How Graph Paper Can Change Your Life

Every day, we make millions of tiny decisions that impact the path our life takes. Even indirectly, a small choice can have a major impact down the road on our relationships, happiness, and especially on our productivity. In this blog, we’re covering a decision that can drastically affect your lifestyle: what kind of graph paper you use.

We know, it sounds insignificant, but the type of graph paper you use can be surprisingly impactful. Use this as a choose-your-own-adventure book to see how different your life can look depending on what option you choose. Ultimately, you have three options on how to live life:

1. No Graph Paper
2. Regular Graph Paper
3. Reusable, Scannable Graph Paper

Keep reading to see how your choice can leave you lost in the woods, in a history book, or a Nobel prize.

1. No Graph Paper

You’re independent. You don’t need any training wheels: you know how to draw straight lines!

• Maybe you decide one day to start habit tracking, and suddenly wish you had some graph paper. No problem, use a ruler to create a makeshift grid for checking off tasks. The same can be done to create a calendar or a bullet journal. Of course, you’ll need a few tries to make it right, cutting into your daily productivity. But ultimately, life is great without graphs.
• Or so you thought. Eventually, you realize all the drawings and graphs in your notebook are askew and when anyone is looking at your notes, they have to tilt their head slightly to the left. It’s embarrassing. You’re laughed at for your crooked lines and live out your life as a hermit in the woods. All because you were too proud for graph paper.

Have a Rocketbook notebook? Use permanent marker to create a grid that won’t erase when you erase the rest of the page!

2. Regular Graph Paper

You’re pragmatic. If you only need horizontal lines, you’ve got them. If you need a full-on grid, you’ve got that, too. The best of both worlds in the palm of your er…notebook.

• Maybe you’ve got lab data to show, or an equation to graph, or blueprints to draw. No matter the scenario, graph paper has got you covered. Keep your work neat, to scale, and easy to interpret. Only one problem: you can’t share this work with the world. Regular graph paper’s lack of scannability means all your precious work will be reduced to a blurry photo, shroud in shadows. No one’s able to enjoy your plots, graphs, or blueprints, which is a tragedy. Still, at least you have an endless supply of graph paper.
• Or so you thought. Eventually, you realize you’ve filled up your notebook right at the moment when you’re about to plot the most important graph of your entire life. You’re forced to verbally explain the data, and without the help of a visual aid, no one can understand you. In an instant, your life’s work has gone down the drain and you’re forever used as the textbook example of how not to present data. All because you were too proud for reusable graph paper.

3. Reusable, Scannable Graph Paper

You’re innovative. This is the ultimate method for taking visual notes in a way that can be shared with others or erased and reused efficiently.

• Maybe your a biology teacher that needs to collect your students’ labs. Or maybe you’ve got a math assignment you need to submit online. Or maybe you want to share building plans with a client. Thanks to your propensity for using futuristic technology, you can use the Rocketbook app to quickly scan and send visual work to any cloud destinations. With this scannable graph paper, you’ve transformed your entire workflow and boosted your daily productivity.
• Or so you thought. Maybe you go overboard with graphing and scanning that you run out of pages! Oh no, you’re screwed…Just kidding, use some water to erase the pages of your graph paper notebook to plot your points over and over. Your love for innovation saves you, yet again. Years later, you’re awarded a lifetime achievement Nobel prize as a result of your love for innovation and world-record efficiency. Congratulations in advance!

The Choice Is Yours

Despite the dramatics, whatever graph paper option you choose, things will be alright. When it comes to graph paper, the horizontal and vertical guidelines are unlike any other page format. They are the Swiss Army knife of note-taking; they allow for graphing, plotting, sketching, designing, engineering, and chemistry-ing (is that a word?). So even if you don’t use a reusable, scannable graph paper notebook, like the brand new Rocketbook Matrix, we strongly believe your visual notes will be out of this world.