The 5-Year-Old’s Guide to Commonplace Books

About a week ago I saved this drawing into Ember.

Two little faces. Your 85-year-old self and your 5-year-old self. Those are the only two people you’re supposed to impress. I journaled about it as a filter for living a fruitful life.

Then I came across it again, and a new thought showed up. This is also a great filter for a commonplace book. Funny how that works. You save something for one reason, and it comes back later with a second one.

Who is my commonplace book trying to impress?

Not the kid. Not the old man. Somebody in the middle.

The quote I didn’t save

Here’s the question that’s been bugging me. What quotes and ideas am I dismissing because I’ve lost my kid wonder? What quote did I not save because it came from Winnie the Pooh and not Atomic Habits? What am I skipping because it isn’t what I “should” be reading?

I don’t know the answer. That’s the problem. You can’t remember what you never wrote down.

Kids notice what we throw away

Tom Vanderbilt writes that kids have beginners’ minds. One line stuck with me. Children are “more likely to pick up details that adults might discard as irrelevant.”

Read that again with your commonplace book in mind. Discard as irrelevant. That’s exactly what we do when we read. We skim past the small, odd, funny stuff and grab whatever sounds important.

A kid doesn’t know what’s supposed to be important. So they keep whatever catches their eye.

The 5-year-old’s commonplace book

Imagine flipping through a 5-year-old’s commonplace book.

Quotes in crayon. Spaghetti stains. A drawing of Mac n cheese made with worms. Funny faces.

It would be light. Full of wonder. Nothing in there to look smart. Just stuff that made them go “whoa.”

The 85-year-old’s commonplace book

Now flip through your 85-year-old self’s.

I picture quotes on relationships. On encouraging others. On playing second fiddle and letting other people shine. On going on more adventures.

Not much about hitting your goals. A lot about the people who were there.

Two different jobs

These two do different jobs.

The 5-year-old loosens your filter. Save the weird thing. Save the line from the picture book. Save the thing that made you smile, even if you can’t explain why.

The 85-year-old sharpens your filter. Save what will still matter when you’re old. People. Kindness. The adventures you almost didn’t take.

One says keep more. The other says keep what lasts. Between the two of them, that’s a pretty good commonplace book.

Fire the middle-aged editor

So who’s been running my commonplace book? The guy in the middle. The one who reads what he “should” read and saves quotes that make him sound smart.

Neither person in that drawing would be impressed by his notebook. The kid would be bored. The old man would wonder why I spent so much time on productivity.

I think it’s time to let him go.

Jesus said that unless we become like little children, we won’t enter the kingdom. And the psalmist prayed, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” The child and the old man, both right there in Scripture. Maybe they were supposed to be the editors all along.

Try this

This week, save two things.

One your 5-year-old self would save. Something silly, small, or strange.

One your 85-year-old self would save. Something about people, or something that will still matter in 50 years.

Then put them side by side. I bet they’re better company than half the stuff already in your notebook.

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