Analog Tools That Help Me Survive a Digital Desk Job

As a professional engineer, my life is full of technology. I sit at a computer all day running engineering models, and I'm constantly on the phone with clients and co-workers, chatting, messaging and emailing.

All these things take away from the deep focus and the work I want to be doing.

Watch the full video for everything shown on camera.

These are the analog tools that help me fight the technology overload I feel after a full workday behind a computer.

Short answer: a visual timer, a physical book with a pocket notebook, a pocket notebook system, a pen that is quick to start, and a couple of physical tools. Each one takes a job off the screen.

Coffee first

I usually have one or two cups of coffee in the morning and maybe one more in the early afternoon, right after lunch.

I grew up in Colombia, around coffee, so this is a habit I've had for a long time.

It's almost a ritual: I make my cup of coffee, and then I get into a deep work session.

A visual timer

Next to my coffee, I usually have a Time Timer on my desk. It is so great to have an analog reminder of time.

As someone who struggles with ADHD and time blindness, I find a physical timer super helpful, because I can see time passing.

I can set it for, say, 40 minutes.

I leave it in front of me on my desk, and once the timer goes off, I know it's time to move on to the next thing, take a break or do something else.

The main way I use it, though, is when I have only 20 minutes or so before a meeting and want to get something done first.

I set the timer for 20 minutes and put it on my desk. Then I don't have to keep checking my computer for the time or worry that I'm going to miss the meeting.

The Time Timer has an alarm, so when it goes off, I wrap up and get to the meeting.

It's a blessing to have something tactile on my desk that isn't my phone or another alarm.

Best for protecting a short block of work before a meeting.

Reading a physical book

The next tool is more of a practice: in recent years, I've made a habit of reading more.

Reading physical books has changed the way I consume content.

I can open the book, feel the pages, and see how far I've come as I progress through it.

I like pairing any book I read with a pocket notebook.

I also keep a green and a red highlighter: green for the ideas I agree with, red for the ones I don't.

The pen I enjoy writing with has waterproof ink, so I can highlight over my notes without worrying about smudging.

Two notebooks for what I read

My LOCHBY Pocket Journal holds two LOCHBY notebooks for this.

The first notebook is for quotes. Anything I come across while reading that I want to save goes in there.

With each quote, I write down the book and the page number, so I can find the source whenever I need it in the future.

The second notebook is for the second part of the process. After I read a book, I put it aside for a few weeks or a few months.

Then I go back through all my highlights and write down the ones that still feel meaningful and that I want to keep.

From there I move to the second notebook, which is for processing: the thinking-on-paper part of the system.

In it, I look through the first notebook, find a quote that resonated with me at the time, write it down in a different color, and then reflect on that quote and how it is affecting my life.

The system is still an experiment, but I've been enjoying the way it's working out.

When a book is too heavy

Some books can get pretty heavy, and there are times I don't want to carry one.

For those times, I carry a Kindle.

It's a Kindle Paperwhite, one of the newer ones, though I don't remember exactly which year's model.

It's super thin, so it fits in a pants pocket or a backpack, and it's easy to carry when I'm traveling.

A Kindle is not completely analog, but it feels analog enough that it's worth mentioning.

It lets me carry a lot of books, and it has kept me off my phone, which is the main goal.

The pocket notebook system

The one constant in my toolkit is the pocket notebook, even though the setup itself changes a little over time.

Right now I carry three pocket notebooks, and they live in a Paper Republic Grand Voyageur in the pocket size.

The first notebook is a master index, where I note things that happen each day and any special collections I want to highlight.

It's also a great way to index all my other pocket notebooks, work notebooks and journals, so I can find anything I keep in a separate notebook.

The second notebook is my catch-all, and it's the one that fills up the quickest.

Anything I can think of goes in it, so I replace it with a fresh notebook every week or two at most.

When I'm wearing shorts and don't want to carry a sling or backpack, I leave the cover behind.

I take just the catch-all notebook and put it in my pocket, with my pen clipped to it.

The third notebook is a new addition. About a month before I recorded this, I started keeping collections, similar to the bullet journal method.

My pocket notebooks fill up fast, and I didn't want to lose the collections in one notebook and have to rewrite them in the next, so I gave them a dedicated notebook.

