My WUP

In my efforts to keep organized, I like to write a lot of things down. So you will usually see me with a notebook of some sort. In fact, here's a picture of my latest small version.

Anyway, I was interested to hear about the WUP or Wake Up Pad. You can read about it in this great book titled The Radical Edge by Steve Farber. Here's links to bloggers who use this and similar methods:

• Starting Your Week With a WUP by Steve Farber
• Farber: Got WUP? Strauss: YUP! by Mike Sansone
• Ideas When I Get My Hair Cut by Liz Strauss
• My Wup Entries for Yesterday by Timothy Johnson
• WUP it Up! by Phil Gerbyshak
• Earl's Online W.U.P. by Earl

The idea is to stay present every day, wherever you are, by taking notes. Then you can ponder what you have written and take action based on your observations.

My problem though is I have too many notebooks. I tend to be a messy note writer and I don't keep the notebooks intact (Steve Farber says he has boxes of notebooks). I take pages out and file them with projects and sometimes I throw pages away when I complete all the items. This weekend I plan to tidy up all my work areas and make sure I capture the notes from all the books.

If you have hints for me, I'll listen...

Comments

[MIke Sansone]

Love my WUP(s) -- plural because I sometimes face the same dilemna.

One thought is to create a small box with some dividers. Label the dividers into different sections so when you clean out your notebooks, you can organize your thoughts.

Here's how my dividers would be labeled: Blog Posts, Business Ideas, Contact Info, Fictitious, Quotes, Random, Saw it.

Before separation, maybe transfer to-do reminders somewhere on a list or computer - and once a month go through the box.

Thanks for sharing this dilemna out loud. You helped me think out a possible solution.

[Sandra Renshaw]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the comment. Great idea. I'll have to give it a try! I'm pleased to put a name (WUP) to this process, thanks to Steve.
Sandy

[Maria Palma]

Sandy,

I have been keeping notebooks for years and never knew that there was a term for it! I come up with so many ideas... Thank you for reminding me about it.

Small blog world! I know Mike Sansone and Tom Vander Well of QAQnA as well ;)

[Sandra Renshaw]

Hi Maria,
Thanks for stopping by. I'll have to visit your place. Do you keep your notebooks?

Sandy