In my personal development journey, practically every book I read, or video I listened to, stated the importance of writing things down. Everything from goals, to-dos, and inspirational quotes: If we fail to capture these important thoughts, they can be forgotten in minutes, if not seconds. All thoughts are fleeting - don't let the valuable ones vanish. Capture them.
Life changing ideas
Most, if not all humans, go about their day following the same routines as the day before. Even if you stop and try to think of a revolutionary idea that can help change your life for the better, unfortunately, you probably won't be able to come up with anything in that moment.
Usually, a good idea will come to you when you least expect it, as a sudden moments of clarity. When the dots in your mind happen to align while doing something completely unrelated.
Such a moment of clarity might occur while out having drinks with friends, or perhaps in bed while trying to fall asleep. "I'll remember this tomorrow", you tell yourself. The next day, you may completely forget ever having gotten an idea at all, or, you may remember getting an idea, but strangely, not be able to recollect what the idea was.
Failing to capture the thought has made it disappear forever.
Basic to-dos
Take a look around you, wherever you happen to be. It's likely that most of the stuff you see around you began as a mere thought. Before your eyes, you're witnessing the power of the human mind.
We all need to spend a great amount of time keeping up with our life maintenance tasks, or, things we need to do every day, week, or month, to live our lives (shower, pay bills, do laundry, change the oil in the car, shovel the driveway, etc).
Sure, time and energy are lost because you had to backtrack. But what is the true tragedy here?
Write it down in a journal
Writing down all the things you want and need to do will instantly give you an advantage over everyone else who doesn't. The best place to compile your thoughts is in a journal.
I've been using journals for many years, but most recently, the Moleskine Pocket NoteBook has been a part of my every day carry.
It's small enough to fit in almost any pocket. I usually carry it in my blazer inside pocket, winter coat pocket, or my jeans back pocket with my phone. I recommend the soft cover so that a standard pen can be kept inside the journal when it is held shut with the built-in elastic. Another handy feature is that the last page has a built-in sleeve, which I use for receipts from purchases, and checks I've written.
Take a look around you, wherever you happen to be. It's likely that most of the stuff you see around you began as a mere thought. Before your eyes, you're witnessing the power of the human mind.
We all need to spend a great amount of time keeping up with our life maintenance tasks, or, things we need to do every day, week, or month, to live our lives (shower, pay bills, do laundry, change the oil in the car, shovel the driveway, etc).
You might be in the shower one morning before work, and think to yourself: "I need to make sure to buy cat food, we're all out" [*1]. You're not going to go out and get that right this minute, so you make a mental note of this maintenance task, and continue to prepare for your day.
You get dressed, and on your commute to work, you see someone walking their dog, and are reminded of your cat, and think to yourself: "Right, the cat food. I'll pick some up after work" [*2].
While on lunch break at work, you randomly happen to remember again: "Ah yes, don't forget to buy cat food after work" [*3].
Throughout the workday, you're working hard to meet a stressful end of week deadline. 5PM rolls around, and you're relieved to be able to go home and put the work behind you for the day.
You drive home in a foggy mental state, and when you get home, your cat greets you at the door.
"Right, the cat food!" [*4]. You close the door behind you and backtrack to the pet store that you passed on your way home.
Sure, time and energy are lost because you had to backtrack. But what is the true tragedy here?
You used the power of your mind to think of cat food FOUR TIMES in a single day.
The only single-threaded thought mechanism you possess, was given fewer chances to come up with life-changing ideas, because it was busy thinking about cat food over and over...
Write it down in a journal
Writing down all the things you want and need to do will instantly give you an advantage over everyone else who doesn't. The best place to compile your thoughts is in a journal.
I've been using journals for many years, but most recently, the Moleskine Pocket NoteBook has been a part of my every day carry.
It's small enough to fit in almost any pocket. I usually carry it in my blazer inside pocket, winter coat pocket, or my jeans back pocket with my phone. I recommend the soft cover so that a standard pen can be kept inside the journal when it is held shut with the built-in elastic. Another handy feature is that the last page has a built-in sleeve, which I use for receipts from purchases, and checks I've written.
Capture those life-changing thoughts, write down those to-dos, and
stop thinking about cat food all day.
Your mind is capable of so much more than that.
Help support this blog by purchasing your Moleskine Pocket NoteBook by using the link below.
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