Every productivity system starts with capture. Dig into any productivity system and they all begin with capture. Capture in Tiago Forte's CODE, capture in GTD, the fleeting note in Zettelkasten: all of them are about collecting materials, tasks, and ideas. If you want to raise your productivity as a knowledge worker, it's worth taking another look at your capture stage.
A few principles for capture hold up everywhere.
1. Remove Constraints
Brainstorming has a rule: 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, during capture it's best to get rid of filters, constraints, and hurdles as much as possible. For this stage at least, I think focusing on quantity is a good choice.
To remove constraints as much as possible, immediacy matters. When something comes to mind, you need a system that lets you capture it right away, without dragging your feet. In my case, I've set up my iPhone so that pressing the Action Button opens 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 is easier, try voice memos. If you prefer analog, carry a notebook and pen with you at all times. Honestly, which method you use isn't that important. Everyone has their own taste. What matters is 'remove constraints and capture as much as you can'. That's why immediacy matters. Whatever comes to mind, capture it right away.
2. Empty It Regularly
Capturing is easier than you'd think, because it takes little effort. Anyone can easily build a system that lets them jot something down within a second of thinking of it. After all, we all built up the habit of taking notes diligently in school.
Emptying what you've captured is the hard part. It's like how we took notes diligently but found it hard to build the habit of reviewing them. You have to think as you process, so it takes effort. As for the habit of emptying your inbox, I have no advice beyond saying that it's important. Just make the time and 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 things in my calendar every day either, but if I don't deliberately make 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 stages 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 I just described, it's best to keep the number of inboxes to a minimum. Emptying inboxes scattered in every direction is a distracting mess. Unfortunately, I can't reduce the number 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 routes. I thought about using an automation tool like Zapier to funnel everything into one place, but it seemed pointless. It's better to handle this part with a bit of know-how. Let's just get used to it.
Still, where possible, I keep the number of inboxes to a minimum. In my case, I capture all unorganized tasks and ideas in Apple Notes. Information that comes up when a colleague stops by my desk at work for a casual chat also goes into Apple Notes. At the very least, everything I write down myself goes in one place.
Another piece on capture