Take a look at this image. My Grandad, who was a farmer with a sixth grade education, used this, or one like it, a lot.
The pencil inserts into the green barrel to protect the point. You can see that this is a very short pencil with little point. Grandad believed this was a better option than his memory.
Here’s tip #3: Write it down.
When you make a habit of recording your important and helpful thoughts you can:
- Increase your potential. Some thoughts you record may be great ideas in their infancy. If don’t record them, you may completely lose track of those important initial ideas and thus be unable to build on them.
- Assemble ideas, concepts, and linear processes more easily. You can grow clearer about your life purpose, goals, and simple everyday tasks; and build on what you have already worked through mentally.
- Experience better life focus. My experience has been that until you record a thought, it is not truly clear nor do you fully possess it as yours.Recording your thoughts requires paying attention and thinking about your thoughts.
- Consistently do what you say you will do. A “to-do” list is an important tool which if you “don’t do” can get you in big trouble. Writing it down keeps things from falling through the cracks. If someone offers to do something, I expect they will do it. Assuming integrity and good intentions on their part, they may simply “forget.” But, to me, this is often irresponsibility at best and dishonesty at worst though intentions may be good. Granted, I forget sometimes, too, but vigilance about doing what I say is always at the forefront as I record the item “to-do.”
- Be more efficient. You can build on thoughts instead of having to retrace our mental steps to remember. We can take another step up the creative ladder versus returning to the lower rungs.
- Save personal energy. Your brain is the biggest consumer of energy in your being. You save energy when you record your thoughts in writing or electronically and don’t have to try so hard to keep up with the items in your memory.
Recording your thoughts can be simple. What we record need not be beautiful speech or well-written prose, though some will be. I am a big fan of bullet points. Just make a quick note. Type it out, write it out, speak it out, act it out. All are options for recording your thoughts. Do what works for you.
What has worked well for you in recording your thoughts?
What personal insights around this topic would you share with others?
