Yaaay! Productivity!
You don’t hear me talk about productivity much, because it’s something I’m still figuring out. But today, I will share the BEST productivity tip I ever got! It definitely more than doubled the amount of stuff I get done on most days.
Ready? Here we go:
Always carry around a pen and paper.
It works! But why?
1. You don’t forget tasks
I’m at the grocery store. I just remember an important e-mail I need to send. I think “As soon as I get home, I’ll send it.” Of course, by the time I get home, I completely forget. Then, when I’m walking the dog, I remember again. “Ah ha! In five minutes, when I get back home, I’ll send the e-mail!” By the time I get home, I forget…
Does the above paragraph seem familiar?
That’s how I used to do stuff. Nowadays, I always carry around this small pocket-sized paper notebook, and a pen. On the front, I keep a to-do list. That is, simple actionable items like “call Tom about the rock-climbing” or “look up bus connections for the trip”. On the back, I note any cool ideas I have, anytime, anywhere.
2. You don’t forget cool ideas
I can’t count how many times I’ve had some cool idea, but forgot about it before implementation. (Obviously. If I COULD count them, that would mean I haven’t forgotten them 
) Or, on some days, I would be thinking about possible topics for my next blog post, only to come at one and realize I thought of it a few weeks ago, figured out what I’d write about it… and then forgot.
But ever since I write stuff down, all my cool ideas stay right there, at the back of my notebook! So sometimes I just flip through it, and go “Oooh, I completely forgot about this idea. Awesome, I’ll get started on it right away!”
3. You free your mind for new ideas
Let’s say you’re walking home, and it will be about 15 minutes’ walk before you get there. You’ve got an important phone call to make. And let’s even say you don’t forget. But in order not to forget, you’ll need to think of the phone call every couple of moments as you walk. It will keep interrupting your train of thought.
Now that’s not such a big deal, if It’s just one task. But imagine you had several such tasks on your mind… they would keep interrupting you ALL THE TIME. It would basically waste any quality thinking time you had on your walk home.
Aha! Pen and paper to the rescue!
If you note all the tasks in your little notebook (and remember to look at your to-do list every time you get home). Then you could spend the 15 minutes’ walk inventing a cure for cancer. Or thinking up witty captions to put on pictures of your cats. Whatever you call productive
Bonus
Scene: A remote island full of dinosaurs. A group of 3 people is walking next to a huge gate, when suddenly red lights start flashing.
Doctor: Oh no! The automated gate release mechanism has been activated! We need to memorize this 100-digit number and enter it on a keyboard 5 minutes’ walk away, or the gate will open and the dinosaurs will come out and we’ll all be DOOMED. Oh, and we have 10 minutes to do it.
Vlad: Don’t worry! I have a pen and paper in my pocket!
Doctor: Hooray! We are saved!
(Audience cheers)
(obligatory xkcd reference)
Outro
If you don’t have the habit of always carrying around a pen and paper, hopefully I gave you some reasons today to make you think about it. Enjoy!
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I have found myself doing the same thing I am and artist so a lot of the time I have a sketch book with me. In a pinch I will use my cell phone write a text and send it to my email address.
lol the bonus XD
I have been using it for years
Ideas come in a flash and then go away -this method captures them – for you to take action helps to relieve the stress
That’s something I’ve needed to do for a while. I keep telling myself to, and then forget, since I have nothing to write it down… This is a terrible cycle.
Thanks for the comic, I read some and they’re genius.
I once thought of getting a notebook,but then I remembered that my writing is so horrible that sometimes even I can’t read it
Good idea, I do it the same way by using my cell phone, works great
I carry a pen and paper and then I don’t use them because I feel silly getting them out and writing stuff down.
Maybe I need to rethink that…
I use pen and paper, but more often, I use my Olympus recorder. I also use it for talking to myself, which is quite useful: http://markfreedman.com/index.php/2008/03/15/talking-to-yourself/
Well, yikes!
I finish this article, and just a few days later I read a very similar post at PickTheBrain!
http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/the-ultimate-productivity-habit/
But you know what’s really cool? The article argues a completely different reason for writing things down! Apparently it helps you organize information in your brain. So if you write something down, and never look at it again, the writing down still has a real positive effect!
I’ll definitely experiment with that.
Works for me – scribbling, jotting, sketching out ideas etc on paper really helps to capture, turn & organise my thoughts in a way typing doesn’t seem to do
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