Notebooks are your organizational friend

(myorganizedbiz.com) – I just recently finished a long-term project. As I was clearing out my office, I gathered all of my notebooks together. There were seven of them, representing notes from meetings, phone calls, and brainstorming sessions. As I tossed them in the shredder bin, I thought about all of the time and work they represented. It felt a little strange to be getting rid of it all, even though I will have no further use for any of the info (and much of it was confidential anyway).

I forgot how dependent I was on those notebooks. I took a regular notebook with me everywhere. Sometimes it was spiral bound. Other times it was a composition notebook. It didn’t matter, as long as it had plenty of lined pages.

And I used it as my memory. I took notes as I met with people. During phone calls. When I wanted to remember something. For to do lists. Project notes. If I needed to capture ideas for later. Or to brainstorm. Everyone I worked with got used to seeing me with a notebook. And after meetings where we had no official minutes, colleagues would sometimes come back to me (weeks later, even) to clarify what was said in the meeting.

For me, it was indispensable. I had so many meetings, things to do, and thoughts running through my head that there was no way I could remember all of them.

And when I needed to refer back to things, it was easy. I put tabs on pages that I knew I’d need to refer back to. So I could just flip back to the area I needed.

Not all of your solutions have to be high tech. Sometimes the simplest things can work the best for you.

Of course, you don’t have to carry a full-size spiral notebook. A small one will do, too. Whatever you feel comfortable with. Give it a try for a few weeks. Instead of using scraps of paper or post-its, all of which can get lost, try a notebook. Jot down thoughts, ideas, reminders, whatever you think you’ll need.

If you write down appointments or phone numbers, don’t forget to transfer them to your calendar or address book. You’ll still need to process the information you capture, but at least you have something to process!

What works for you? Notebook? PDA? Wireless device? Photographic memory?

Image: M.O.B. archives