I have always been a pen-and-paper guy! ✍️
Taking notes, planning my days, brainstorming or literally anything – I prefer to use pen and paper.
[I covered about my notes-taking habit here: Are You Noting Things Down?]
Call me old-school but there’s something about it that just works –
✅ Retention is better: When I write things down, they stick. Simple as that.
✅ No distractions: No switching between text, diagrams, or perfecting the layout. It’s just me, my pen and my thoughts.
✅ Creativity gets boosted: I can freely sketch, mindmap, or scribble down ideas without worrying about how it looks. The freedom is unmatched!
✅ It’s Satisfying: There’s nothing like the feeling of a pen running over paper. It’s therapy.
But there was 1 issue—my notes were stuck on paper while the rest of my work lived digitally.
Storing and organizing notes from paper is a hassle. But finding them at the right time is an even bigger challenge.
I checked gadgets like Amazon Kindle Scribe. It was expensive and it is not even available in India!
Other gadgets in India didn’t feel feasible or convenient from the videos that I saw online.
Then I tried all kinds of digital tools thinking that would be the solution to all my brainstorming needs.
I tried everything —
Figma, Canva, Miro for brainstorming
MindNode, Whimsical and eDrawMind for mind mapping
I even tried Notion – a tool highly advocated by productivity geeks
But… Here’s the problem: mazaa nahi araha tha!
I’d get distracted. Big time.
“Let me just adjust this alignment.”
“Oh, this design needs to be perfect.”
“Maybe I should switch to a flowchart here?”
Before I knew it, I’d spent more time tinkering with the tool than actually brainstorming!
But in the end, what really matters?
✅ Core content
✅ Message
✅ Clarity
Luckily, AI is here to save the day.
Now, I just use ChatGPT to read my notes and convert them into digital form. Problem solved, right?
[If you are interested, I shared some ChatGPT prompts here: 10 Actionable ChatGPT Frameworks For You]
ACTION ITEMS
If you prefer pen and paper like I do, here’s what you can do:
Scan and upload your notes on ChatGPT to convert them into digital notes so you can easily organize and access them later.
Problem solved!
In short, best of both worlds.
RELATED RESOURCES
If you are not a pen-and-paper person like me, here are some good tools that I used a lot and can recommend to you based on my usage.
Whimsical – It’s perfect for brainstorming with AI features. It allows you to create docs, flowcharts, wireframes, & mind maps.
WHAT I DID THIS WEEK
It’s Ganesha time! 🌺
I visited Lal Baug with my friend – charansparsh took 6.5 hours! But totally worth it.
We even visited other popular Ganesh pandals over the weekend 🤩 I love doing that since childhood!
Worked on an AI system which will help me save almost 90 minutes per week! Let’s see how it goes but I am excited.
Did some maintenance tasks here and there.
1 social post and no videos at all. Couldn’t record anything as there were bands and DJs throughout the week.
By now you might have already guessed, I did nothing major this week apart from celebrating Ganesh festival! No regrets though.
Office was quite exciting this week. Multiple things got done from the list.