The Everything Notebook

An idea for cataloguing your reading life within the context of your entire life.

Here’s a fun idea for 2025. Get a notebook and use it to keep track of everything during the year, including your reading life.

In 2018, I started purchasing a new Leuchtturm1917 notebook at the start of each year. I use it to journal, set goals, create to-do lists, write book recaps, take notes during business meetings, prepare podcast episodes, list people I meet during the year, and much more.

I call it my Everything Notebook.

I dedicate the first page of each new notebook to listing the books I read during the year (including reading dates). I dedicate the second page to listing books I hear about, come across, or have recommended to me during the year that I may wish to read in the future.

The most unexpected benefit is that by placing everything in this notebook, I get to look back and see what was happening in my life while I was reading certain books. I’ll see a journal entry next to book notes opposite a page of notes from a meeting.

At first, it may feel weird to place everything together (personal, business, reading, etc.) but it is really neat to see a timeline of your life later on.

I encourage you to give it a try in 2025. I love the dotted Leuchtturm1917 notebooks because they lay flat, have a pouch in the back, and are good quality. I also find that Muji 0.5 pens are a great fit for the paper. I purchase a different color notebook each year and carry it with me nearly everywhere I go.

If you do end up getting an Everything Notebook, here are some other ideas for things to include in the notebook:

• Dedicate an entire page to important news (birth, death, major world news). Simply list the event and date and leave the rest of the page blank. It sticks out when going back through the notebook.

• Dedicate a page or two to ideas or inspiration that strikes during the year.

• Make a list of people you meet during the year.

• Write down funny things your kids say.

• Pull leaves from your favorite trees (especially in the fall or in new locations) and press them in the back of the notebook.

• Save event tickets or important memorabilia in the back.

Each year, I also write my wedding vows in the front as a reminder, do a recap of major personal events from the year before, and set business, fitness, reading, and personal goals for the new year.

The tagline for the Leuchtturm1917 notebooks is “Denken mit der Hand,” which means Think With Your Hand. I love that.