Freeing Mental RAM
August 5th, 2005 by Steve Pavlina
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It’s been said that a short pencil is better than a long memory. But how well do you actually follow this advice?
Every day we generate new information, and effectively capturing and organizing it is a challenge. Fortunately, software makes it easy to do this, so I encourage you to dump more of your personal information into digital form to get it out of your head.
I feel that the more information I release from my head and store on my hard drive, the more mental RAM I free for tasks of greater importance.
Here are some pieces of information I maintain on my PC instead of in my head:
- My goals
- My personal values
- My personal mission statement
- My daily schedule template
- My exercise program
- My session logs for playing poker
- My weekly review checklist
- My business plan
- Favorite quotes
- A moving checklist
- A web site host transfer checklist (for whenever I switch web hosts)
- Favorite recipes
- Items to buy
- List of gift ideas for people I know
- Books to buy/read
- Movies to rent
- List of all my previous addresses and dates of stay
- A master grocery shopping list (to use as a checklist when grocery shopping)
- List of important dates by month (family birthdays, financial deadlines, etc.)
- Project planning checklist
- Travel checklist
- Speech ideas
- Speaking tips
- Writing tips
- Copies of my previous speeches
- Blog entry ideas
- Article ideas
- Speaker bio
- List of good public meeting places in Vegas
- Humor ideas (mostly for speeches)
- List of personal stories (for use in speeches, articles, or blog entries)
- And lots more….
Now this might sound like a big mess of information to maintain, but it isn’t. All of this info is stored in a single file on my PC, a file that can be brought up instantly with a hotkey. A couple clicks and whatever I want is on screen.
I use a program called Action Outline, which makes it easy to capture and organize a variety of information all in one place. Action Outline looks much like Windows Explorer. On the left side of the screen you see a hierarchical view of all your info, and then whatever you click on in that pane will reveal its data in a text editor window on the right side. So if I click on “blog entry ideas,” I’ll immediately see my list of ideas.
I keep Action Outline running in the background on my PC, and if a random idea strikes me, I bring up the program with a hotkey, and add the information immediately. I find this much faster than dropping notes into my inbox and processing them later. Any piece of captured information I need is at my fingertips and can be brought up in seconds.
I know there are a variety of programs people use as personal information managers, so feel free to suggest your favorite. I’m fond of Action Outline due to its simplicity and speed. It’s not the most full-featured, but it’s quick and functional for what I need it to do.
August 5th, 2005 at 3:19 am
Keynote is also a good freeware app that I use to store unstructured data.
http://www.tranglos.com/free/keynote.html
August 5th, 2005 at 4:39 am
Steve,
I’ve recently started using Microsofts OneNote for this. With a tablet PC, I find it very easy to manage shards of information like this. I used actionoutline about a year ago but I find one note is a little more fluid in being able to add new content and reorganize everything.
August 5th, 2005 at 5:54 am
KeyNote (http://keynote.prv.pl) is very similar to Action Outline, invokable via a hotkey and free. I’ve been using it since April 2004 and now find it indispensable. It’s my one trusted source of information. I’ve tried a few other tools since, but have always come back to KeyNote.
August 5th, 2005 at 5:55 am
I have been evaluating My Life Organized (http://www.mylifeorganized.net/) for about 3 weeks now. This is the first time I have used a personal information manager. I can say I don’t know how I used to get by without one.
I enjoy MLO, I believe it is a good program that has some room to grow. I am almost to the point of purchasing it but might try a couple of other programs for comparison
August 5th, 2005 at 9:32 am
I also give a vote for ActionOutline. I got it on recommendation from Steve in some other article I read of his, and it was nice to put all the mini .txt files that had various pieces of personal information into one uber-”.txt” file (.ao for ActionOutline). I also use a separate .ao file to keep track of current work-related stuff - work diary, work still to complete, bugs, ideas, etc.
August 5th, 2005 at 9:49 am
Since I move around it’s nice to have a PocketPC.
SuperCalendar is used as a tickler file and for appointments that have to be kept. Lists are in ListPro and passwords are in a secure file.
August 5th, 2005 at 10:51 am
I use GTDTiddlyWiki client side, single file, wiki and my Hipster PDA for @ction lists. For other checklists like workout logs I have dedicated spreadsheets or word docs.
Some lists like “Movies to Rent” or “Books to Buy” I maintain as Netflix or Amazon lists.
Steve, how detailed are your poker logs? I was thinking about creating my own spreadsheet with the fields: who played, their style, how I feel I played, notable mistakes and wins for me and other players, and money lost/won with running total of my bankroll.
