Keeping an 'Idea Pad' Handy

With an overall intent to be more organized with tasks and such, conventional methods haven't worked very well for me. That is to say, things like personal organizers, daybooks, and calendars don't really work for me and I've managed without them.

But I remember once from a Toastmasters speech some time ago that keeping an idea pad handy is a useful thing to do. The brain hardly works in a linear way, well at least I know mine doesn't. So what often happens is I'm riding the bus or talking to someone and all of a sudden I think of something useful to do, or a website to check, etc.. One train of thought leads to another in a non-linear way and then I wish I had a dollar for every idea that comes to mind and I quickly forget because I didn't have to sense to write it down.

Well, no longer. I'm going to carry an 'idea notepad' which is really just my blackberry and I jot down the idea that comes right away during a moment of reflection, reading an email, or a conversation.

An example of how this might work is as follows. I'm sitting down at the computer for a long time, now its time for exercise as I feel stiff. Oh that reminds me I need to renew my gym membership but also would be nice to check out fitness classes and other things that Will's Gym (the main competitor) has to offer and compare prices.

The last thing in that train of thought is what gets written down and then implemented as a task. If I don't write it down then it never makes it as far as the action stage.