Handwritten notes

Last week I bought a notebook.

No, not a subscription to Gemini Notebook. I actually walked to Target and bought a physical notebook. It cost $2.49.

In the age of AI note takers, why on earth would I do this?

Well, something that many people don’t know about me is that I actually like to take notes by hand.

It might sound crazy. But I’ve noticed that it has benefits that go beyond giving myself an easy place to doodle my unprofessional artwork when my mind starts wandering.

I’ve found that writing things down on paper helps me listen. It keeps me focused on the person speaking to me instead of the screen distracting me.

Yes, a summary recap of the conversation can be helpful to jog my mind in hindsight, but I’ve found that a few thoughtful bullets written on paper help me understand and remember the conversation better than paragraphs of text from AI note takers.

I like to listen to understand, because that helps me better grasp what race directors want to make their lives easier, and what would give runners a better experience and make them more likely to run more races.

Because at the end of the day, organizing a race is hard, and Run The Day exists to make it easier. So listening for the hard parts is what helps me understand how we can make it easier.

That is why I bought a notebook last week.

— Ian

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Is my job illegal?