In it I write things like spiritual game plans and things I want to do every day, every month and every year.

It also holds lists of stationery I want to buy, stationery I've gotten, and maintenance I need to do around the house.

Why the notebook beats switching tabs

On the computer, I used to switch tabs to take a note about a project, switch to my task manager to see the next task, and then switch to my calendar to see my next meeting, all while doing engineering calculations. A physical notebook removes that switching.

All that context switching was very hard for me to overcome, because everything was in one place on one screen.

Now I keep the pocket notebook open in front of me with my tasks and appointments for the day, which lets me focus on the work.

I know everything else is taken care of.

If I have a meeting in the next hour, I set my timer and trust it to go off.

That way I'm not distracted thinking about the next meeting, the next task or the emails coming in, and I can just focus on the work.

Best for keeping tasks and appointments visible while the computer does the work.

A pen that starts with a click

The pen I clip to my notebook is the Pilot Vanishing Point, a fountain pen with a retractable nib.

It works like a clicky pen.

I've been loving it because I can grab the notebook and start writing with a single click.

A fountain pen is usually more cumbersome: you have to unscrew the cap, pull it off, and cap the pen again when you're done.

The Vanishing Point is quick and efficient, especially when I'm on the go or want to write one sentence without sitting down for a journaling session.

It's definitely not the cheapest pen, but it's a really great one.

Two physical tools

The first is a flashlight from Olight that I got for Christmas a couple of years ago. My kids drop things under the couch all the time, and I take the dog out at night, so I use it constantly.

It has a UV light and a pointer, which has been super useful when I'm giving presentations or pointing something out on a job site.

Its flashlight mode also helps me see in the dark.

The second is a multi-tool, the Leatherman ARC.

I enjoy the tactile feel of it and all the different tools it packs.

The tool set is really complete for what I need. The knife blade is MagnaCut steel, which holds its edge longer.

The pliers, screwdriver and scissors get used quite a bit too, and I use the ARC pretty much every single day.

It's a little heavy, especially paired with my larger Olight flashlight.

Seeing the progress

One of the hardest things for me when I went fully digital was not seeing my progress.

When you finish a book, you can stack it with the others and see the progress you've made over a year, two years or 10 years on the bookshelves in your space.

The timer works the same way. Watching it run down from a full half hour shows me when I'm running out of time and need to speed up or move on to the next thing.

Digital notes don't give me that. A folder full of notes feels like a chore to look at.

But when I can see five or 10 years of my life stacked in a set of notebooks, I see the experiences and the work I put into them.

Whatever analog tools you pick, make sure you're using them intentionally. It's not about doing more, using every tool or keeping 10 notebooks. Start with what matters most to you.

Try this on your next walk

Grab a notebook and a pen. Any notebook and any pen you already have will do.

On your next walk, take those two things with you and leave your phone behind.

Whenever a thought comes to mind, or something you see during the walk catches your attention, write it down.

The gear worth a look

• Time Timer Visual Timer: I can see time passing without checking the computer.
• LOCHBY Pocket Journal: holds my two reading notebooks.
• Amazon Kindle: for when a physical book is too heavy to carry.
• Paper Republic Grand Voyageur (Pocket): the cover for my three pocket notebooks.
• Pilot Vanishing Point: a fountain pen that starts with a click.
• Leatherman ARC: the multi-tool I use pretty much every day.

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Related reading

• Analog vs Digital Productivity: Why You Don't Have to Choose
• Analog Planning With ADHD: Why Paper Holds What My Brain Drops
• Best Pocket Notebook for Everyday Carry? I Carry Three Instead

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have to give up digital tools to use analog ones?

No. Using analog tools is not about replacing all your digital tools. It's about finding the places where things start to break, which for me was the constant switching between apps on one screen.

How do you use a visual timer at a desk job?

When I have about 20 minutes before a meeting, I set my Time Timer for 20 minutes and put it on my desk. Then I can focus on the work without checking the computer clock, and the alarm tells me when to move on.

What is in your pocket notebook setup?

My current setup is three pocket notebooks in one cover: a master index, a catch-all that I replace every week or two, and a dedicated notebook for collections.