Life gets busy and we are inundated with a ton of noise coming from our cell phones, emails, text messages, videos, TV and more. When things get hectic, we can tend to get forgetful. A simple but powerful habit to get into your daily routine is to write things down. Why is it so important you ask?
Time has a way of changing our memory: Writing things down as they happen or right after they happen will help you to memorialize the facts. Every time we remember something, we recreate what happened and each time we do this things change. Your perception is your reality and therefore other people might remember something completely different than what you do. We need some kind of system outside of ourselves to help us remember what really happened – writing it down is that system.
Good things don’t last long: Have you ever had a brilliant idea in the middle of the night and by morning you can’t remember it? Ideas can pop up at the strangest times but they tend to not stay for long in your head. So you need to capture them fast. Keep a journal with you (or by your bed) and when the idea comes up, jot it down.
Writing down your goals can make a big difference: Ask any successful person about how they set goals and they will tell you that they write them down. Written goals bring clarity and focus, not to mention accountability. A written goal will give you a set path and focus. You can return to these goals each week, month, or year to see where you at to achieving.
Streamline your thoughts: Too many ideas running through your head is not a good thing. Take time to list out the tasks or ideas taking space in your head and purge this information out. Creating a list of action items or issues to address will help you to clear your head and improve your thinking so that you can solve the task or problem and get back on track to achieving the goal.
Keeps you focused: We get busy. Life happens. Business has a crisis. Each and every day we are bombarded with unexpected things and if we don’t write things down – such as a goal or an idea – we will lose track of what is most important. Write your goal in a place you will see daily. When the pressures of life start to mount, look at your goal and get yourself back on track