Every composer knows the anguish and despair occasioned by forgetting ideas which one had no time to write down. ― Hector Berlioz
≈ Scratch Space/Tab/Note
Rules
- Write down ANYTHING that comes across your mind. Never miss writing down or document a good thought/task/note. Nothing is too big or too small. Nothing counts other than what you capture.
- Always carry a A7 tear-off notepad (pocket notebook) and a 0.5mm mechanical pencil (soft 2B leads) with me
Why?
- The cost of digital storage is very cheap.
- Our brain is made for generating/having ideas, not keeping/holding/storing them. (我們的大腦是用來作出思考和判斷的，它並不擅長用來儲存信息)
Keep X in mind,Remember X- 隨時清空/梳理大腦 (Brain Dump)，才能處理當下的思考與判斷，並檢視自己的「迷思 (myth)」和「盲點 (blind spot)」
How?
- In 📥 & Out 📤 Paper Tray
- Quick Note
- Informal sketch (by giving barely enough details to allow you to readily reconstruct the whole thing later on, don’t care about the format)
- Only write down “keywords”, not “sentences”
- Core Concept: Keep the process low-friction or even frictionless
What?
- an incomplete (or otherwise unsatisfactory) argument for a problem that you are working on
- an embarrassingly wrong piece of work
- It is good to make a note of mistakes that one should avoid in the future (as an Anti To-Do List)
Brainstorm/Insight Notebook by Tim Ferriss
- For thought-dumping (interesting goals and ideas)
- Multiple passes and constantly ask what did I think was important or cool through different times, so you’re not just spewing onto the page and then forgetting it
- 1st pass: when you first took notes
- 2nd pass: maybe a week or a month after the note was taken; underscore ideas you find interesting at this time
- 3rd pass: maybe a quarter after; encircle ideas you find interesting at this time
See also: