[feifan]

My entire productivity system is a checklist in a pocket-sized notebook. When I get to work, I write down the things I need to do, have been asked to do, and want to do (in that order) — most days it's 3–5 things. Each item is a specific task that I know how to do.

This system, if you can even call it that, works for me for two reasons:

1) It gets the thoughts out of my head, so I don't have a constant "background noise" reminding me of something I have to do.

2) It separates the planning from the doing. This keys off the fact that many people feel good about getting organized, even if we tend to procrastinate on doing actual work. Separating planning from doing turns scary tasks into a short, clear bullet point.

For me (working mainly as a software engineer), the hardest part about any task is scoping and defining it. There are no hard tasks, only vague ones.

[dboreham]

Problem with a book (there are many benefits of course) is : you lose the book.

So I have a strict policy these days of only taking notes either on a piece of paper that sits on my desk, or in electronic form synced to all my devices (using OneNote fwiw but document files in Google Drive would probably work just as well).

I also have around 20 notebooks scattered around the house, office, car, friends's houses, etc.

[feifan]

Long-term stuff goes elsewhere (Trello with the team at work, for example), but my notebook is only day-by-day. So I actually wouldn't mind losing it.

In return, I get something that works closer to the speed of thought than any digital tool — I can write down a thought in less time than it takes to unlock my phone or open a Google Doc. That's important for me because it's too easy for me to not bother writing it down if it breaks my flow.

[hawski]

You can also periodically take photos of new pages and sync that.

[dboreham]

Been there, done that..

You can also take pictures of all letters you mail, right before you slide them into the mailbox, so if you ever wonder if you really mailed the mortgage check or perhaps it just slid under your car seat or blew away when the car door opened, there it is in your phone..