[analog31]

Three things that have helped me.

1. A little bound paper notebook such as a Moleskine.

2. A mind mapping program -- I use FreePlane -- to store links, including links to files on my hard disk. An advantage is that I don't have to get the organization right on the first, second, or even third try.

3. A lot of the information in my life is not digitized, such as most of the sheet music in the world. So I now rely on my cell phone camera to record a lot of that stuff.

Amusingly, when I was in grad school, it was still considered to be an open question whether a person should get their own computer. The university computer store had a little guide, and the most memorable advice -- which certainly rings true in my life -- was: "Don't expect a computer to make you organized. If you have a messy desk, you will have a messy computer."