The real potential of a digital organizational system is to be a tool for capturing and systematically reminding you of past ideas, inspirations, insights, and connections. The heart of creativity and innovation is making spontaneous connections between seemingly unrelated things, and note-taking programs can, when used correctly, serve as a... See more

• Capture the ideas and insights that spark your interest. A sticky note, a voice memo, or an app like Notion—whatever works.


• Organize them so you can find them later. Categories, tags, or even a simple “Projects” list will do.


• Distill your notes into their essential meaning. Ask: What’s the big takeaway here?


• Express your ideas by using them in

... See more

One: You have to train yourself to notice things. It's not 100% natural at first – it certainly wasn’t for me – but raising those antennae is a very worthwhile thing to do. And it snowballs: once I got started taking notes, I ended up taking more and more of them.

Two: Be very liberal about what you keep. If you're going through your notes, cross... See more