So I decided to not get the first version of this pen years ago, when it first came out, the VAC 700. Because it didn’t seem like a great pen. And then I first forgot about there coming out a better version of it.

Eventually I saw it and added it to my short list, and finally ordered one in the Iris finish with an EF nib not too long ago.

The first thing in noticed about it is that it requires some fussing to get a good fill from using the vacuum system. So I just unscrewed the nib and filled it with a syringe like it do with most of my pens.

Also the grip section is a little bit slippery and I feel the threads from the cap a bit too much for my taste when writing with it. But that is kind of the only thing I have to complain about.

My favourite thing about using vaccum fillers is that I have to unscrew the top for ink to flow to the nib unit. Great for when you’re flying or if you just think it is fun to do it.

This pen became one of the pens I use all the time over night. Together with my Pilot Custom 823 and Vanishing Point it is my most used regular writing pen at the moment.

I got another pink, and maybe another one as well.

When I say I want more pink stuff in general: this is what I want. Not that pastel crap or that rose gold bullshit. I proper wild neon pink.

Not much to say about this ink really. If you want a neon pink ink this is a really good one. Other than that it is what you expect from Iroshizuku: wet and smooth just how I like it.

The nerdy pen bits

I use Leuchtturm1917 A5 dot grid notebooks for it at the moment. Sometimes the Bullet Journal versions sometimes the regular. It all depends on what is in stock and if I find a color that is cooler than the dull crap they have for the Bullet Journal versions.

Most of the time I use fountain pens. Usually a finer nibbed one for writing and broad stub to underline headings.

How I use it

I usually re-collect things when the number of pages from first to last go beyond 20-30 pages, mostly because I find it easier to deal with. Plus that I often need to replace at least some of the goals every 3-5 days anyways.

On the first two pages I write down my current “yearly” theme, and then I write down some goals I have on some areas of my life. Usually weight and fitness goals are there. Plus some things I focus on improving.

Then I put a marker there. Then I turn the page and make a daily page. I make one every day. And move over whatever was left on the day before.

I just write down the day of the week and the date. And start adding stuff. I usually start by adding auto generated check lists from things that kind of keep my life together.

Usually first work stuff, then my personal daily stuff. I often start with the most important stuff. And then things I have to carry over from the day before. And then I put a marker on the start of the daily page and one marker at the first page with free space to write things.

The first marker is always on the “status / goal page” the second is always at the first page with tasks I haven’t checked off and the last one is always at the first page with available space.

As I complete things and run out of tasks I start refilling it. Usually start with Daily tasks, move over to weekly and monthly if there are anything there I need to do. And after that over to projects that are in focus. First the ones outlined in the Hobonichi and then later anything not hidden in my task manager.

Formatting

I don’t use the official Bullet Journal formatting, I’ve tried a few times but after many years of using Dash/Plus as my task management on paper formatting system I’ve never been able to change it.

The way I do things is that I use one pen and color for writing and another pen and color for underlining things.

I usually only have two levels of headings. One is the day, and then one for the “collection”, when things go deeper than that I typically will do it as sub-tasks and sub-sub-tasks etc. Anything that has tasks under it will be underlined. To make it easy to spot.

In addition to this I also often will write a + between different areas. Like when I move from “Work” related tasks to “Daily” tasks etc.

Page layout

My page layout is usually that I align the top level heading (the day and date) to the left written larger than the rest.

The collection I typically center.

I also try to use as much of the page as possible. So, if a collection only takes up half the width or a third of the width of the page, I often will add another section next to it. Other times I write the tasks two or three per line. It all depends on what works and how mindful I am of not wasting page while doing it.

My current analog calendar is a Hobonichi Cousin A5.

I use it part for planning, and part for setting goals on different levels. Yearly, monthly, weekly and daily. I find it very useful process to do in order to see how busy things will be and setting realistic goals.

Yearly

I use on of the graph pages in the back to define some goals I hope to achieve during the year.

Monthly

On the monthly pages I make a note of the most important dates like birthdates and pay day and things like that. Plus that I use the empty area left of the calendar to define some goals and things I’d like to complete during the month.

Weekly

In the weekly page I do a lot of the same. I define some goals for the week and usually write down a few things I really should get done that week. And in the week spread I write down appointments that involve others or require me to go somewhere plus where I am working from and if I have my daughter.

