The 24/7 Notepad

I have written a lot about how I tend to write things down at work, but actually I do it for myself as well. I have a simple notepad app on my phone, which is always around me. Whenever I think of something I should remember for later  (todos,  ideas,  solutions) , I just quickly create a new note, and write enough details so I can recall everything or at least the important points later (this takes some practice).

There are a few (significant, I think…) benefits to this. These are also mentioned in the other posts in various forms but:

• You don’t have to worry about forgetting, which saves you a lot of stress and energy
• You can use those brain cells for other things; you just have to remember you wrote it down or make it a habit to review your notes periodically
• If you forget,  it doesn’t matter as it’s all written down and you can quickly pick it up again

So here is an example which I actually did while originally drafting this post (this is the final version, probably).

And by the way I just thought of including this while changing trains and when I wrote this, I immediately felt a huge relief that I no longer had to remember what I wanted to say.

In the morning during my commute,  I tend to go over all the work that needs to be done and then make a todo list. The problem is that my commute is over an hour long so remembering all of it is… a huge energy and resource drain, and I probably won’t remember anyway…

So I just write it down on my notepad and then do other things such as reading the news, watching some videos, and writing this post.  All while happily knowing that when I get to work,  I have a plan and I just execute…  usually with some….. uh….. adjustments.