I think I have done that at times, although in the form of getting up, turning on my computer, writing the thoughts, saving them, and then trying to go back to sleep. That involves significantly more activity than a bedside notebook though, and that activity might itself be waking me up. Simplifying the number of steps necessary might help me get additional sleep, so it’s worth a try.
When I think of something I want to record quickly, and my computer isn’t at hand, I just record it as a text note or voice memo on my phone. (I have a dumbphone, but it still has voice memo capabilities.) I keep my phone by my bed when I sleep, and have Voice Memos set to a shortcut on the phone, so if I wake up with a thought, It’s really easy to record it. I haven’t actually re-listened to any of the ideas, since I know none of them are urgent, but just knowing that the thought is safely recorded and that I could theoretically continue working on it later is enough for me to relax and stop worrying about it. (I also back up the recordings to my computer occasionally for further peace of mind.)
I have become a notebook carrier precisely because the steps you describe were too large a trivial inconvenience, even with a computer to hand. First day I got it I filled a third (edit: no, a quarter) of it. May not help your sleep, but should help get more of the ideas down so you can see if they were worth it :-)
How do you use your notebook? What size do you use? I ask because I’ve been keeping a diary for more than a year that lives on my person at all times, and I boggle at the idea of filling a third of one in a day unless it’s a very small notebook indeed, or you have very large handwriting or do lots of doodling, mindmapping or such. I get about 270 words a page out of a Moleskine Pocket and it’s a habit I’m glad I picked up, even if I could be doing even better with it, it makes my memory much better, because I review them every so often.
A slightly-larger-than-A7-sized pocket notebook that was 50p from Asda. The pages are quite small − 50-ish words/page. I had a bit of stuff backed up in my head to get down—not quite mindmapping, but some looping through thoughts about thoughts and some sentences being followed with a paragraph of caveats. I’ve just counted pages, and I filled a quarter of it, not a third − 19 pages out of 80, single side. I keep it in my jacket pocket with a pen, though I’m largely home for the next week or two so should keep it closer to hand. I don’t actually do anything with the notes as yet; presumably one day I will type them up. Just getting it down helps clarify my thinking, though.
Yeah, cramping my hand into a claw took me about five minutes. I shook it out and continued …
Learning to grill oneself Socratically can help. I do quite a lot of my best thinking talking to myself, and tell loved ones this and firmly state my refusal to give it up when they look at me like I’m some sort of crazy person.
I think I have done that at times, although in the form of getting up, turning on my computer, writing the thoughts, saving them, and then trying to go back to sleep. That involves significantly more activity than a bedside notebook though, and that activity might itself be waking me up. Simplifying the number of steps necessary might help me get additional sleep, so it’s worth a try.
When I think of something I want to record quickly, and my computer isn’t at hand, I just record it as a text note or voice memo on my phone. (I have a dumbphone, but it still has voice memo capabilities.) I keep my phone by my bed when I sleep, and have Voice Memos set to a shortcut on the phone, so if I wake up with a thought, It’s really easy to record it. I haven’t actually re-listened to any of the ideas, since I know none of them are urgent, but just knowing that the thought is safely recorded and that I could theoretically continue working on it later is enough for me to relax and stop worrying about it. (I also back up the recordings to my computer occasionally for further peace of mind.)
I have become a notebook carrier precisely because the steps you describe were too large a trivial inconvenience, even with a computer to hand. First day I got it I filled a third (edit: no, a quarter) of it. May not help your sleep, but should help get more of the ideas down so you can see if they were worth it :-)
Hello fellow notebook carrier!
How do you use your notebook? What size do you use? I ask because I’ve been keeping a diary for more than a year that lives on my person at all times, and I boggle at the idea of filling a third of one in a day unless it’s a very small notebook indeed, or you have very large handwriting or do lots of doodling, mindmapping or such. I get about 270 words a page out of a Moleskine Pocket and it’s a habit I’m glad I picked up, even if I could be doing even better with it, it makes my memory much better, because I review them every so often.
A slightly-larger-than-A7-sized pocket notebook that was 50p from Asda. The pages are quite small − 50-ish words/page. I had a bit of stuff backed up in my head to get down—not quite mindmapping, but some looping through thoughts about thoughts and some sentences being followed with a paragraph of caveats. I’ve just counted pages, and I filled a quarter of it, not a third − 19 pages out of 80, single side. I keep it in my jacket pocket with a pen, though I’m largely home for the next week or two so should keep it closer to hand. I don’t actually do anything with the notes as yet; presumably one day I will type them up. Just getting it down helps clarify my thinking, though.
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Yeah, cramping my hand into a claw took me about five minutes. I shook it out and continued …
Learning to grill oneself Socratically can help. I do quite a lot of my best thinking talking to myself, and tell loved ones this and firmly state my refusal to give it up when they look at me like I’m some sort of crazy person.
Voice recognition software has gotten pretty good and conveniently portable.
Just sayin’.