Capture Everything — Summer Shorts

It’s happened to all of us. We have that thought or someone texts us. It comes at a time we cannot plan for. We can’t do anything about it right now. You know it will hours or even days, before the request or the information is actually relevant. Your mum texts you and reminds you it is Auntie Maggie’s 70th birthday next week. The problem you have been wrestling with for weeks is far from your thoughts a when the AHA! moment strikes. But you are hiking up a mountain and can’t do anything about it. Or you get the card, you write the card and you put the card in your bag to post before leaving for work only to find the card buried in your bag 6 weeks later.

It has happened to all of us. Our minds are not that great at holding onto to information and bringing back to us at a time when it is actually helpful. At a time we can actually do something with it.

This is why we say capture everything. If our brains are not a good place to store every piece of information and remember everything that we need to do then we need to work out something that is. I’ll talk about this tomorrow.

But for today, I want to argue that we should, as far as is possible, seek to capture everything. Be indiscriminate. Now if someone sends you a text message by all means reply and be done with it if you can. But if the input, whatever it may be and wherever it comes from, can’t be dealt with immediately, then do not trust that somehow, someway you will remember it at the time that you need to. Do not trust that you will remember to open up your message app and reply when you have the time and information to hand. Don’t trust that the brilliant idea you had whilst walking in the countryside will still be there when you get home.

Capture everything. Indiscriminately.