3 Ways to Bring More Analog Back into Your Life

In a world full of digital options and devices, there is a craving to bring more analog back into your life.

Certain things are slower and more inefficient. That might be the point.

The real question is where it actually makes sense to do it.

Single-purpose tools

Think about people writing lists on clay tablets and carrying around 10 of those. That would be very heavy. At some point people were probably very excited when the scroll came out. There were probably people also nostalgic about losing clay tablets.

Now the gap is even crazier, because we have devices that can do anything and everything. That can be a major problem for focus and attention.

As Cal Newport has pointed out, you want to lock yourself in by using single-purpose tools.

A Kindle lets you just read books. It’s tech, but it’s slow tech. It reduces distractions compared to an all-in-one device like a smartphone. You can read Kindle on your phone, but you can also get distracted by a million other things.

Here’s the good news though. You can bring more analog into your life without buying new devices. You can start in the next 10 minutes.

1. One Line A Day

The One Line a Day journal is a five-year memory book. Every day you write one or two lines with the year and the date. Each page has five entries. Every year on the same date, you see the previous year’s entries. Revisiting ONE notebook for this single purpose over 5 years will compound in meaning and memories.

It gives you a reason to grab a physical pen you enjoy. And you might get more out of writing one line consistently than you think.

It turns journaling into something quick and simple. Less than a couple minutes a day if you commit.

2. A personal notebook

The second option is even more accessible: get a personal notebook.

Anything related to yourself goes in here. Not work notes for Notion. This is for reflecting, thinking about what you’re going to do, asking yourself questions, and exploring your thinking.

I use a notebook by Paperage for journaling. It lays flat. I love the color. It has a closure strap. I have a whole row of them on my shelf from the past 16 years of journaling.

There may have been days or weeks off, but not months without capturing what was happening.

I will say that now I'm using a pocket notebook from Field Notes that has become a notebook for I'm revisiting all day compared to just once a day when I might journal.

When I pull a notebook from two or five years ago, I have direct access to what I was thinking and worried about. It shows how far you’ve come. It creates contrast between then and now. Even if you don’t revisit them often, having the option is satisfying.

Think about filling a whole shelf with your experiences and your view of the world. Much of it is scribbles and private thoughts. That’s part of why it works.

Paper cannot be hacked. Nothing can be leaked. You can tear it up. There are no distractions.

I used a reMarkable tablet on and off for a few years, but nothing replaces a physical notebook.

You can also turn it into a skill notebook. When I open this one, I work on my craft. Alex Honnold, the Free Solo climber, keeps a notebook where he writes down his moves and what went wrong. Every domain has a version of this kind of notebook.

3. Index cards

I’ve been using Ryan Holiday and Robert Greene’s notecard method for over a year now. I have around 600 to 700 notecards for my next book.

Index cards are cheap. It’s like 1-3 cents per notecard. When you make mistakes, you don’t feel bad scribbling on them. You’re less filtered. You capture more raw thoughts.

It gives me a chance to use my Sharpie markers too.

There’s satisfaction in using a marker or favorite pen. I fill out the front and date it. Sometimes I time-stamp it, but dating is quicker, so I can see when I made a connection.

These notes can be scribbles only you understand. They’re for you. You can build hundreds or thousands without taking up much space.

The act of retrieving the idea and filling in the gaps from seeing just a few words is deploying several learning techniques without doing much more than just looking at the card.

With Ryan Holiday and Robert Greene’s system, once you have enough cards, the material is there. You just connect it. I love holding the cards, moving them around, and making connections.

I'll often capture something first in my pocket notebook, then transfer it onto a notecard later. This small and sometimes annoying act forces me to interface with the idea 10x more deeply.

Sticky notes also work for tasks. If I put one somewhere visible, I won’t forget it the way I might forget something in an app.

Instead of just reading books, read your own thoughts. Build raw data on what you care about and what you want to work toward.

Analog is associated with slowing down. Yes, you could type faster. But writing it out and carrying it around forces you to return to it.

There are disadvantages. Analog is slower and less efficient. That is the point. You’re slowing down and connecting with something digital tools are not giving you.

What are some of your favorite ways to go ‘analog’? Hit reply and let me know.

In your corner,