How an A5 Notebook helps me learn from ‘Book Club’
At the start of this year, I challenged myself to read 12 books. One book per month. Simple right?
Wrong.
There were a lot of questions — What sorts of books should I read? Where should I get them? Do audiobooks count?
All redundant questions really because the goal was to read. But, as with most things I do, I wanted a further purpose. A reason to pick up a certain book.
I have never really enjoyed autobiographies or history books, or for the most part even novels. I have tended to enjoy books rooted in logic, with anecdotes, lessons and thought provoking maxims. So that’s where I started this year. As my passion for reading grows, I want to incorporate a wider variety of genres and topics into my reading list.
It’s July and I am on book #7 — (The next instalment of ‘Book Club’ will be coming next month, by the way).
I have learnt a great deal this year from the books I have read, more than I thought I would and more than I can remember with all else that consumes space in my brain; And so I have chosen to collect some of these lessons in small notebooks, as shown below:

This may seem redundant or like overkill, but I have found that lessons from these books can help me in almost any situation. I have used them at work to address new or difficult situations, to provide inspiration when I want to write, to give clarity and advice for times of personal adversity, or even just to add an interesting anecdote to a conversation with friends.
From time to time I will carry an old notebook with me and just read through the lessons that I have captured before, on the train, whilst I am waiting for a bus, or if I am at work and need a change to re-focus — you’d be surprised how many times when I have needed advice, it has been written there in plain English, just when I have needed it most.
The beauty of these books is that they are inconspicuous, and A5 is generally small enough to fit into any bag that you’re carrying. Sure, they are sometimes a little dense when I need something quickly, but I love to write (physically), and carrying a notebook with me has been a personal habit that I have fostered over the past five years.
An iPhone is great for short, sharp note-taking — and I often use it as such — but there’s nothing like reading something you yourself have taken the time to write down personally. It carries weight.
Personal Favourites from 2017
In the hopes of inspiring you to find your own system for recording the lessons that you have picked up from the things you have read or experiences you have had, I’ve collected some of my favourite passages/lessons from this year’s books and shown them below:
Sir Alex Ferguson (‘Leading’) on the importance of listening and observing above all else:
‘There’s a reason we have two eyes, two ears and one mouth — it’s so you can listen and watch twice as much as you talk’.
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Ryan Holiday (‘Ego is the Enemy’) on not letting ego subsume your desire to improve:
‘Training is like sweeping the floor. Just because we’ve done it once, doesn’t mean that the floor is clean forever. Every day the dust comes back. Every day we must sweep’.
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Jay Samit (‘Disrupt Yourself’)on the important difference between failing and failure:
‘There is a difference between failing and failure. Failing is trying something that you learn doesn’t work. Failure is throwing in the towel and giving up’.
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Phil Jackson (‘Eleven Rings’) on taking time to understand his players:
Every year, Phil Jackson (Coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers) would select a book for each of his players to read. He didn’t expect 100% engagement, in fact some of his greatest players never read the books he gave them. However, he wanted them to know that he cared enough about them as individuals to pick out a book that might have special meaning for them.
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W. Timothy Gallwey (‘The Inner Game of Tennis’) on Habits:
‘It is much more difficult to replace a habit when there is no adequate replacement for it… It is not helpful to condemn our present habits as “bad”. It is helpful to see what function these habits are serving, so that if we can learn a better way to achieve the same end, we can do so’.
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Ponder Points:
How could taking some time to keep a tab on things that you have learnt lately help you down the line?
What are the greatest lessons that you have learnt from a book that you have been able to put into action?
