How to Organize a Notebook or Journal

Woman writing in a notebook

Are you wondering how to organize a notebook or journal?

Do you you need several practical and creative ways to personalize your notebook?

At first glance, organizing a notebook or journal might seem like you’re doing double the work.

You’ve already purchased a brand-new notebook with pages neatly lined up one after another, so why should you even bother developing an organization system?

Taking the time to organize your notebook will make it easy to enter, reference, and retrieve information.

What’s more, a well-designed notebook can make data entry a fun and creative process.

You can personalize your notebook to your heart’s content, which in turn, will make it more likely you’ll actually use your notebook, instead of having it collect dust on a desk or shelf.

In this post, you’ll find several suggestions to help you craft an organized notebook or journal for your needs.

Please note, the below tips are primarily for the organization of bound hardcover and softcover notebooks or journals.

If you’re looking for step-by-step guidance when it comes to notebook organization, be sure to check out my online video workshop, Work Notebook Workshop™.

Let’s begin!

How to Organize a Notebook or Journal

Identify how you’d like to use your notebook.

You’ve got a delicious new notebook you want to organize. Where should you begin?

The first step is identifying how you’d like to use your notebook in future.

Clearly defining the purpose of your notebook will help you plan the notebook’s layout and organize information.

It’s definitely worth taking some time to consider how you’d like to use your notebook.

You may already have a strong preference for those wonderful blank pages, or you may merely have a general idea as to the contents.

No matter your situation, you should jot down a couple of notebook usage ideas on a separate piece of scrap paper.

Two keys questions to ask yourself are: “What’s the subject of my notebook?” and “How will I use my notebook?”

These are both great starting points to get your creative ideas flowing.

Brainstorm notebook components.

Once you’ve identified how you’d like to use your notebook, the next step is to brainstorm the different components of the notebook itself and organize your thoughts.

Notebook components can be thought of as the building blocks of your notebook.

They are what will give your precious pages structure, order, and form.

A useful way to uncover which notebook components would be helpful to you is to think about the subject of your notebook and your ultimate notebook goals.

Which notebook components would help you better organize information?

Which components would help you enter and retrieve information?

Organize the layout of your notebook.

The third step in organizing your notebook is to organize the layout.

We’ve already talked about how you’re going to use your notebook and the different types of components you can use. Now, it’s time to flesh out the organization of the notebook itself.

You can think of this step as creating a draft of your notebook’s layout before you start to write in your notebook.

This step allows you to play around with different components and pages for your notebook until you come up with a solid format that you like.

If you have past experience laying out notebooks, you’ll want to take this experience into account. Feel free to experiment with different layouts until you’ve got a couple of front-runners.

Do keep in mind: it’s best to work from the top-down when it comes to organizing the layout of your notebook.

All this means is that you’ll want to get the larger notebook components in place first before you develop the layout of the individual pages.

You can use a single piece of scrap paper to plot things out, or you can use individual index cards, sticky notes, and scraps of paper to organize the layout of your dreams.

Customize your notebook.

What’s the fourth and final step? It’s to rollup your sleeves and start customizing your notebook.

Before you start customizing your notebook, make sure you have a clear table or countertop ready so you have ample space space in which to work.

You may also want to eliminate any distractions so you do your notebook customization in peace.

Ultimately, when it comes to customizing a notebook for your needs, the sky is the limit.

Feel free to round up your favorite office supplies and art supplies. This can be anything and everything from pencils to sticky notes.

Then, when you’re good and ready, you get put on your favorite music and get busy customizing your notebook!

I have a Work Notebook Workshop that could help you organize ideas, notes, and information at work. Click here to find out more.

If you want to organize your thoughts, ideas, and plans so you can work more productively, let’s talk. Click here to schedule a strategy session with me.

How about you? Do you enjoy using notebooks or journals? How do you go about organizing your notebooks? Join the conversation and leave a comment below!

5 Unexpected Things You Need to Organize a Work Notebook Mockup
About the Author

Rashelle

Rashelle Isip is a New York City-based productivity consultant who helps successful entrepreneurs and business owners manage their time and energy so they can reduce stress, work less, and make more money in their businesses. She has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, NBC News, The Washington Post, NPR, and The Atlantic. Get her free guide, 5 Unexpected Things You Need to Organize a Work Notebook, by clicking here.

9 Comments

  1. Joe Gut

    Hiiii

    Reply
  2. Wolfie53

    Thank you so much! I will use these tips to organize my notebooks, school notebooks, journals, and basically every piece of paper I come across. I’m a little messy with my books because I get distracted and they end up with random doodles, notes, and other things. Again, thanks for all your help! From now on, I am going to re-organize my life! =)

    Reply
    • Rashelle

      You are quite welcome! I’m glad you found the post to be helpful. Notebooks can be one of those tricky areas when it comes to organizing information. Thanks for reading and for your comment.

      Reply
  3. Elvis

    Thanks a lot for the info. I’ve just started this English Composition class at a Dominican college and I find your post very useful for what I need to do durina the whole semester.

    Reply
    • Rashelle

      You’re quite welcome, Elvis. I hope the tips help you this semester at college. Good luck!

      Reply
  4. Chris

    Good article, my notebooks are full of random things and it never occurred to me to make a table of contents or an index. So simple…

    Reply
    • Rashelle

      Thanks, Chris, I’m glad you found it helpful. An additional benefit to creating a table of contents (TOC) is that the physical process of compiling a TOC helps you to better remember what’s actually inside the notebook. It’s a true win-win situation. Thank you for reading and for your comment!

      Reply
  5. Michele

    Hi Rashelle,

    This is an amazing article!! 🙂 I can’t tell you how well timed it is for me to be reading it right now! I really like the advice about the TOC and Index. I just took a look over at my bookshelf (I had to make myself, lol)… It has, quite literally, 10+ Planners, 5+ Journals, and at least 20 Notebooks on it. None are remotely close to being full/used-a lot are brand new. I have probably about half of that shelves’ amount spread out between totes/another bookshelf/my desk… Needless to say, I don’t have a great Planning and Organization system that works well with my brain and I can be consistent with. I come across a lot of info online r/t this topic and your blog is far and away at the top of this genre. I just wanted to say thanks for writing it 🙂

    Reply
    • Rashelle

      Hi Michele, thank you for your kind words. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the article. I wanted to give people a solid framework and some practical ideas they could try out and work with. Have fun planning your notebook!

      Reply

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