Scattered Little Notes Make For Scattered Ideas
Lately I’ve been taking notes on the back of my tear-off calendar sheets. It’s a way for me to recycle those little bits of paper before tossing them into the shredder. They are handy for jotting down an idea that I need to follow up on later.
As I’m working, I tend to think of something else that I need to do. If I don’t do it right then, it’s easy to forget. But by doing that task right then I lose the momentum on the current task.
Enter the notes. I jot down the idea I had or the to-do item for later. It keeps me from veering off in another direction, suddenly realizing I’m ten minutes into a completely different task. Because then I’ve lost track of what I was originally doing. So the notes actually help keep me focused. That’s a good thing!
Unfortunately, I’m starting to get a stack of little papers in front of my monitor. And with a child who is almost tall enough to reach them and who has a penchant for ripping and shredding paper, I risk losing track of those ideas.
I need to bring back my notebook. I have plenty of blank notebooks, so it’s time to return to a better system. I can capture all of my ideas, notes and lists all in one place, refer back to it when needed, and even take it with me. As long as I don’t lose the notebook (or let the child get ahold of it) I’ll have my ideas with me. And it beats searching my desk for that ‘one’ piece of paper I just know I have there somewhere. Or leaving said piece of paper in the office when I really needed it on the road.
I’ll still keep the tear-off calendar. I like having the day’s date right in front of me. And the pieces of paper are great for quick calculations on something that I won’t need to save for later. But if it’s anything I think I’ll need later, it’s best to capture it somewhere else.
Do you need to grab an idea before it disappears? Do you find yourself getting distracted by those ideas, losing momentum on what you should be doing? What’s working for you?
[Image: Newscom]
2 Comments
Bits of paper don’t *have* to lead to scattered ideas! I’m a “scribble things down on random bits of paper” kind of girl, and if I’m not careful it can lead to scattered ideas, but this is much less the case now I’m more rigorous about using my inboxes; I just put the bits of paper in my inbox and process it like anything else. I actually have 3 inboxes representing 3 levels of priority as a means of making sure those important/urgent things don’t get lost under a huge pile of other stuff, so I don’t need to worry that an important idea jotted down will be overlooked.
As you say, using scraps of paper can be a great way to recycle paper, which is a worthwhile thing to try to do. I’m actually a little bit obsessive about this kind of thing – I have a little basket on top of the filing cabinet next to my desk where I put any old paper that is blank on one side (that would otherwise go in the recycling bin) so I always have it to hand. I do use a notebook too, as it’s much more convenient for taking notes on the move, but at my desk I always use scraps of paper.
If you can keep track of the papers and not let them get buried or lost, then I think that’s great. Putting them in your inbox is a good way to keep them from getting lost. What do you do with them afterwards? I’m curious as to how you process them when you go through your inbox.