Have you ever had a thought, and said to yourself, “I need to remember this for later,” but then later couldn’t remember it? You knew there was something important that had crossed your mind, but then couldn’t for the life of you figure out what it was.
I’ve been there multiple times. In fact, I experienced the same thing just a little bit ago.
The Challenge
The challenge is it’s difficult for our minds to juggle too many things all at the same time — like trying to remember a dozen random errands to run or calls to make or bugs to fix. And with all the things vying for our attention, and all the thoughts that cross our mind, it’s only a matter of time before some things start falling through the cracks.
So what’s the solution?
A Solution
One approach would be to simply lower our standards so we don’t care if we don’t remember things — even important things. Another approach, and a better approach in my estimation, would be to implement some basic systems to help us remember the things we want to.
In his Getting Things Done methodology, David Allen addresses this problem. There’s a limit to how much we can mentally juggle at one time. And if we try to hold everything in our heads, it can affect our ability to focus on the task at hand (since we’re trying not to forget everything else).
In order to not lose the valuable thoughts we have, the key is to have 1) a means of capturing the thoughts in our head that we want to come back to; and 2) a system of processing them later so that they get dealt with appropriately.
Capture
This is pretty straightforward. If I have a thought in my head, and I don’t want to continually try to keep it in my head, I’ll need to get it out. This could be as simple as writing it down on a sheet of paper, or making a digital note on whatever device I have nearby — e.g. a phone, tablet, or computer.
The technology type doesn’t matter nearly as much as being able to easily take down your thoughts wherever you are. A smartphone could work well for some people, while other will prefer a small notebook or pad of paper.
Process
Once we start writing things down, the next step is regularly taking time to come back and process what we’ve written. Are there things we need to do or follow up on; items we should file away for later; things that are safe to forget?
Writing everything down is helpful in getting things out of our head, but if we never look at them again, we’re missing out on one of the benefits of writing them down — so we don’t lose them later. And if we start capturing all our thoughts, but know we probably won’t actually get back to them, our minds will continue to try to hold on to these ideas — which defeats one of the other benefits of writing them down in the first place.
One effective first step to processing regularly is creating a centralized inbox where we can place the notes and thoughts we capture. This may be a digital inbox, like Evernote or a text file, or it could be a physical inbox where papers and odd notes are tossed throughout the day. Ideally, these inboxes would be processed regularly so nothing important falls through the cracks.
Benefits
The benefit of establishing these kind of habits is that it allows us to get things out of our head without the fear that we’ll forget something important down the road.
It can also provide help in focusing on the task at hand, since we no longer have to deal with simlultaneously juggling all the other thoughts we need to remember. We gain focus in the present, and lose fewer thoughts along the way.
Write it Down
So, if you have a lot of thoughts, or find yourself often trying to not forget an idea, try writing them down. Yes, you may be able to hold on to them internally. But taking them out of your head, and putting them somewhere external — either analog or digital — can not only help you not forget what you want to remember, but can also help your ability to focus along the way.
Question: What tools or techniques have you found helpful in keeping track of things you don’t want to forget?