WebedtecH

The more information we deal with on a daily basis, the more important it becomes to capture that information in a consistent location for reference and use. The GTD methodology espouses a “trusted system” approach that I agree with, but with caveats.

Your capture tool should suit the environments where you are capturing information. I shall explain. If you are a highly mobile individual, one who could be anywhere at any time, your system needs to reflect that level of agility. A locked down, desktop-computer based system will not be your best option on its own. On the flip side, if you are a dedicated desk worker a pocket sized system for the professional road warrior also may be less than optimal. So how do you choose what is the right fit for you?

I have been changing from notebook to notebook, capture system to capture system for years now always in search of the “perfect” one. The one system that will make me more efficient, less likely to procrastinate, and look more professional having the information I need right at my fingertips. I haven’t found it yet, but I have come up with a number of observations about ways to “write it down.”

Don’t let it get away

Every idea, commitment, promise, thought, or task is a candidate for capture in your paper system. While I don’t believe you will ever achieve the “mind like water” goal as preached by other systems, I do believe you can reach a level of mental peace knowing the details of your activities are kept safe and accessible when the memory is called to doubt.

As an extension of the classic educational concept, memory is reinforced through writing learned items down. But how much is enough? Do you capture every possible thought or only the ones you think you might forget? How do you recall ideas from your system when you can’t remember having them in the first place? How do you organize a task list spread across fifteen pages on ten different topics? There are some tips and tricks I’ve gathered from around the web as well as through my own experiences you may find helpful.

Index of Contents

As any good librarian will tell you the two most powerful parts of a reference book are the table of contents and the index. My recommendation: merge the two. This should work for any type planner, be it three-ring, spiral bound, fully bound, or index cards.

At the back of your system select a few pages to set aside for your “Index of Contents” (notice the catchy little hybrid there?) Since I hate to waste paper in my planners I do a little math to figure out how many pages from the back my index should begin. Take the number of pages in your book and divide it by the number of lines on a page if you are using a ruled book. If you prefer a blank book you just need to guess how many lines you could write on a page. The number you are left with is the number of pages you should count back from the back cover to begin your index. In concept if you were to title every page in your book and enter a line for each in your index you would have just enough space.

Give yourself breathing room

One of the biggest jumps I made in my system was to give myself permission to have one topic per page. For some reason I got it into my head I needed to fill every open inch or line on a page so I wasn’t “wasting space.” The trouble trying to organize this mash of topics and notes caused far outweighed the benefits of condensing the content. By using a page per topic I can group and mark items as they are needed, something that lends itself to some of the other reference features of my system.

For example, I needed to keep a copy of my daughter’s soccer schedule for the fall with me so I knew when her games are. My initial options were:

1. Load the schedule into Google Calendar and access it from my phone. Result: useful but slow to access. The SMS reminder was convenient for the gentle “poke” but the calendar was inaccessible when there was no cellular service at the time.
2. Write the game schedule on each day a game is planned in the correct time slot on the page. Result: Time consuming and not easy to update when there were schedule changes. It was nice when looking at a specific day but it made things tough when planning for several dates.
3. Make a list of the dates and schedule on one page. Result: a master list for the soccer season I could jump to just by using the page numbered reference in the index (let the cat out of the bag on that one.) The problem arose when trying to see what was happening on a given day. I had to jump from list to list to list to make sure I caught everything.

My final result – a combination of options two and three. Here’s how it works:

1. I created a page in my planner for the soccer schedule and noted every game, time, and location.
2. I noted the page number and title in the index at the back of the planner.
3. I then noted on each day a game was scheduled in the calendar section (I’ll discuss this later) with the notation “Soccer 92.” The number is the page number of the game schedule. This way I can quickly see what’s on a given day while also have a master list for reference.

So far, this technique has been working well for anything that has multiple occurrences. It also works out well for noting a work history or task history (I’ll discuss these later as well.)

The saga continues

In cases where the notes for a given topic continue on past one page, I do not see a reason to create line after line in my index for the same item. I have adopted the technique of “previous, next” on my pages to continue the story easily.

At the bottom right of the first page on a topic in my planner you will find this: “à ##” which is the number of the page where the notes continue. On that second page you will find “## ß” in the bottom left and “à ##” in the bottom right. This tells you how you can find the previous page of notes and the next page. I repeat this over and over for each additional page. I may add an additional title and index entry if there is a substantial subtopic in the main one.

Scribble, scribble, scribble

So what is my requirement for whether or not I capture something? It’s a simple question I ask myself about each item. “Might I need to know this later?” It sounds almost too simple but it is easier to capture things you eventually don’t need rather than miss the things you do. When I have idle time (it sometimes happens) I flip through the pages and as I find entries I know I absolutely don’t need any more I draw a single line through them. Visually when I scan a page I’ve taught myself to skip those items with a strike-through and move on quickly.

So what now?

I’ve been capturing furiously, noting everything I think I might need. So now what do I do with all this? How do I keep it organized and make it useful? That comes in part three.

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