When it comes to productivity, I’ve found that having a scratch pad (or two) around, especially when I’m working on something, can be tremendously helpful. It gives me a place to quickly brainstorm, or list ideas or options for what I’m working on, and then not forget what I’ve already covered. A few minutes later I can reference back to what I’ve already written down, instead of trying to keep everything in memory.
These scratch pads also provide somewhere to put those miscellaneous things that come to mind that I don’t want to keep thinking about, but that I do want to remember later. When I’m working on something, I want to be able to focus on the task at hand, and not be trying to hold a number other things in my head that I don’t want to forget. For me, having a place to write these things down helps.
This place could be digital or analog, although I personally prefer a plain old pad of paper. It’s cheap, it’s portable, it’s flexible. I also prefer having plenty of blank pages available. If I see that it’s starting to get low, unless I know there is plenty more nearby, I find myself becoming hesitant to put as much down, which means there’s more in my head that I’m trying to keep track of.
Of course, everyone is different, but if you find you have a lot of things going through your head all the time, consider putting your thoughts and ideas down somewhere. Once they’re out of your head, it may be easier for you to organize them and decide what your next steps should be—which can be extraordinarily helpful, especially if you have a lot going on.