Writing things down 

Remembering the necessity to write things down. Notes will get forgotten quickly. it is also important

to make notes. My first drafts I call "Raw notes", you can even put that in the file name! Meaningful file names are also very important. Also critical is to put a date and a version number helps greatly later. Regardless of the thing I always put a date first, it is so important. You look back on ideas in years to come, no date! You'll be annoyed with your past self for not putting a date!

If your not able to scan in important notes, use an app like Evernote (There is a free version), from there you can photograph the note. Never underestimate the value of capturing written notes for later. Tagging is very important to effective storage. A good electronic filing system is also very important.

Back in the 80's and 90's I loved my paper organizer, called Time Manager, it was a Filofax basically, but had two functions, one the diary and organizer, the second to organize your projects and work  through Key Areas, thirty years later, my brain still works that way. 

My go to method for todo lists is the ATD list [Action This Day] a phrased coined and used by Winston Churchill. My work always starts with the dated ATD list. 

I'm a convert to distraction free typing. the use of plain text is also to be commended. there are some very good apps and websites. Most if not all computers come with a basic notetaking app and these get overlooked most of the time. Think markdown apps in the current genre.

Sometimes putting the date and time in can help you when drafting notes. The ZettleKasten approach,

I've already written an article on the method in an earlier blog post here. It gives a simple referencing system to put on index cards and even scraps. A meta tagged scrap note with a date and time gives you a pretty good way to tie notes and thoughts together.

If your like me, you'll have a work diary, a personal journal, working note books and maybe a research journal as well. my point being tie those sources together when referring back and it gives a rich context to remember what you were doing and why. I love index cards for notes. I also like to re-cycle the brown paper in Amazon delivery boxes. I guess I just love writing notes and scribbling models on brown paper!

It also becomes obvious as time goes on, that there is simply too much information in the world, you simply can't capture everything. A simple way to publish your thoughts is via a blog post like this one or through something like Gitbook which I love. The use of markdown language can also give you the ability to augment text with bold/italic and underlining. I really love Gitbook for publishing work type stuff, so easy to use. 

Latterly, do not be embarrassed to use the voice note capability built into most mobile phones. It is really exciting to now know that Office 365 and similar apps can not only support dictation straight in, supporting speech to text, but also transcription, where an MP3 file is loaded in and then converted to text. These common features use to cost a fortune and are now either freely or available at low cost. 

I've also taken a liking to the distraction free work processors like the Alphasmart NEO2 and especially the Dana, which is very similar to the wonderful Amstrad NC100 and NC200. The difference being the Alphasmart has a USB connection for simple text transfer. The Amstrad NC200 relies on a 3 1/2" floppy. I still miss my Cambridge Z88, I still have it, but data transfer is a bind as is the Psion organizer. The Planet  Gemini PDA is a great modern version of the Psion 5.

I'll write further about all of these lost technologies in due course. 

The main take always are 1) Put a date on it. 2) Get the text captured somehow, then copy it to a safe place for further editing and publishing. There are different stages to the knowledge and writing journey.