I struggle with remembering great ideas, not so great ideas, things I want to accomplish, and so much more. Lets talk about the easiest way to hack our lives so we can be more productive.

If you find yourself struggling to remember conversations, epiphanies, and just “what should I do next” then you may be struggling with the same thing I am, a lousy memory.

For years I’ve told people my memory is horrible, but for some reason I never actually took action to rectify the situation! Maybe I was lying to myself and saying “oh, you’ll remember that” or maybe I never made the connection that my memory will never get better without being proactive.

Today that is changing. Actually, this pattern of figuring things out and then forgetting the solution has been going away slowly yet surely for me for a few months now. How you ask?

My coworker John (@jnunemaker) has been encouraging me since I started working with him to write things down. Keep a small notebook with you at all times, record important points from conversations, ideas you have in the middle of doing other things, any little piece of information that might actually be useful in the future.

Apparently I’m a slow learner as it has taken months to get into the habit of writing things down, but now I’m seeing real improvements in my memory. I don’t even have to read over all of the notes I’ve taken to remember things sometimes. Just the act of writing it down in the first place is helping me create long term storage for that information in my brain.

I’m working on a lot of little processes in my life to improve my productivity, both at work and at home. Remembering things has been a great first step and I’ve been blessed by the results.