It’s something that I struggle to do all the time, write things down.
You would think that for someone that spends as much time at the keyboard writing, regardless of what type it is, I would remember to write things down.
I’ve lost track of the number of times that I’ve tried to recall something and just couldn’t, and then kicked myself for not writing it down. That odd task, the new technique for something in the code I’m writing, a procedure that I need to follow, they have all at one time or another been lost for the lack of a note.
It’s not that I don’t have the ability to jot something down, my desk is littered with pen and paper, I have all manner of software where the notes could be taken, I could even record a quick audio note to myself. I just don’t. I rely on my own memory far too much or maybe more accurately I don’t trust myself to find the note after it’s taken.
There are so many thoughts as to what you should do first when trying to get yourself more organized and I would agree with many that cultivating the habit of writing things down needs to be near the top. I also think that you need to have a system that you can trust to put those notes in. It’s something that David Allen has spoken about at length in his Getting Things Done (GTD) system. You have to trust your system and everything needs to be in the system.
First though, we have to have the habit of writing things down, cultivate that habit and other things will start to fall into place.