Keeping yourself organized/note taking...

[fish2plus2]

I have two methods of note taking. One is to scribble things inside of a notebook and the other is to scribble things on little pieces of cut up paper at my desk. Both ways, I end up writing the same notes over and over again. I must have wrote: Start stretching in preparation to learn a martial art about a million times.

After I fill up a notebook with my ideas, obvservations, notes, directions, phone numbers, etc... I end up going through it, crossing out the garbage, and then rewriting all of it again in another notebook. It is a huge waste of time.

Any gadgets or systems that you recommend?

[rainonacongadrum]

Definitely check out Getting Things Done by David Allen. And Google "Hipster PDA".

[guids]

My dell axim has a way to hand-write notes and it auto saves them, its really easy to do, than at the end of the day, cradle it, and go through the ones you want on your PC, delete the rest.

[keikiwai]

i have a giant white board in my room... it's big enough to have a daily and a longterm to do list along w/ general ideas etc.... during the day i cross out stuff i have done / add stuff to do / ideas etc.

at the end of each day (usually end up being the next morning) i take a photo of the whiteboard (i write the date on it).... so if i ever want to go back to see when i did something, review an old idea, i can

this works for me..... since it requires very little effort and i can see it from my desk and i can "remember" the board from each day through the photos




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one of my friends has an 8 1/2 by 11 pad of paper he jots things down on during the day..... basically you can keep things to 1 page in a day if you try... or even if not, no biggy

at the end of the day, he rips out the piece(s) of paper, he crosses out the things he has done from the "to do" section, and re-writes the things he has yet to do on the next sheet of paper

basically, same as you kkf, just doing it everyday, and not using scraps of paper

[limon]

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Any gadgets or systems that you recommend?

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your brain. the only thing i keep track of on paper is bets ive booked and thats more for my customers than for me. i figure if i cant remeber something it wasnt that important.

[octopi]

I keep a super tiny small notebook on me at all times for things I feel I need to remember and live hands I play. So things like weird dreams, shopping lists, appointments, Google searches. I rarely have to 'transfer' these things.

I also have a larger notebook where I keep ideas for websites, craft projects, trip ideas, essay topics and seasonal "to do" lists. This often stays at home.

So my needs are separated more into short term/long term. For those of you with a bit more money to spend, buy a Moleskin book. Great flat pages, nice cover, last a long time.

f2p2: For really cool notebooks, check out B2S or Playground! on Soi 55 (Thonglo) off Sukhumvit.

[imitation]

Most important is to write it in a notebook you will read, I used this method and it worked infinitely well. Obviously some notes I wrote every day but only until they were entrenched, for example I wrote shave every second day in my diary for 4 weeks, lo and behold I now shave every second day.

[aheravi]

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Any gadgets or systems that you recommend?

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your brain. the only thing i keep track of on paper is bets ive booked and thats more for my customers than for me. i figure if i cant remeber something it wasnt that important.

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Definitely check out Getting Things Done by David Allen. And Google "Hipster PDA".

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Definitely take a look at GTD. It's big premise is that our brain is clogged with trying to remember stuff. Relying on the brain to organize and remember things is how stuff falls through the cracks. I've read the book and only started to implement at work, but even the little bit I do makes a big difference.

GTD Wikipedia Entry

[El Diablo]

f2,

I used to make lists, crossing stuff out, then rewriting onto new lists, etc. Basically, very similar to you.

Now I keep everything on a master to-do list on my computer. For very short term stuff I write stuff on post-it notes. But I make myself get everything onto a list on my computer as soon as possible.

I've found that putting even the tiniest things on the list really helps me keep on top of things. I can review and reprioritize whenever very easily.

I use Outlook, but anything is fine, even just a list in notepad really. If you Google "online todo list" you'll find lots of interesting products. http://www.backpackit.com/ is one that a lot of people speak highly of.

People have mentioned GTD. I think it has a lot of good points, but overall has way too much overhead and much of the techniques I think are far too rigid. However, I agree with one major point there. I think putting every single thing you think of on a todo list definitely helps free your mind and let you concentrate. I have a great memory, so my natural inclination is to keep everything in my head and do mental reviews "OK, let's see what else do I have to get done today?" trying to remember everything. Getting all that stuff out of my head and onto a list on my computer definitely helps reduce my stress and keep me more organized. I'm talking about the smallest stuff like, "Oh I'm out of aluminum foil." I put a note onto the "Go to grocery store" list item and then it's out of my mind. Sounds silly and standard and simple, but doing this for every little thing is a tough habit to get into.

[Quanah Parker]

Really important notes go on the back of my hand, in ink.