• Blog
  • Archives
  • Bio
  • Awards
  • Speaking
  • Book
  • Contact

Don’t forget your notebook

Published: Wednesday, 04 February 2009

They’re cheap.  They don’t always look very pretty.  You can even get some with a yellow hue!  (And even if you don’t, but you leave them for too long, they develop a yellow hue of their own.)  Richard Branson swears by them - he used his to research for all his published books.  And Dave Allen recommends them.  (Or he would if Palm Pilots weren’t invented…)

Notebooks.  Pieces of paper bound together for you to write on.  What should you write?

Everything you say you’ll do.  In order to be your word, you have to know what you gave your word to.  The more games you are playing in life, the more things you will be giving your word to.  Want to take on more and complete it all with integrity?  Give your word, write it down, do it.

Planning structures for fulfillment.  Have a project in mind?  Jot down the end goal, brainstorm all the tasks that would need to be completed between now and the end goal, set dates by when the tasks will be completed and you have a structure for fulfillment.

Making lists.  Shopping lists, to-do lists, people to call, emails to type, etc.  Helps you batch like-activities together and saves time.

Brain dump.  Anything that’s on your mind doesn’t exist until it’s down on paper - get it down on paper and make it real.  Once it’s down, it frees your mind to think about something else.

Six cents each at the Big W sales at the start of the school year.  Get one.  It’s worth it.

About Me

Marita ChengForbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.

I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • Škoda - Brilliant Not Famous

    Car company Škoda decided that I am "brilliant not famous", and created this content piece video to show the strength of their convictions.  :P...

  • No one puts Baby in the corner

    I was at West End watching “Dirty Dancing” the other night. In the foyer, there were t-shirts embossed with, “I carried a watermelon”, and “No one...

  • YouthActionNet Global Fellowship Day 0: The "best" and "better" plans

    A month ago, I came up with a list of the things I wanted to consider during my YouthActionNet Fellowship retreat.  In the 24 hours that it took me...

  • Perfection is an oasis

    Perfection is unattainable.  You're never going to get something that's perfect, done.  Not with your budget.  Not with your timeframe.  Not so that you...

  • Variety of media

    Myself and Teleport (with my business partner Alberto Rizzoli appearing on Teleport) got a really awesome page 2-3 spread in The Age. It looks rad!...

  • MBN Y Forum, South Korea

    I’m fortunate to be invited all around the world to deliver speeches. In February, I was invited to the MBN Y Forum in Seoul, South Korea for a...

  • Ruby Payne-Scott

    Ruby Payne-Scott was a pioneer radio physicist.  I was asked to go in and narrate her story for the ABC’s Fierce Girls series.  Listen to it here!...

  • I'm average

    I used to think I was brilliant.  That I was different.  That I was special.  But then I realised a lot of people feel that way about themselves.  And...

  • Piano lessons

    When I was younger, we couldn't afford a piano at home, so my mum would take me to my piano teacher's house each day to practise for an hour. I...

  • Worse than procrastination

    One of the biggest muscles to exercise shouldn't be getting yourself motivated to not procrasinate.  Sure, procrastination is a big issue, and...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top