August 5th, 2005 at 11:12 am
That’s nice, I used to take notes and save each entry in a separate txt file, but now that I got thousand of txt files is a real mess and finding something takes time, I’m giving this Keynote a try…
August 5th, 2005 at 12:48 pm
It’s funny that we used to dump our calendar and contacts on Palms… And now are storing our lives in binary format and dump them on computers. Just don’t forget to take a backup now and then; otherwise you risk a chance to lose your life… That’s how the machines took over the world in Matrix…;-)
August 5th, 2005 at 1:51 pm
I use a plain old paper Uncalendar (http://www.uncalendar.com/). These things are amazing, and a cheaper on-the-go alternative than an iPaq. Perhaps I should look into the computer alternatives listed here, too.
PS, Thanks for having this site, Steve
August 5th, 2005 at 2:07 pm
Hi.
I’m using as a personal organizer the Omea Reader Pro. It’s more oriented towards projects, but it really helps to store all the information, which you can receive from several sources, as email, web, RSS, IM and etc…
For my personal needs, I will try to use the keynote, as both the Outlook and Omea seems a little heavy for it.
August 5th, 2005 at 4:23 pm
I use a wiki on my server. It’s accessible from both work and home, Linux and Windows, and my husband can update it too. There’s almost a computer within reach whenever I’m likely to need to remember something. In fact, a lot of the things I want to remember come to me by computer — invitations, book recommendations, articles, websites.
I also enjoy the flexible format. I can name and arrange things any way I want.
When there’s no web access I jot things down on a pad of paper and transfer it later. It’s infrequent enough that it’s not a bother.
August 5th, 2005 at 5:01 pm
@Elaine - uncalendar look a lot like the D*I*Y Planner at http://www.douglasjohnston.net/templates/
It’s free, actively developed, and its author is soliciting feedback. Looks like a good option for paper-based planners
(I haven’t used either myself - I’m a fan of Nathan’s GTDTiddlyWiki)
August 5th, 2005 at 10:51 pm
Well while we’re sharing, i use EssentialPIM. http://www.essentialpim.com/
It’s got the tree structure like Action Outline, but schedules, to-do lists, notes & contacts also. Plus, there is a free version.
August 6th, 2005 at 1:46 am
I like Ultra Recall very much. It is one of the very few indispensable programs I own. http://ultrarecall.com/ . It has a ton of features, and the developers are responsive to feature requests.
August 6th, 2005 at 1:08 pm
Anyone tried “Life Balance”?
It is available for Palm and Win paltforms (latest did’n impress me as it should).
I found Palm version is much more comfortable to use.
That programm got long development history.
The key feature of this software is “balance”. It relies on fuzzy logic rules to compute the priority of your tasks.
August 7th, 2005 at 12:01 pm
I’ve started using an old notebook for this. It’s amazing what I can get done now.
I also like to use Treepad for creating writing plans (the Lite version is free). Something else I’ve learnt is to create Draft Posts for topics I want to blog about in the future (I call them Blog Stubs).
August 7th, 2005 at 8:26 pm
We’re enjoying using Backpack for this very purpose.
http://www.backpackit.com
August 8th, 2005 at 4:06 am
You forgot to add to your list: better make sure you back-up often
August 8th, 2005 at 10:50 am
I vote for Backpack because it’s simple, flexible and accessible online. Can’t wait to see if they have any new features coming up.
GTDWikki is another great alternative for a local copy.
August 8th, 2005 at 11:08 am
I love customizing software and paper to fit the way people work. I maintain a free, open source personal information manager and I really enjoy tailoring it to fit people’s quirks. =) I love using Planner because it automatically picks up hyperlinks to my mail, and sharing my tasks and notes with others on the Net is a breeze. I can reprogram any aspect of its behavior to match my changing needs and strategies. =) And best of all, we’ve got a lively community of hundreds of people around the world, each with particular ways of doing things… I’ve learned so much from them, and I love customizing Planner to fit them to a tee! =)
I like keeping track of some things on paper, and I’m experimenting with making my own forms. I’ve gone through all the organizers sold at the nearby bookstores. I couldn’t find a ring-bound planner that fit the way I think, so I made my own. Thinking of ways to support the way people work is a lot of fun, and I want to be able to do that for a living.
August 9th, 2005 at 1:59 am
[…] Steve Pavlina - I always thought that Self Development was a bit of a cheesy topic. However, Steve has quoshed my belief with the quality of his Blog subject matter. Also, he hails from a geek background - You can find some of his original articles at Dexterity Software. Here’s a recent post from Steve - Freeing Mental RAM - that corresponds with my thoughts on Blog Stubbing and using a Notebook. […]
August 9th, 2005 at 5:23 am
I wrote tasktoy ( http://www.tasktoy.com ) for myself for this exact purpose. I put it online for anyone to use for free, if you’re interested.
August 9th, 2005 at 8:01 am
Great post. Keep up the good work.
August 10th, 2005 at 2:56 am
I will never understand how the whole of civilization made it this far without all the techno toys we have to free up our mental ram… those poor saps could never have acualized their potential to the level we have achieved in this modern world. rite on to all you go getters definitely. get more!
August 10th, 2005 at 6:38 am
take a look at wikidPad