We all have those fleeting thoughts and ideas that pop into our heads throughout the day - while reading the news, reflecting quietly, or even waking us at night. Too often, these “stray thoughts” slip away, forgotten and lost forever. But it’s actually really simple to capture and harness them.
Keeping a record of your stray thoughts offers several powerful benefits:
Boosted Memory - Writing thoughts down helps cement them, making it easier to recall ideas, facts, and musings later.
Increased Productivity - Periodically reviewing your notes can reveal tasks to complete or areas needing attention that you might have otherwise forgotten.
Mental Clarity - Emptying your mind of swirling thoughts by writing them down lets you release those thoughts and quiet your active mind.
For years, I’ve kept a dedicated pocket notebook for jotting down stray thoughts as they happen. Using a tiny 3.5” x 5.5” notebook, along with a reliable Fisher Space Pen, I’ve developed a simple but powerful system.
I prefer monthly notebooks of 24-28 pages, allowing me to review each month’s thoughts regularly while keeping the notebook portable in my pocket.
My notebook has become an essential productivity tool. Originally inspired by a book’s simple suggestion to record stray thoughts, this system has freed my mind to capture anything and everything. From quick facts and observations to profound musings and reminders, it all goes into my stray thoughts notebook.
I also wrote this blog post using these notes. I don’t typically use an AI to write but I’ve been using it a lot for editing help. This time, I took a collection of related but otherwise unorganized thoughts and asked an AI to organize those and write my first draft. I gave it the simple prompt below asking it to write a post about this subject.
Take these stray thoughts and write a comprehensive blog post for the Internet:
Then I highly edited that draft to better reflect my own voice.
Looking ahead, I plan to continue refining my stray thoughts strategy. These days I’m carrying a tablet with me and keeping Paperless Notes on the Amazon Fire Max 11 including my stray thoughts. I also jot notes into my phone in the Google Keep app.
Mostly though, I’ll keep doing what has worked so well - arming myself with a compact notebook and pen to quickly and easily record my stray thoughts whenever and wherever they arise. This simple practice has become a foundational productivity tool, unlocking creativity, organization, and mental clarity.
Grab yourself a pocket notebook and a nice pen and see how this strategy works for you.
Written by Joel Dare on March 23, 2024.