• Blog
  • Archives
  • Bio
  • Awards
  • Speaking
  • Book
  • Contact

Don’t forget your notebook

Published: Wednesday, 04 February 2009

They’re cheap.  They don’t always look very pretty.  You can even get some with a yellow hue!  (And even if you don’t, but you leave them for too long, they develop a yellow hue of their own.)  Richard Branson swears by them - he used his to research for all his published books.  And Dave Allen recommends them.  (Or he would if Palm Pilots weren’t invented…)

Notebooks.  Pieces of paper bound together for you to write on.  What should you write?

Everything you say you’ll do.  In order to be your word, you have to know what you gave your word to.  The more games you are playing in life, the more things you will be giving your word to.  Want to take on more and complete it all with integrity?  Give your word, write it down, do it.

Planning structures for fulfillment.  Have a project in mind?  Jot down the end goal, brainstorm all the tasks that would need to be completed between now and the end goal, set dates by when the tasks will be completed and you have a structure for fulfillment.

Making lists.  Shopping lists, to-do lists, people to call, emails to type, etc.  Helps you batch like-activities together and saves time.

Brain dump.  Anything that’s on your mind doesn’t exist until it’s down on paper - get it down on paper and make it real.  Once it’s down, it frees your mind to think about something else.

Six cents each at the Big W sales at the start of the school year.  Get one.  It’s worth it.

About Me

Marita ChengForbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.

I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • I've done what I've done

    When I became Young Australian of the Year a year ago, I wanted to give as many speeches as I physically could, I wanted to contribute to the...

  • Real Girls Change the World

    Went to Utah and spoke at the Girl Scout National Convention in front of 6000 young women from all over America.  Pretty insane!  The panel was...

  • Asian Society Game Changer Award

    I was named an Asian Society Game Changer Award winner alongside architect IM Pei (Lifetime Achievement Award), movie director Zhang Yimou, and the...

  • GEDC Diversity Award

    I was awarded the Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC) Diversity Award for my work with Robogals.  It was sponsored by Airbus.  Here is a photo of...

  • One action a day

    Just taking one action a day, moves your project forward.  Keep living your life.  Keep going to work.  Keep studying.  Keep seeing your friends.  Keep...

  • When to launch

    I was thinking about my business idea and wondering when would be the right time to launch, if to launch and how. It was really doing my head in. I...

  • When?

    When are you going to apply for that grant? When are you going to start your assignment? When are you going to start your advertising campaign? When are...

  • ABC "Can You Hear Me?"

    ABC made this short video, as part of a three-part series, about my Chinese culture and Brett Leary’s (founder of Virtual Songlines) Aboriginal...

  • Don’t forget your notebook

    They’re cheap.  They don’t always look very pretty.  You can even get some with a yellow hue!  (And even if you don’t, but you leave them for too long,...

  • Doing things with integrity

    When you do something, do it whole and completely so that it's done to the best of your ability, then ship.  Your attention to detail shows that you...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top