Journaling

In systematising the arrangement of information, Erasmus’s common-place – just as merchants’ ledgers had revolutionised finance – turned the notebook into information technology, a piece of hardware in which data could be stored, categorised and retrieved as necessary.

I love to do______________.

The basic principle was simple: when you found a piece of writing that you liked, or found useful, you copied it out into your personal notebook.

I begin my day by_________________.

You want to try something new, but you worry you’ll be bad at it—you fear you’ll humiliate yourself—and so you never start. But I knew that a fear-driven life was one where I never made plans, where I stopped myself from dreaming ambitiously. It meant living safe and small, always hedging against the worst-case scenario. Instead, I wanted to live