Write Shit Down

The great paradox of the Information Age is our inability to act on much of it.

Limitations of the human memory have created premiums on devices that make up for our deficiencies when it comes to recall.

For example, the average adult retains about 10% of what they read. However, if the take notes of what they read within a short period of time, that retention rate can be boosted to nearly 50%

I’m not sure it can be overstated how powerful a difference this can be.

As Jack Butcher says, “In a world of distraction, focus is the only path to freedom.”

Great insights are created, they are not stumbled upon or randomly distributed

By continually taking, organizing and revisiting your notes, we give ourselves more chances to recognize patterns.

By the way, humans are really good at pattern recognition.

The more meaningful the information you collect and organize, the easier it will be to recognize these patterns which are not apparent to anyone else.

This gives you a tremendous competitive advantage.

Keep track of your hard-fought wisdom.

Paper is cheaper than memory.

So write shit down.