Writing Stuff Down

I am a consummate note taker. I carry around a little tiny pocket notebook and a pen at all times. I do this for two main reasons:

• I never know when I will encounter a good idea... be it for a sermon, for the church, or something to do for my wife. Sometimes it is on a television show, sometimes while reading the Bible, sometimes in the midst of working out, sometimes when trying to merge onto the interstate. The best ones come in the shower or when I wake up at 3 a.m. Yes, I do feel like a total dork when having a casual conversation with a friend and I pull out a notebook to write something down, but that's better than the alternative of racking my brain later trying to remember what they said. As I have explained before, I've only had 3 or 4 really good completely original brilliant thoughts in my life. The rest I've learned from other people and written down.
• One of the greatest causes of stress in my life, I think, is trying to remember so many things. I have a short attention span as it is, and my RAM seems pretty small. I hate, hate, hate the feeling of knowing that earlier that day I had a great idea and now can't remember it anymore. I get such a peaceful feeling after having committed something to paper. As a high school teacher told me, "Faint ink is better than a good memory."

When I read books, I jot down all my thoughts in the front cover so later I can go back and find them. After all, it doesn't matter how many books you've read or how many you've own, but if you can access the info that is in them when you need it. Yes, it is a little annoying to read and take notes, but, again, it's better than losing all that material. Proverbs says, "The lazy man fails to collect what he shot while hunting." In other words, if you spend the time "hunting" the info in reading the book, why not spend a few more minutes "capturing" the information in a format you can access later? Otherwise, you are greatly reducing the profit your reading is giving you.

When I listen to sermons in the car, I carry around a dictaphone.

It has been a huge help to me... I have also noted in the reading of biographies that a lot of thinkers much smarter than me did the same thing: Abraham Lincoln carried around random slips of paper to write on and even died with his pocket full of notes, as did Charles Darwin; both Blaise Pascal and Jonathan Edwards were known to arrive home with a couple dozen hand written notes pinned to their jackets. Yes, they looked like dorks, but we remember them hundreds of years after their deaths and don't even know the names of the cool people anymore.

How do you capture information? How do you reduce the stress caused by trying to remember something?

Comments

[kim]

Unfortunately, or fortunately, I have a good memory. But, I take notes in the books I read, I have the journaling ESV Bible, and have calendars to remember great events - like your anniversary coming soon.
And I hope you don't try to write in the little notebook while trying to merge onto I-40, 540, or any other interstate!

[Joe Thorn]

I use several different Moleskine's for different purposes, and Jott.com for when I'm driving in the car.

[RS]

I tell my wife. She never forgets anything.

[Jeremy]

I knew a guy in college who never bought books for the classes he took with the exception of the two calculus classes he was required to take. His reason for buying calculus books and not for his other classes was because his professors assigned homework and he had to know what the problem was. He wouldn't buy books for biology, chemistry, biochemistry and other classes for his science major. He also managed to keep a 4.0 grade average.

One day I asked him, "How do you manage to keep a 4.0 average and not have the books to study from."

His response was, "I go to class. I listened to what the professor has to say and then take the test. If I get the question wrong, I just figure it wasn't meant for me to know."

I wish I had it that easy. If I have an idea, I like to write it down and do something with it. Otherwise, I generally don't write a lot of notes b/c I figure I'll end up with a cluttered mess. I'll either remember what I read or heard, or go with the "it wasn't meant for me to know" mentality.

[Joel]

I've heard it said that: "A dull pencil is better than a sharp mind!" Good post

[Jessica]

Post-its! In my previous job the owner hated buying post-its because he thought they looked cluttered, but I love them. You can write something down, stick it to a document you can't write on or stick it to your steering wheel (great for directions when you are driving)! In books I buy those little post-it tab things and stick them to pages I liked or may need in the future. . . my textbooks in school were like rainbows on the sides!

[connie]

Fabulous post. I'm a "fellow-excessive-note taker.Every Sunday at church I feel that I cannot totally listen unless I'm taking notes...cleaning the house...I need a list (I'm a touch OCD)...even riding down the road listening to preaching, I've pulled out the notebook to take notes. There's just so much that I want to learn. Of course, I've been a teacher for over 10 years. Maybe it's an occupational hazard. I currently have 4 journals. One for my book that I'm currently reading; one for my home Bible Study for college kids; one for study on missions; and one for my daily devotions. I may not talk much in a group, but there's much said on paper. Great post, Pastor JD!

[connie]

P.S.
I had a 1st time guest go to church with me this past Sunday. She LOVED it! She laughed and cried. She was excited to get her husband and family to return one Sunday. Praise the Lord! My Abba is so wonderful! My cup runneth over!

[allison]

My daytimer! It's old fashioned, but has lots of room for things, and oh what a relief to have taken pen to paper (or dull pencil). It unbends my mind. Thanks for your post.

[amanda]

I love notes and lists... but while driving I use my cell phone. I call home and leave myself a message... "you have a hair appointment friday at 10" or "Denise's birthday is tomorrow and you have yet to send a card"

Then when I get home, I just pray that a kid has not erased them!!

[Personal Theologian for the Drive by Truckers]

Just wondering if anyone has a GOOD relational database for the Bible? I make notes in a journal built into KDE (it is a desktop for Linux), to remind myself of what I noticed/learned, but I would love to be able to pull stuff up categorized either by the scriptures OR by topics.

[Blake]

google notebook for more in depth thoughts. Email my own gmail account and have labels.

[Personal Theologian for the Drive by Truckers]

Thanks for the tip on Google Notebook. I went ahead and installed the firefox extension. It looks like it is really great. Now if I can just get over my fear that Google is going to take over the world! (ha ha). Really, though, it looks very slick, like all things google.

I have been struck lately in my reading of the Bible how often in the OT it mentions that "the Spirit of the Lord" came on thus and such, and then he went out and did stuff. This a.m., reading McCheynes daily bible stuff it struck me re: how Paul and Silas wanted to go somewhere "and the Spirit of the Lord did not permit them." Then the Spirit moved in a weird way (a dream), so that Paul KNEW where he should go. It makes me want to categorize what the nature of a TRUE spirit directed life is, especially after the msg Sunday a.m. So much of my own life would remain the same if there were no Holy Spirit, and this is a disgrace and a repudiation of Christ in me. The charismatics are wrong on many things, but they are right about this: when God shows up, there is direct, sovereign, palpable and knowledgeable intervention of His Spirit in our lives. The dangers here seem to be twofold 1) Ignoring the need to have God active, bold and "dangerous" in our lives (the traditional church) and 2) recognizing the need for the Supernatural Activity of God in our lives so that we talk about it alot, but really just fake it (alot of what I see in charismatic circles). I wish we had real revival today.

I am going to begin catching and collecting passages in the scriptures re: the supernatural activity of God in the person of the Spirit. I will begin by using Google notebook.

Thank you for helping me.