[notacoward]

This might be similar to the "write it down so you can stop thinking about it" effect. I often have an idea, e.g. for a blog post, that I just can't seem to get rid of. My mind just keeps turning it over and over. Then I write a draft, and poof I stop thinking about it. The fact that I usually don't finish turning the draft into a real post is a separate problem. ;)

There really is something about "offloading" those thoughts into some external place, and I really don't see why the authors even think it's relevant if it's subsequently deleted. The damage has already been done, the thing already partly forgotten, the instant the picture is taken. Did it ever seem likely that we'd have to check back multiple times to see whether a memory was stored elsewhere before forgetting it? Certainly when I've forgotten stuff that's never how it has been. Once is enough.

[organsnyder]

That's one of the key things I learned when I read the Getting Things Done book. If I'm stressing out about the number of different tasks I need to get done, capturing them (whether writing them down, putting them in Trello, etc.) helps me to not dwell on them, allowing me to more easily focus on a single task.