so the front-page index didn’t work well either. However, by constantly reviewing the notes and transferring them, I become more aware of what happened during the past week—and I give my thoughts time to brew gradually before transferring them.
Regarding the weekly planner, I’m still experimenting with the best use case for me. For now, I fill in the weekly meeting notes in the date area (left side) and write freeform on the right side with a matrix suggested by Carl.
weekly planner from PR. Used for weekly meeting notes and random thoughts.
After a week of journaling, I set aside an hour to transfer the notes. I review each page and transfer the notes to other places. This is similar to the process people call converting fleeting notes into permanent notes in the Zettelkasten system. My transfer method was inspired by Lilla.
When I write down a note, I label it at the moment, or later. Later in the week, I review the pages and decide whether I want to keep the note or not. If I do, I open a new page and index my thought notebook (see next section) to elaborate my idea. Since it’s been a few days since I captured the initial thought, it has had time to brew, and I can think it through and write it down. Even if I’m still unclear or don’t have a conclusion yet, I treat it as a brain storm and still index it.
After I’ve made sure everything on that page is cleared, I mark the page with a cross at the corner / punch a hole / fold it—so I remind myself not to spend time on this page anymore.
Now I have several notebooks to store notes depending on the field: (1) Shopping list (first half of pocket notebook refill) (2) Project to work on later (second half of pocket notebook refill) (3) Thought notebook (XL notebook in PR, XL GV) (4) Religious journey (XL notebook PR, XL GV) (5) Work-related stuff, basically my research (Random A5 binder)
The label in the shopping list and project for later.
I kinda have a problem with overspending, so I’m trying the shopping list method to keep myself from impulsive purchases. Sometimes I’m excited about a new project idea, but I also have other priorities. In that case, I consolidate those ideas into this session so they can brew a bit before I get into them.
The grouped index in the thought notebook for permanent notes.
My religious journey notebook is generally composed of a Mass journal and Bible study. I’ve also just indexed it. My work binder is still being tested with different layouts. Perhaps I will share it next time. Also, let me know in the comments if you’re interested :0
Potentially, I will have more books for the following, but I’m still thinking about the best way for me: (6) Travel journal (a combination of photo booth and writing) (7) Camping stuff (currently in Notion, but I’m thinking about moving it offline)
As an ADHD person, I really struggled to find a system that works for me. Fortunately, I found one that has been working for me longer than a month, so I’m sharing it with you. I hope it can help/inspire those who are still searching.
Also, please keep finding a system that works for you—and don’t give up :) Looking forward to talk to you in the comments!!
