
Moleskine Tips, Tricks and Hacks - markbao
http://freelanceswitch.com/productivity/the-monster-collection-of-moleskine-tips-tricks-and-hacks/
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kirubakaran
[http://www.amazon.com/Roaring-Spring-Products-Notebook-
Wireb...](http://www.amazon.com/Roaring-Spring-Products-Notebook-
Wirebound/dp/B000GAZ8LK/)

I am a happier person after I got off Moleskine. Ideas flow better when you
can rip out pages without guilt.

(kinda like the 'cheap branch' advantage of git)

~~~
icey
Really? I've carried a Moleskine notebook with me every day for the past 9
years (I go through 3 or 4 a year). I've found that it's advantageous to see
any mistakes I've made when reviewing my notebooks. Sometimes it's good to
know I've gone down 3 other paths before I found the one that worked.

Tangent: If you're going to get into the habit of keeping handwritten notes,
start devising a shorthand scheme or a set of symbols that you can use to let
yourself know if something is important, or needs to be followed up, or needs
review. I have a set of about 25 different sigils I use regularly in my
notebooks that not only cuts down the amount of writing I do by quite a bit,
it also makes it easy for me to scan a page quickly and get the important
facts out fast.

~~~
zenspider
Care to write up said sigils, scan them, and post them somewhere? I'd love to
see your system.

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maw
I took some notes for a hypothetical personal system, although it isn't great:

* Learn what common and abbreviable (I'm not sure that this is a real word) words are, and abbreviate them.

* Create a system of declensions similar to German or Latin -- you could probably drop a lot of prepositions this way.

* Use symbols if they're easier/faster to write.

* Leave space to create a legend, explaining abbreviations or symbols made up or allocated on the spot.

* Leave lots of margin and whitespace.

Nothing very comprehensive, I'm afraid. I'd be interested in seeing a more-
developed system too.

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tel
Here's the problem with Moleskines: if you s/moleskine/notebook/g on almost
any article written about them online you get exactly the same effect.

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tjr
I am posting this comment 69 days after the thread started. It was with this
thread that I first heard of Moleskine notebooks.

"Absurd," I thought. "Just get a cheap regular notebook."

But something kept pining away at me. So I finally spent $15 to get a mid-
sized Moleskine notebook and give it a try. If it was a waste, well, I've
wasted way more than $15 before.

I must say I have been pleasantly surprised, and I'm not entirely sure why.
The size, the durability, the rubber band around the outside all add up for
nice features in a notebook, but something about it -- and it may well be the
fact that it cost $15 -- makes me take journaling my thoughts more seriously.

I may will ditch it sometime, if it doesn't prove beneficial in the long-term,
but at minimum, I can understand why for some people these seemingly
overpriced notebooks may actually be a good thing.

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mrtron
Wow. I am blown away at the formalness of this habit!

I thought my girlfriend was the only person that took this process to such an
extreme.

I was also just thinking today my spiral notebooks are horribly difficult to
navigate, maybe I might start a system.

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Tichy
My favorite stationery is from Muji, <http://www.muji.net/eng/>

What pisses me off about Moleskine is that they lied about the "used by famous
writers like Hemingway" thing. It worked as a marketing ploy, but it is just
not very endearing to lie to one's customers.

Edit: found better Muji link, uk shop has web catalogue. Notebooks:
[http://www.muji.eu/pages/online.asp?V=1&Sec=1&Sub=4&...](http://www.muji.eu/pages/online.asp?V=1&Sec=1&Sub=4&CHK=Y)

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edw519
Don't forget the moleskine ipod hack:

<http://www.moleskinerie.com/2007/10/moleskine-ipod-.html>

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kingkongrevenge
What the hell is wrong with a legal pad or a $1.50 mead notebook? Moleskine is
a silly fashion accessory. I was ready for him to recommend never writing in
your moleskine with anything but a montblanc.

~~~
reazalun
Some people don't care in where they write; $1 notepad is just fine for them.
But sometimes, this same person is very particular in what they wear; hence,
for example, they buy a very expensive jeans at $100. So let's ask them, "What
the hell is wrong with a $30 jeans?"

In a nutshell, different people have different ways in manifesting their sense
of egoism.

P.S. I am not a moleskine user.

~~~
kingkongrevenge
There is proven benefit to dressing reasonably well. You look better and
people treat you better. Cheap clothing is also generally a false economy: the
more expensive stuff lasts longer, at least for men's clothing.

None of these clear-cut advantages apply to silly fashion accessories like
pens or notepads.

~~~
boredguy8
Read: "My fashion accessories help me fit in with my guild, so it's OK. Your
fashion accessories are just silly, don't waste the money!"

Hoist by your own petard.