Makes it really easy to plan and check how much time I have for stuff that show up .

Daily

The daily page is probably the thing that change the most. In some periods it have been where I do my bullet journaling. These days I use them more to define the focus of the day.

So the page laypit it is kind of split into two sections, one taking 1/3 and the other taking 2/3.

The first section I use to outline all the stuff I’m doing that day. It typically looks something like this:

• Get up & dressed
• Walk the dog
• Pack my bag
• Skateboard to work
• Work
  • Work meetings
  • Lunch
• Skateboard home
• Walk the dog
• Eat dinner
• Etc

Then on the big section I first define three areas that I’m going to focus on when I get home from work. After that I use the focus areas to define 2-3 goals/bigger tasks for each of them.

My Hobonichi is currently my analog calendar.

I use it to plan on different levels and set goals on different levels.

I use it to set yearly goals, monthly goals, weekly goals.

Mark important days in the monthly calendar, map out all the things that require me to go somewhere or do something with other people in the weekly calendar and map out my day and main focus areas and most important tasks on the daily pages.

It isn’t something I look at a lot after setting it up. But I feel like doing it makes me more mindful of what it is.

Let’s just get all the digital stuff out of the way since it kind of ties most of the analog stuff together.

Inboxes

I have a bunch of them, but the main one for me is an app called Drafts. I just throw anything into it. And try to process some of it each day, and reach the end of it at least a couple of times a month.

From there it usually is deleted or end up as notes or tasks somewhere.

Calendars

I keep a bunch of digital calendars, most of them are repeating stuff just to get an overview of how things look. And the rest are either manually copied from the work calendars or the same stuff I add to my analog calendar. The main purpose of it is to get an overview of how busy I am and be notified about when meetings happen.

Tasks

I use Things for tasks at the moment. It is just a big database of projects and tasks. A lage portion of it is stuff that are automatically generated at the start of each week and month.

I hide things I’m not currently focusing on.

The purpose of it is to have a place to store all the stuff I currently don’t want to have in my Bullet Journal, and when I run out of stuff in the BuJo I turn to things to populate it.

`` Pocket notebooks was a huge part of my setup until the COVID pandemic started in early 2020, and then they kind of fell out of use for me. And since late 2021 I’ve slowly started to get into using them again.

Their primary focus for me, is the thing I always have with me that I use to do hitlist and capture stuff or to plan things. What I often do is that I bring it with me when I walk the dog and plan the stuff I’m going to do after the walk.

When I’m out I use them to capture stuff, and sometimes I keep lists in there because I don’t want to get dragged into digital tools.

The big difference with all the other notebooks I have and pocket notebooks is that, all the others are things I use every single day, while pocket notebooks are something I use much less in a regular way. I just use them when I need them and forget about them most of the time.

Funny that I planned to start a series on how I do my productivity system two weeks ago, wrote about it and then forgot about it last week.But now it’s actually starting.

I’ve used a variant of this concept without that name for years upon years. Not sure when I started to call it a hitlist, but at some point it just needed a name.

For a long time I used a “Next” collection or project in what ever task management system I was doing at a time. Where the idea is to just have like the next 5-10 items I am going to do. In some periods I’ve done it in separate notebooks, other times as a part of the task management system. Usually only when it’s been on paper, because it doesn’t really work for me in digital. Except for when I’ve done systems that are more based on files and notes like Taskpaper and Agenda and kept separate files for Next.

Anyways. At the moment I use Rhodia dotpads for it, most of the time. And some times I use a pocket notebook for it. As of the time of writing my pocket notebooks of choice is passport sized Travelers notebooks in dot grid.

And the way I use this is that I open the notebook and I have one half for the next things I’m doing and one half for capture. In pocket notebooks I use one page for each and in the dotpad I usually just draw a line in the middle. The ideal for me is when I’m able to limit myself to 5 next items, because it isn’t distracting or discouraging and it is few enough to be able to be relatively flexible.

I was cleaning some stuff in my car the other day, and I found my old Space Pen. Probably been in there for multiple years at this point.

I took it out, cleaned it up, and tested it out. And it is a fun pen. But way too small for my giant hands. Plus I more and more feel like I don’t want to write with these kinds of pen ever. Gel pens are fun because you have great colors and they’re kind of like a non-fountain pen fountain pen.But the rest are so boring.