Image Credit: "Art of Transportation" by Staffan Scherz via CC by 2.0
5 Important Elements to Consider When Choosing a Capture System for Your Thoughts, Ideas and Actions
Last time we talked about why you need to get a reliable capture system if you want to be a credible, trusted leader in your organization.
The idea of "capture" is the process of taking things from your mind (thoughts, reminders, tasks, etc.) and storing them somewhere that is reliable, searchable, and always available.
World-class performance is a matter of degree
Picture in your mind a famous world-class athlete. This competitor is a finely tuned performance machine and the majority of their life is dedicated to the pursuit of athletic perfection. They are explosive. They can focus all the muscles and neurons in their body to produce a specific, desired outcome.
Next, picture the athlete bursting forward, then changing direction left, right, back, down to the ground, and then exploding into a high jump. They are world-class at their chosen sport.
Now imagine taking a small lead weight tied to a string and tying that string around the athlete's neck so that it dangles down to their waist. Can they still move? Of course they can; the wait is not heavy. It's only mildly annoying because it swings uncontrollably when the athlete moves around.
Now add another weight. And another. And another, until you have 15 or 20 different weights all dangling and flopping around the athlete's neck.
Can they still move around? Yes. Can they move around well? No, they can't.
They can still move, but they are slower and are no longer the explosive, high-performance athlete they were before. Fighting to control all those small, insignificant weights hanging around their body has drastically decreased their performance. They are awkward and have to spend vital time and energy trying to control the small, insignificant weights.
Your mind can be world-class, if you let it
Now take a moment and think about your mind. That part of your brain behind your eyes that allows you to focus on tasks, follow a map, plan a vacation, or write a letter to your friend. Basically, all the things that separate you from your dog or cat.
Your brain is one of the most amazing, high-performance, finely-tuned systems ever created. Your brain is exactly like that athlete you mentally pictured previously. If you train it properly and don't bog it down with a myriad of small weights, it will perform at a very high level for you. It will allow you to focus deeply on complex situations, think from unique perspectives, evaluate different options and arrive at good decisions.
Every time you have a thought you push to the corner of your mind, and subconsciously demand that your brain remember, it is analogous to tying a small weight around that athlete's neck. I'm here to tell you: stop doing it. Today. Right now. [1]
Find your capture system
Instead of struggling to hold all the things in your mind, or having a purse or briefcase littered with task lists, you need to adopt a capture system that fits with your own personal style and daily constraints.
There are many books and resources available detailing the "perfect" organizational system, but what is perfect for one person is a poor fit for another.
Whatever system you settle on, here are some mandatory elements of a good capture system:
- Make it simple. Complicated systems usually don't work well because they require more time and energy from you. Each step in the chain creates another opportunity for procrastination or loss of information and context.
- It should be fast. Ideas and tasks often pop up during other activities such as a meeting, while driving in the car, or right before you go to bed. Your system should be able to quickly take in your task and then allow you to get back to the activity at hand. And some of the best ideas "pop out" of your mind as quickly as they "pop in" so you need to capture them before you forget.
- The system should be able to accept a due date for a task. The system isn't very valuable if you need to check a large unordered list of tasks and ideas to determine if something is relevant for today. That is time better spent on other things, like adding positive value to the world.
- Seamless pairing with your task management system. The thoughts that you capture should be easily transferred to your task management system (this can be different than your capture system). Each handover step is a chance for you to lose information.
- It should scale elegantly. Your capture system should scale well as the number of items captured increases. For example, using a post-it note to write down your tasks works well for one or two items, but if you have 100 or 200 items, it becomes impossible to manage.
In addition to the above, there is one required element of a great capture system.
- It has to fit into the daily flow of your life.
The mediocre capture system you use everyday is better than the fantastic one you try for 3 days before giving up.
“The mediocre capture system you use everyday is better than the fantastic one you use for 3 days and give up.”
If you don't have a capture system, google around the internet for ideas, or ask one of your organized friends or coworkers how they capture their tasks, reminders and ideas. You owe it to yourself to unburden yourself from all those tasks and dates you are keeping in your mind.
Once you've found some ideas to try, or if you already have a capture system, how well does it rate against the list of mandatory elements? And don't forget, don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Try and refine your system until it really works for you. You don't have to wait until you architect the perfect capture system before you can start using it and deriving benefit.
The feeling of freedom you get when you have a great capture system working for you is wonderful. When a thought or task appears, you can efficiently capture it and then move on with your life. After all, it's the life and not the task that is important.
Take care, and I'll talk to you next time.
- [1]: If you are reading this and thinking "Wow, I have so many things popping in and out of my head" then do yourelf a favor. Don't worry about your capture system right now. Take a look at step 3 of the Getting Back on Track post and do a brain dump. Trust me, it'll feel great and you'll be able to better focus on creating a capture system without all the distractions.
Question: What other elements of a capture system do you think are important? Let us know in the comment section below.