Every productivity system starts with capture. Dig into any system related to productivity, and they all begin with capture. Capture in Tiago Forte's CODE, capture in GTD, the fleeting note in Zettelkasten: each of them is about gathering materials, tasks, and ideas. If you want to boost your productivity as a knowledge worker, it's worth looking back at your capture step.
There are a few principles about capture that hold up across the board.
1. Remove the Constraints
Brainstorming has a rule you're supposed to follow: don't criticize the ideas that come up. Criticism gets in the way of freely generating ideas. The point is not to nitpick and discourage people into holding back. In the same way, it's best to remove as many filters, constraints, and hurdles as possible during capture. I think that for this stage, focusing on quantity is a good choice too.
To remove constraints as much as possible, immediacy matters. You need a system where, the moment something comes to mind, you can capture it right away without dawdling. In my case, I've set up my iPhone so that pressing the Action Button lets me start a note immediately. If something occurs to me while I'm walking down the street, I can start writing within a second. This is where GTD's task capture and Zettelkasten's fleeting notes go.
If typing on a phone is a hassle and speaking comes more naturally, you can try voice memos. If you prefer analog, you can always carry a notebook and pen. Honestly, which method you use isn't that important. Everyone has their own tastes. What matters is removing constraints and capturing as much as possible. That's why immediacy matters. Whenever something comes to mind, capture it right away.
2. Empty It Regularly
Capture is easier than you'd think, because it takes no effort. Everyone can easily build a system that lets them jot something down within a second of thinking of it. After all, we all built the habit of taking diligent notes back in school.
Emptying what you've captured, though, is hard. It's like how we took notes diligently but found it hard to build the habit of reviewing them. It takes effort because you have to think as you process things. When it comes to the habit of emptying your inbox, I have no advice beyond saying that it matters. All I can say is to make the time and actually do it. In the end, what counts is putting it into practice. Every night before bed, I make sure to spend about 30 minutes emptying out my captured notes and tasks. I don't like fixing it in my calendar every single day either, but if I don't deliberately carve out this time, the inbox just keeps piling up, so I have no choice. It takes action.
Before bed, I empty out what I've captured or review something.
The steps that come after capture unfold starting from the process of emptying what you've captured. I plan to cover that in a later newsletter.
3. Minimize the Number of Inboxes
Because of the regular emptying process I just described, it's best to keep the number of inboxes to a minimum. Emptying inboxes scattered in every direction is maddening. Unfortunately, though, I can't reduce the number of inboxes through willpower alone. Email, Jira, Slack, Discord, conversations with other people, things to read later, my own thoughts and tasks... Information I need to pay attention to comes in through many channels. I considered using an automation tool like Zapier to funnel everything into one place, but it seemed pointless. It's better to handle this part by being resourceful. Let's just get used to it.
Still, where I can, I keep the number of inboxes to a minimum. In my case, I capture all unprocessed tasks and ideas in Apple Notes. When someone suddenly comes by my desk at work and we have a casual chat that turns up useful information, I capture that in Apple Notes too. At the very least, the information I write myself goes in one place.
Another post related to capture: