TL;DR: keep track of your thoughts and ideas.
In our lives, we consume tons of information, have heaps of various experiences and, generally, learn a lot. We read books, watch videos, attend lectures, listen to podcasts, etc. In other words, we consume the ideas and thoughts of other people.
Mine vs others'
However, sometimes, we make our own discoveries. It could happen during a conversation with your colleague about a book we’re reading. Or an idea in a book that put our past experiences in a new perspective. And that moment, a new idea, a new connection is born between pieces of knowledge in our brains. This moment is beautiful and priceless because it is your*new idea, born in your brain, based on your knowledge and experience.
Losing such ideas would be a shame. You can always come back to a book or a video. But if that “ah-ha moment” is lost, it’s lost forever.
Build a second brain
Recently I discovered a great community around the idea of building a “second brain”. This idea fascinates me as the main mantra here is that our brains are not for storing information. One of the methods to organise one’s thoughts is Zettelkasten, which has a great history worth reading.
There are multiple tools and methodologies to build that second brain. I use Obsidian for this matter, which is flexible enough to accommodate different types of workflows. I record my ideas and mark them accordingly. There’s an abundance of videos on YouTube about this software. After a while, you end up with a graph of thoughts. Here’s the example from the Obsidian documentation:
Better late than never
I regret that I discovered the power of note-taking only recently. I remember I had moments of enlightenment in the past, but it’s almost impossible to recover any concrete details. I think over time, the human’s brain filters out those tiny details and any challenging experiences. Therefore, our memory is not that reliable for storing information and our thoughts. Thus, I recommend my colleagues, friends, and family start taking notes. The sooner, the better.
You will thank yourself later. You will find it very useful to surface your thoughts and ideas you had a few years ago. Similar to how photo apps remind you of something that happened several years ago.
So, don’t hesitate and start your note-taking habit today.