When I pick up pen and paper, something’s up.
I love my digital setup. My dashboards and lists and kanban boards and checklists and overviews. Digital notebooks as my second brain? More my first brain.
But every once in a while I reach for pen and paper.
What to journal? You can do morning pages, bullet journaling, answer prompts, sketch, or write diary entries. I often invite my coaching clients to experiment.
How to journal? There are all these fancy ways of journaling with calligraphy, doodles, habit trackers, and colorful highlighting. I like it minimalist these days.
Digital tools are for speed. That's their gift and their cost.
The screen screams for your next thought, and the one after that, as fast as you can type or speak. Pen and paper are patient.
- They slow me down.
- They make things real.
- They keep me in the now.
What's worth the ink? Is it the butterfly on the balcony? Is it the emotional outburst? Is it the to-do list? Is it brainstorming a new project?
They teach me to be aware and pay attention.
They sharpen my focus on what’s important.
Sometimes I want to feel the impact of my thoughts in reality. On a piece of paper. For clarity and creativity.
Christine Paulus
ENGLISH | DEUTSCH
