How a Notebook Keeps Me Focused in a Digital Job

Staying focused in a digital job is hard. Emails, Teams messages, notifications — everything feels urgent at once. I’m Margerite, a Solution Architect, and I use a simple notebook system at work: *capture now, process later.* My notebook is my unfiltered inbox. Everything I don’t want to forget goes into one physical place, so I can get back to what I was doing instead of trying to hold everything in my head. In this video, I show you exactly how I use this system during real workdays: daily standups, meetings, presentations, deep work — and that 51st email. I’ll also show you the simple left-margin method I use two or three times a day to process those raw notes: turning them into action items, transferring them where they belong, or simply crossing out things that no longer matter. You don’t need a perfect productivity system. Keep a work notebook next to you. Write down anything you don’t want to deal with right now. Leave some space in the margin. Then come back and process it when you have a few minutes between meetings. And that creates another problem: *What happens when you capture everything…and end up with more action items than you can possibly do?* That’s what I’ll tackle next: how I decide what deserves my attention now, tomorrow, or next week. CHAPTERS 00:00 Why focus is so hard in digital work 00:38 My dilemma as a Solution Architect 01:12 The notebook as an unfiltered inbox 02:10 Real examples: dailies, deep work, meetings & emails 03:44 Why paper beats digital here 05:02 Step 2: Process it later with the margin 06:15 What if there are too many actions? — *More from 2Plan4* Functional analogue planning for work — notebooks, fountain pens, inks, and real-life workflows for meetings, projects, thinking, and daily tasks. ------- My journal for work Lochby B5 Field Folio in navy and cream, containing Lochby inserts with 68 gsm Tomoe River paper. My non work-related journals Lochby Voyager Journal in Bumblebee: Sterling Ink Common Planner Academic Year N1 Archer & Olive B5 Coiled Key from the 2025 Halloween collection for my reading journal