A huge part of Getting Things Done is ubiquitous capture, which means constantly dumping all of your ideas out of your brain and into some other kind of storage system. You have a lot of choices of tools for ubiquitous capture: notebooks, smartphones or laptops; desktop apps, email or, of course, Task.fm. Whatever method you choose, though, there are a few useful guidelines you can follow to make sure you’re getting the most out of your system. Here are my notes on taking notes:
Always Take It With You
One of the easiest ways to defeat your notetaking system is to leave home without it. Do everything you can to make a habit of bringing your capture mechanism of choice with you when you go out, even if that means making a place for it by the door where you can’t miss it.
Take Notes Immediately
Even if an idea seems farfetched, write it down right away, just as it is. You have plenty of time to revise later, but if you let that initial flash of inspiration disappear without recording it, you might never get it back.
Record Enough Context
Jotting down a couple of words might seem okay, but you have to make sure you give enough context to remember what you’re talking about later. I just found a notation in my Moleskine from a few months back that read “… what that says about zeal!” Sounds interesting, and it might have become an interesting article, but now I have no clue what it means. Including tmes, dates and locations will help you remember why you recorded what you did.
Act On What You Write Down
This might seem pretty obvious, but some people never get it: taking notes on everything doesn’t help you much if you never go back and turn them into action items. I commend you for making a note about buying dog food, but your dog’s not going to be too impressed until it’s actually in his bowl. This goes for brilliant, complex plans, too: they aren’t going to go anywhere if you never sit down and figure out the next step in making them happen.
Got any other useful tips on capturing stuff for your GTD workflow? Go ahead and record them immediately by leaving a comment.
Jay is a freelance writer based in Seattle, WA. He blogs about software for Download Squad and contributes interviews to Geek Monthly magazine, among others. You can also find him on Twitter.
Photo Credit – adulau
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evernote is a good tool for taking longer notes, or transferring them from a physical medium