Read Time: 4 minutes 30 seconds

For years I’ve used notebooks and planners to organize not just my calendar, but my mind and my life. 

I’ve used all kinds of planners from Franklin Covey to Full Focus to just a blank Moleskine - you name it I’ve tried it.

A couple years back I remember sitting down for a meeting. I was reviewing some calendar events in my planner and some notes on a few things relative to the impending meeting. Another Director cracked a joke to me at my expense.  

“You know we have computers and phones and don’t need paper planners like that anymore?”

We began a friendly back and forth about the current state of pen/paper versus technology and how it all relates to the illusive, shiny object of modern leadership and productivity - the attainment of “efficiency.”

In his view, the calendar app on your phone, the notes app on your phone and the apps on your computer should be more than sufficient in helping any high performer stay organized, productive and flourishing inside and out. 

He even went as far to say that technological advancements through artificial intelligence would replace ALL writers / writing in the future. And that people who use pen/paper and write are stuck in the dark ages. 

I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’m a writer and I’ve been writing a weekly newsletter since 2019 to hundreds of leaders in our STC leadership community (and that what is sent digitally each week almost always starts in moleskine journals months prior to hitting your inbox). 

I did have the heart to push back on his general stance that digital tools were all sufficient and that the old fashioned way of thinking deeply, writing, reflecting and organizing by way of pen/paper wasn’t a “waste of time.”

Efficiently Burned Out

Leaders and high performers are always seeking efficiency. I’m all for efficient processes and trimming the fat of wasted energy and movement. In fact, the meeting I referenced above was a great example of inefficient use of time on a bi-weekly basis.

As much as I’m for trimming down wasted motion, I can’t help but think in an effort to be “efficient” we’re actually as inefficient as ever. Most high performers are working each evening and a touch on weekends. You’d think with the integration of technology we’d have not just our evenings and weekends back, but we’d even have taken back some of the work week. Yet, that doesn’t seem to be the case anywhere you look.

According to Calm’s 2024 Voice of the Workplace Report:

58% of employees agree that they’re always connected or available for work

46% of employees often work outside of work

1 in 3 workers are often disrupted by their devices while they’re at work

32% feel tired from being online for work

“You know we have computers and phones and don’t need paper planners like that anymore?”

A Necessary Inefficiency

Yes, computers and phones may allow you to be more efficient. However it’s clear, based on the above data and our own introspection that being connected to technology may not be producing the efficient or flourishing effects we’re hoping for in our lives.

You do need to be productive

You do need to be organized

The higher you are in leadership the more it’s critically important that you are productive and organized. However the standard for “productive” and “organized” doesn’t just exist for your tasks, calendar and other external metrics.

They exist for what’s going on the inside your life. And to be productive (attached to your purpose) and organized (your behaviors are impactful) you must be clear on things that your calendar and to-do lists don’t inform, but rather they are informed by.

Here’s the truth we need to consider this week

Many have not taken the time to figure out what living is all about.

And I have a theory why that is. 

The process of figuring out what living is all about is wildly inefficient. 

You actually have to sit and get clear on things that are hard to think about. 

It doesn’t fit well in our hustle and bustle. 

It can’t get delegated. 

You can’t lead a “productive” meeting with your team about it.

We would rather scroll or check sports scores or email.

It’s much easier to default to “busy” 

It’s easier to run toward a more full calendar, free from the margin of thinking deep.

While some may think sitting and writing in a notebook is an inefficient waste of time, it may actually be the thing you’re missing most. 

Writing has been shown to improve mental distress and well-being in people with elevated anxiety symptoms. It also has been shown to be more effective than typing in memory and learning. 

You need to write more. Not for publishing or posts or likes or comments, but to give yourself the gift of thinking deeply about your life. 

Here’s a few ways you can do that.

1. Purchase a notebook 

2. Write in it often (most of the time, daily)

What should you write in your notebook? Well if you don’t have a daily writing practice you could start with some of these questions and see where it takes you.

What do I want?

How much is enough?

What makes me feel joy?

Who do I want to spend the most time with?

Do I love what I do?

Is this working?

What do I need to quit?

What are my greatest fears?

Where do I cost myself?

Am I really doing my best?

What am I not facing?

Who can help me?

What would success look like over the next 3 months?

But over time, you’ll start to find your own rhythm. In some cases it’s not about what’s written. It’s about detaching from the pace of your life and leadership (and certainly detaching from technology) to reconnect with what is most important. 

And that is a necessary inefficiency. 

Also - the origins of this weekly newsletter are always started in a few notebooks (see below).

I do most of my writing in this green notebook.

Marcus goes to work in this notebook.

Stay The (at times inefficient) Course,