(This post is part of a series called The Mind of GTD where I examine the thought processes and attitudes that make up a “mind like water”)
One of the most basic tenets of GTD is the requirement that “stuff” be out of your head and recorded somewhere you’ll look later (and regularly). Being able to effectively capture ideas and thoughts as they come to you is one of the hallmarks of an accomplished GTDer, and it’s a skill that’s honed and perfected over time. But it’s not just about having a pen in your pocket and a stack of index cards on your desk – all of that crap won’t do you a stitch of good if your brain isn’t trained to use it.
I believe this type of skill to be one that’s really only learned over time. Sure, some folks take to it with more ease than others, but I don’t believe anybody can be ninja at this right out of the gate. It takes practice and repetition, just like any other reflexive behavior. For example, in my bathroom there sits a commode like most other commodes. But this commode is unique in that, if you don’t hold the flush lever down for a full second or two, the flush doesn’t execute properly. For the first month or so that we lived here, I was constantly having to flush the toilet multiple times because I simply forgot that the toilet needed a special action in order to work correctly. I believe this sort of brain training to be necessary in the art of information capture.
You’ll be somewhere, doing something. Maybe at your desk at work, maybe at the park with your sweetie, maybe in the crawlspace of your home trying to coax the cat out. Ideas come at you when you least expect them (like when you’re juggling chainsaws, for example) and you need to be ready to record them somehow when they do. At first, you’ll think of something you’d like to do – perhaps a film you recall wanting to see – and it’ll fly out of your head as quickly as it arrived, leaving you annoyed that you didn’t scrawl it down. Soon, annoyances like these will begin to become little reminders. You’ll think of something else you want to remember and soon after you’ll recall the frustrated feeling of having forgotten the movie you wanted to watch. So, you’ll bust out the nearest capture tools and record the idea – and you’ll do so partially because you don’t want to relive that small, irritating defeat again.
Again, it can be a long road, I think. But with time and effort, you can teach your mind to instinctively reach for the pen or the notebook.
Written by Brett Kelly
GTD