Vim
I also started to appreciate the advantages of pure vi.
It's hard to get into it. You'll need to force yourself to do it. But it's worth it.
If you really do much editing, particulary coding, take my advice and at least try it.
It's not everbody's style, but you cannot figure that out until you've tried.
The hardest thing about learning vi/Vim actually is not to compare it with other editors. So, throw anything overboard you've learned about any editor you've used before ever. And at least at the beginning don't use gVim, use plain Vim in the shell -
don't use the mouse at all. You may be allowed to use arrow and delete keys at the beginning, but mouse is strictly forbidden
Otherwise you will gain no satisfactionary learning effort, cursing only, because you'll try to use vi as other editors, missing the benefits of vi/Vim completely, because the core point of the great efficiency of vi/Vim lies simply within
NOT to use the mouse.
Some may really be astonished how d#m*n%&df#k$n speedy you can become...
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While thumbing through here I saw also something about notebooks. I am not talking laptops or MS notepad,
I am actually talking
pen & paper 
here.
A couple of years ago I "downgraded" myself, getting back doing two things more:
Writing much more on real paper and banning ballpoint pens for writing and using fountain pens instead - again, like in school 40 years ago
.
As I already mentioned elsewhere here, exercise books and notebooks don't cost much. You get a good fountain pen also as school's learning material for 10...30 bucks (Tip: Keep your eyes open for sales in super markets a few weeks before the new school's term starts.)
There are several points why I can recommend:
Your writing becomes better.
With a fountain pen your handwriting is much better as with a ballpoint pen (well at least for my chicken scratch
)
It's always good to write things down.
You have saved what you want look up and get it quickly.
You learn better that way.
E.g. I find it's better to write some shell commands down, even if I will never look them up again, because I've learned them that way, than to consult the man page many times.
Short notes are taken quicker by handwriting than typing - well maybe in most, or at least my case.
But most, when I am in customers meetings I stopped using the laptop for taking the minutes many years ago. (I have it with me, because in some cases it's used. But most of the times it stays closed, and I use an exercise book and a fountain pen to take notes (also looks more professional than notebook and ballpoint
)
It may appears more modern when typing into a laptop, but:
- your are quicker to write
- you easily and quickly can do some sketches if needed
- your customers feels more appreciated, because you adress him more instead of looking at a monitor behind a wall and he does not see what you are really doing - if you really listen to him 100%
Afterwards you may send him by mail a clean PDF, Xmind, powerpoint.... whatever... also emphazises you care, what was communicated.
