15 Things to Write in a Pocket Notebook

One of the first questions people ask when they start carrying a pocket notebook is what actually goes in it. Which is a reasonable thing to wonder, but also slightly the wrong question, because the whole point of a pocket notebook is that almost anything can go in it.

That said, a blank page is a blank page, and sometimes it helps to have a starting point. These are 15 things to write in a pocket notebook, ranging from the genuinely useful to the completely random (both of which, for the record, are equally valid).

If you want to know more about how a pocket notebook works as a system, the main post on pocket notebook ideas covers everything. And if you’re still figuring out your setup, this post is worth a read before you dive in.

Fun Things to write in a pocket Notebook

1. Questions you don’t want to Google yet

There’s something worth preserving in sitting with a question for a while, rather than reaching for your phone the second it surfaces. Write the question down instead. Come back to it later. Sometimes you’ll find you’ve already half-answered it by the time you do.

2. Things you overheard

A fragment of conversation, a phrase someone used that you’d never heard before, or maybe something that made you stop and think, or laugh, or wonder what the full story was. Overheard things are oddly good raw material for a pocket notebook.

3. Something you noticed

The way the light was doing something interesting. A shop front you’d walked past a hundred times but actually looked at today. A detail that caught your eye for no particular reason. Noticing things is a habit, and writing them down is how you build it.

4. A word or phrase you liked

From a book, a podcast, a conversation, a sign in a window. If something in the language stopped you, write it down. You don’t need to know why yet.

5. A completely random thought

Yesterday, I wrote down “why do we always assume crackers have to go with cheese?” which is a completely random question. But I actually like plain crackers, so maybe I just wanted to validate my choices. Who knows. The point is, it went in the notebook.

Random thoughts are some of the most interesting things to write in a pocket notebook, partly because they’re the things most likely to disappear if you don’t catch them, and partly because revisiting them later is oddly entertaining.

6. Something you want to remember

Not necessarily a task (although it could be), but anything you want to remember. It might be a recommendation someone gave you, a name that came up in conversation, or something you kept meaning to look into but never did.

7. A feeling you can’t quite name

Not every feeling needs to be processed or understood straight away. Sometimes just writing “something felt off today and I’m not sure why” is enough. The pocket notebook is not somewhere for you to have everything figured out. It is just somewhere for you to acknowledge how you feel (at least it is for me).

8. An idea, however half-formed

Ideas rarely arrive fully formed, and waiting until they do before writing them down means losing most of them. Write the fragment. Write the “what if.” Write the thing that probably won’t go anywhere but might. The notebook is exactly the right place for all of it.

9. A list of any kind

• Things you want to read.
• Places you want to go.
• Films on your watchlist.
• Books people have recommended.
• Things you keep forgetting to buy.

Lists are genuinely useful things to write in a pocket notebook because they’re contained and you can actually do something with them later (or just add to them).

10. Something that made you laugh

A joke, a situation, something your kid said, or something you read. If it was funny enough to make you actually laugh, it’s probably worth keeping.

11. Something you’re curious about

Not a question exactly, more of a direction. Something you’d like to know more about. A subject that keeps coming up. A thing you realised you know almost nothing about. Write it down and see if the curiosity sticks.

12. A decision you made and why

This one is underrated. Writing down a decision at the time you make it (even just a line or two about your reasoning) is genuinely useful to come back to later. Not for accountability, just for the interesting exercise of seeing how you were thinking.

13. A small moment worth keeping

Not a big memory, just a small one. The conversation over dinner, the thing that happened on the way somewhere, or the moment that was ordinary but felt like it mattered. A pocket notebook is very good at being an archive of small moments.

14. Something that annoyed you

Yes, really. Not to dwell on it, but because getting things out of your head and onto a page is often all they need. You don’t have to do anything with it. Sometimes writing “this annoyed me” is enough of a conclusion.

15. Whatever just crossed your mind

Honestly, this is the most important one. The whole point of carrying a pocket notebook is having somewhere for things to go as they come up, which means the best things to write in a pocket notebook are often just whatever’s there. You don’t need a category or a reason. You just need a pen.

What to do next

Once you’ve decided on things to write in a pocket notebook, it’s worth going back through at least every few days and seeing what’s worth keeping. Some things will migrate to a more permanent location. Some will have already served their purpose just by being written down. And some (hello, cracker question) will just be there as a reminder that your brain is doing its own thing at all times, which is honestly fine.

For ideas on how to organise what you capture, the post on pocket notebook setup goes into the details of how that process can work. And if you’re looking for more ideas on different ways to actually use your notebook day to day, 40 uses for a pocket notebook is worth a look.

Full credit for me starting a pocket notebook goes to Lilla Björn’s YouTube channel for introducing me to pocket notebooks. If you’re interested, I highly recommend watching this video.