Since the start of my small business in 1992, I’ve considered that “time is the main competitor.” Which means I’m constantly striving to achieve more in less time. I’ve learned the number one technique to improve your productivity is to write frequent notes.
You Can’t Remember Everything
If you think you can remember everything critical to your work, you’re wrong.
Each work day, most of us are interrupted every 10 minutes or so by either an email message, text, or phone call from a co-worker or client. Add the 100+ inbound emails per day you must skim for relevance, and you’re dealing with 150 times per work day when something has demanded your attention.
The only way to overcome the continuous onslaught of distractions — and to remove the anxiety of forgetting an important task — is to “Write it down.”
Tools to Easily Write And Organize Your Notes
- I’ve used Post-it notes since they were invented. They’re perfect reminders of top priorities and serve as a visual project management tool for large projects. Bonus: Post-it notes force you to focus and distill your thoughts to fit on the note.
- I also use a Samsung Galaxy Note phone which has a built-in notepad with their S Pen function.
- You can keep a small notepad in your car and beside your bed at night.
- For those great thoughts which come to you in the shower, check out the waterproof notepad from AquaNotes.
You can increase your productivity and triumph over continuous distractions simply by writing more notes.
