Discussion Forum > two time management numbers based on specific paper formats
Hmm, all my index cards have 10 lines. Also, I'm a designer, and I'm guessing the number of lines was however many fit on the card based on whatever space was decided was the minimum that people could write in. In other words, the line space dictated the number, and not some other purpose. Or it was just start at the bottom and draw lines at the same intervals up the card until you run out of room. But I love a good origin story, and it would be interesting to find out if there was some other reason behind it! Might have some relationship to regular and "college-ruled" notebook paper (in the States).
The 31 Moleskin lines seems to correspond nicely to days in the month, which would be handy for a vertical calendar.
The 31 Moleskin lines seems to correspond nicely to days in the month, which would be handy for a vertical calendar.
May 17, 2025 at 20:57 |
Scott Moehring
Scott Moehring
I love the insight here. Seems to me very possible that such a thing was decided.
I suspect that a lot of small notebooks that were commonly used back then probably made 6 items rather useful, and not too small or too large to seem onerous.
These little sorts of things tickle my fancy and make me want to go back and try to use them again!
I suspect that a lot of small notebooks that were commonly used back then probably made 6 items rather useful, and not too small or too large to seem onerous.
These little sorts of things tickle my fancy and make me want to go back and try to use them again!
May 19, 2025 at 9:07 |
Aaron Hsu
Aaron Hsu
Letter size college ruled, typical Canadian paper, is 35 lines, at least the the latest batch I bought. There's a bit of variability. The gap at the top is 1-1/16inch. The space between bottom line and bottom of page is 3mm (2.9?) bigger than the other spaces.
June 13, 2025 at 18:37 |
Cricket
Cricket
The Ivy Lee method works with 6 tasks per day. I could not find any reason for that number. But one day I noticed that my standard index cards feature seven lines. If you allow for one date line, you have 6 lines left for tasks. Maybe this is how this number came about? They just used a card and figured after the fact, or, that means we are planning for 7 minus 1 tasks per day?
The popular Moleskine notebook features 31 lines per page. What an odd number. But again, when you allow for 1 date line you end up with 30 lines per page. For a long list system (or any other system) this would be a good number of 30 lines per page.