The Power of Ubiquitous Capture
You are at lunch with friends.
Someone at the table mentions something that brings to your memory an action that had slipped your mind.
Quick…what are you going to do?
Your planner is not at hand. You don’t need your planner at lunch with friends…do you?
Oh but you will be home in a little while…or back at the office. You can remember that thought that long…can’t you?
But things never really work out that way do they? If you are like me, you will get back the office, and next thing you know, an email or voice mail has derailed your afternoon and…and…What was it I was trying to remember?
One of the most important aspects of productivity is not letting thoughts slip away. Thoughts and ideas are much like opportunities. They come with no notice, and no respect for when you are ready for them. That is because our minds are good at coming up with ideas, but they are generally terrible at storing them. Typically when a thought comes to mind, we can remember it well until some other unrelated thought comes in and takes over. Later, when the time arrives when you planned to write it down…you might just have no idea what you supposed to write down. Frustrating, eh?
The important thing is that we seize thoughts as they come to mind. This means that we should almost always have some means of recording those things we need to remember as they manifest themselves.
We can do this in many ways. For the more technologically advanced among us, this may take the form of a note in a BlackBerry, or the Notes app on an iPhone. You can send yourself a voice mail. Some like to use a tool like Jott.
I have now fully transitioned to a Lo-fi system. So I am more into using pen and paper. I personally keep a little notetaker wallet in my back pocket, armed with removable 3 X 5 cards. I keep a Pilot G2 Mini in my front pocket. It is only 4″ long and writes as smooth as silk.
Tools of the trade aside, it is very important to capture thoughts as they take place. The very action of trying to remember something for any period of time over a few minutes creates stress. And those who know me will tell you…I am all about reducing unnecessary stress. Get those thoughts out of your head and into something you can always look back at later for processing.
David Allen has always said that we should never have the same thought twice. The point he is making is that we need to be prepared to treat thoughts as if they were an opportunities. Capturing those thoughts as they occur is essential to reducing stress, and making sure that we do not allow important things to fall through the cracks. Clearing your head can be the most important part of ensuring that whatever you need to focus on, you are always fully present, and not distracted by some thought that is holding your mind hostage.
Get it out of your head.
My issue is what to do when mowing the lawn or out doing yard work? I get a lot of ideas or actions when doing that, but carrying around stuff (South Florida, hot and sweaty) is not practical.
Any suggestions?
Fred, it sounds as though you are like me.
I seem to do some of my best thinking behind a lawn mower.
There are a few ways you can approach this.
I am not sure how close to your home you are when you mow. However, I have to stop periodically, and dump the grass out of the collection bag. When I do that, I can run inside, and write something down. Or you could just keep a note pad and pen or pencil handy in the garage to collect thoughts when you take breaks. If you are elsewhere, I would think you could keep a pen and paper in your vehicle.
Those would be my best suggestions for that type of a scenario. Some might suggest using your cellphone. However, you would still need to cut your mower off to record a voice mail to yourself or use Jott. So the cellphone would only provide limited convenience in this case.
Anyone else have suggestions for Fred?
You could mow the action item into the grass until you get it down on a piece of paper.
Seriously, I think Jason’s idea is solid. This does not happen to me because I don’t mow the lawn (Yes, I found the perfect wife…she mows and loves baseball, what more is there).
Another thing that you could do is mount a small dry erase board to the steering wheel (if you have a tractor type) or on the handle bars of a push mower. Then you can write down any thoughts that come to you as you mow.
I find Levenger’s Shirt Pocket Briefcase (or the much cheaper version of M by Staples) is a great way to keep 3×5s at hand for notes. Even though I always have my iPod with me, it is usually much faster to slip out the 3×5 briefcase and write on the always present first page.
Slip in a few DIY Planner pages for important job billing accounts or secretary number, a few Task Order Up pages by D Seah for time tracking and you’re good to go.
For Yard work I would seriously consider three input options. 1) A small stack of 3×5s (or 1.5×2.5s) with some cheap golf pencils or used shorty pencil (or a pocket Fischer space pen) and rubber band. 2) The ever present cellphone- stop the mower, call Jott, collect later in inbox. 3) USB voice recorder with nonlinear access and easy file access on the computer. Given the possible lawn mower blades meets productivity tool- i’d suggest the 3×5 cards.
My latest blog post under productivity has a funny picture of lofi-v-hifi input methods. Skip straight to productivity section to avoid the job-searching self promotion on my site. (almost done with my thesis work) When i’m back at a keyboard i’ll post a direct link.
I have been carrying around a Field Notes notebook (thanks James at PearTree Pens) and how found it very handy to have. I always have a pen with me at work, and one it always near when I am at the house. I have been using the Uni-Ball Signo 207 (0.5mm) gel pen for about a week. It is good for keeping my tasks inline on the graph paper of the Field Notes. I also have a handy Dash/Plus reference taped inside the front cover (thanks Patrick!)
Have you ever tried a Flip Note? I first saw it used by a contractor who obviously goes through some pretty rough physical situations. The flip notes hard shell and slim design make it pretty nice to keep in a shirt pocket or jeans pocket when you are mowing the lawn. I did a review of it on my website: http://pitchinginandcatchingon.com/blog/2009/02/16/flip-note-review/
Your vignette perfectly encapsulates the challenges of modern day life — what’s the best way to capture the idea you just had?
I’m guessing that, for the vast majority of people these days, it’s their smartphone.
But even using a smartphone, the options continue: Do they send themselves an email? Enter it on their task list? Is the task list a static program, or is it live-online? The other comments to this post illustrate that the choices are almost limitless!
Thanks for continuing to keep your blog entertaining and useful! I’ve added you to my blog roll, and wrote a post about you today.
~Dane
http://www.BionicButler.com
“improving personal productivity in the home”
@Jon, I have personally never tried the Flip Note. However, I do think that a lot of people would find it very useful for the purpose of catching thoughts on the fly. Thanks for sharing that review.
@Dane, I would agree, for most people who attempt to capture thoughts, the preferred method is to use their smartphones. For me, I seem to get it down quicker when I simply use paper. And this is preferable to me since I am now on a 100% paper-based system.
I am sure there are plenty of apps out there that serve well for those who choose to use an electronic solution.
Great post! Ubiquitous capture is definitely a challenge, and I definitely agree with those that have stated that paper is the fastest way. I have a smart phone that I really enjoy for some things, but capture via thumb keyboard and/or handwriting recognition stopped cutting it for me when I got serious about frequent note-taking. I have to a notebook with me at all times, or capture via voice-recording (although I prefer to write things down). Currently I use a Moleskine, but I’m thinking about switching to a Levenger pocket briefcase soon.
Slick new theme, btw! I’m also looking forward to the broader focus here at BBP. Awesome!
KISS. I have a terrible memory. Just keep a black washable marker on you and write it on your arm. I feel like people have fetishes with these little notepads.
@Fred Beiderbecke
Keep a black washable marker on your arm and keep it tucked behind your ear. I feel like people have fetishes with these little notepads.
I have the memory of a goldfish so this is essential for me:
1. I often carry my iPhone and email tasks@mydomain.com which lands into the same inbox as everything else but brightly coloured as a task
2. If I’m looking for lo-fi, I have a tiny notebook (from Muji, 24 pages or so).
3. If I’m driving, I’ll call my SpinVox memo number (handsfree of course) and leave myself a message, which will be translated to text and into my inbox before I get home.
Yes, I’ll jot the notes down while in the middle of lunch with a friend, but they understand and are very patient with me!