How to use both print and digital notebooks to organize your coaching practice

Guide

“I take notes like some people take drugs. There is an eight-foot stretch of shelves in my house containing nothing but full notebooks. I trust the weakest pen more than the strongest memory, and note taking is — in my experience — one of the most important skills for converting excessive information into precise action and follow-up.”

— Tim Ferriss, podcaster, How to Take Notes Like an Alpha-Geek

Last week, I sent out to all subscribers a sign up for a free webinar on how to set up a print notebook to organize one’s practice and prioritize what’s most important.

In the sign up form, I included an optional question asking participants what they most hope to learn from the event.

Two dozen responses later, it is clear that coaches and instructional leaders in general are looking for strategies and systems to manage the complexity of their positions. We cannot manage all the inputs and commitments we have with our minds alone. We need an “external mind”, a “second brain” to hold these ideas within a trusted system.¹

One question that eventually comes up in these conversations is “Are there any digital tools you can use for this work?”

Despite the clear intent of the webinar, this is a question I have explored myself.

Digital tools appear to offer so much at first glance.

• Their storage is limitless; print notebooks have space constraints.

• Tasks and commitments saved in apps can be automated, such as popping up when you arrive at a relevant geographical location; print notebooks require that you perpetually return to them for review and reflection.

• The ability to collaborate with colleagues is made possible through technology; print notebooks are isolating by design.

So why even consider using a print notebook to manage one’s coaching practice?

Because for all of its promises, the features of technology are a double-edged sword.

Take limitless storage. If I have thousands and thousands of files in my digital notebook, how easy is it going to be for me to find a relevant note or document? Technology makes it easy to save what we think is important, but can quickly become an inconvenience if we aren’t taking the time to filter what we consume and save.

Regarding automation, it does have it’s advantages. A to-do app that reminds me to talk to so-and-so when I arrive at a school is helpful. But with outsourcing that action, will I become complacent and not do all work needed that would help me prepare for my professional conversation?

For these reasons and more, I have a print-first approach to managing, organizing, and prioritizing my coaching practice.

That being said, where might technology best fit in this context, especially when just beginning?

One starting point is using digital note or task apps as an extension of a print notebook. Technology complements my productivity system instead of replacing it. This approach preserves my presence - I am not in the context of a distractible digital world by default - while leveraging technologies when the value outweighs the cost to my attention and well-being. I can feel on top of things without having to be connected to the Internet.

Here is an example:

Yesterday, in a meeting with fellow coaches, several tools and resources were being shared. As I organized them into a folder on my Chrome browser, I started to feel anxious. How am I going to remember to reference all of these files? I thought to myself.

Instead of keeping my anxiety inside, I wrote down what was happening and what I was feeling. Externalizing these thoughts helped me put them in a place where I could look at them more objectively.

Rereading what I wrote, a next step came to mind: ask the project leader for guidance on how to build a process that systematically utilizes all these resources.

If I had just left these ideas in my print notebook, that might be where they had stayed. It would have been a temporary reprieve from worry. But eventually the anxiety would come back if I didn’t have a trust place to “park” this task.

This is where I leveraged my digital notebook. I added this clarified action to my list of tasks I can do when in my email next.

Also, I can use the software to set a date to remind me to follow through on this task. The majority of my thinking and clarifying of what I needed happened on paper, a better place for it.

Next is a similar example: a colleague recommended using an enrollment interview template when engaging in a new coaching cycle with a client.

This didn’t feel like a priority right now, but definitely something I wanted to come back to in the future. So I create a new task in the “Someday/Maybe” list of my digital notebook. I can even upload the enrollment interview template in the note for easier review when I am ready to do so.

“But I can do this in my print notebook - making lists of next actions. Do I really need to complement my paper organizer with a digital notebook?”

Great question.

My answer: Use the technology only when it is necessary.

For example, if your lists that capture the various tasks you need to complete under different contexts becomes too long, the additional space of digital storage can be helpful. Similarly, if you are forgetting to follow up on certain commitments, setting digital reminders makes sense.

But again, I caution overreliance on technology. Endless lists and outsourcing the thinking around projects can be counterproductive. Related, what can the constraints of a print notebook tell us about how much we are committing to in our busy lives? These limits can be a feature of paper organizers, not a bug.

So what are the next actions you can take?

1. Dedicate a preferred notebook to capture and clarify your daily notes and tasks in a coaching log.

2. Create lists in your print notebook to organize the different commitments under certain contexts (calls, emails, computer) in which you could complete them.

3. Set aside 15-30 minutes a day to review your daily coaching log and update lists.

4. Set aside an hour near the end of the week to review and reflect on our projects and actions, and prepare for the following week.

How do you organize your coaching/instructional leadership practice?

Still looking for more guidance? Subscribe to this newsletter today and receive an invitation next week for a free one-hour webinar on Tuesday, September 17th at 5:30pm and join the 20+ people who have already signed up to learn how to set up a coach’s notebook. (This is for all instructional leaders, not just "big C” coaches!)

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1. Two books I recommend on the concept an “extended mind”/”second brain” are Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen and Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organise Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential by Tiago Forte. The former is tool and platform agnostic, while the latter is technology-first. (affiliate links)