My wife is a video gamer.  She can spend countless hours playing the same game over and over again.  There’s a common feature in video games where they tell you what percentage of the game you’ve completed.  Like many video gamers, my wife is a completionist.  She works very hard to reach 100%.  Hell, in some games a player can even reach 105% or 110%!  If anyone can reach that, she will.

I, on the other hand, used to be a bit of a completionist but in other ways.  I used to have to finish any book I started reading, even if it was terrible¹.  Luckily, I’m kinder to myself now.  If I don’t like a book after a reasonable number of pages, I’ll stop.  No hard feelings.  I, also, used to fill up every last bit of every page in every notebook before I considered it “done.”

Since I “practice what I preach”, I still assess my Notebooking even after more than a decade doing it².  It didn’t take long for me to realize that being a completionist, when it comes to filling pages, sacrifices clarity.  No notebook is so expensive that I will fill each square inch with writing if it ruins the flow or clarity of my content.  That would be a disservice to all those who work so hard on designing and manufacturing those wonderful notebooks that we love so much.

So, I implore you, let a page go half filled if it means a better notebook.

• If you finish one topic and want to move on to another, turn the page.
• If you got a new pen and want to try it out, give it it’s own page.  It usually takes at least a page for me to get to know a pen or pencil anyway.
• Want to write down a funny or poignant quote?  Have at it!  But unless the next thing you write is about that quote the transition will be jarring to say the least.  Let the quote have it’s own page by writing it VERY LARGE or better yet make that page a “quote” page.

Even if no one else ever reads your notebook keeping the format clean is a gift to the future you.  And if at some point you have someone else read your notebook just remember…A clean notebook is a happy notebook.  And a happy notebook makes for a happy reader.

So for all you completionists out there, I am officially giving you permission to leave some blank space in your notebooks for the sake of clarity.  Enjoy!

*The title of this article is a quote from one of my wife’s favorite games, Borderlands 2.

1. If you thought I was going to name some books that are terrible in this footnote, you’re sorely mistaken.  I try to be kind to all authors because I have a feeling that all authors work very hard on their novels.  I like to believe that even terrible authors work hard.  Even Poppy Z. Brite!
2. It really IS the best way to get the most out of the notebooking experience.