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43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

Let us now praise Post-it notes


Taking Notes
Originally uploaded by philgyford.

Phil Gyford has a neat trick, by which he adds a few large Post-it notes to the inside cover of a book he’s starting to read. Handy way to make notes on the go.

I’m also a big fan of these removable/re-placeable Avery Write-On tabs, which you can stick in the front cover of your Moleskine or similar notebook. Makes it easy to do the Jerry Brito trick—creating ad hoc sections and shifting the location of your current TODO page, etc.

In other news, Amazon should be delivering my copy of Rapid Problem Solving with Post-it Notes tomorrow. Dunno if it’ll be any good, but it does look intriguing and got good reviews.

Got a good sticky-note trick to share? Planning? Brainstorming? Contextual notes?

Crystal's picture

Actually, the Rapid Solving book...

Actually, the Rapid Solving book is a pretty good one. I just graduated with my M.A. in Critical & Creative Thinking at UMass Boston and it was a technique that was used in several classes on multiple projects. The professors really latched onto it. It's a very handy way of brainstorming and organizing ideas.

Another tip: Post it notes are also excellent if you are scheduling an event of some kind and have multiple sessions/speakers going on.

Use a white board or big post-it sheets on the wall to mark out the calendar structure (day or week). Then use regular size post-its to mark out each session or speaker. Place them on the calendar so you can easily see and re-order as needed. This allows you to see the big picture and to be able to make sure your topics/speakers won't conflict with each other.

 
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