The Capture Habit: What to Write Down Daily (And What to Skip)

In my last post, I shared how I review notes from three time horizons every morning. But several of you may be asking the obvious question: “What exactly should I be capturing?”

Here’s the truth: I failed at this twice before it finally stuck. Both times, I made the same mistake — I thought I needed to write perfectly crafted journal entries. I’d sit down, stare at a blank page, and give up after a few days of forced, awkward paragraphs.

Then I changed my approach entirely.

Capture, Don’t Compose

The goal isn’t to write beautiful prose. It’s to think out loud — to verbalize what you’re noticing and get it somewhere it can live.

Here’s an actual note from my system:

“11:15 [Chicago, IL] — Had a good meeting with Mark, Mike, and Jim this morning. We’re going ahead with the creative agency’s proposal and then will continue to work on a larger strategic plan for the other components we discussed.”

That’s it. No deep reflection. No poetry. Just the facts that future-me will want to know.

The Five-Minute Evening Recap

Every evening (or the next morning if I forget), I capture:

• What I actually did — Not my to-do list, but what really happened
• Key decisions I made — And why I made them
• How I’m feeling — One sentence is enough
• Any metric that matters — Weight, sales calls, words written, whatever you’re tracking
• Something I noticed — Could be anything from a funny thing my kid said to a business insight

This takes five minutes. Sometimes less.

The Stuff That Pays Dividends Later

Beyond the daily basics, I capture:

• Predictions and gut feelings — I’m 90% certain this new marketing approach will increase engagement by at least 30%.” When you review these later, you’ll learn where your intuition is reliable.
• Solutions to problems — Even small ones. That Excel formula you figured out? The workaround for that software bug? Capture it.
• Meeting outcomes — Not the whole meeting, just decisions and next steps. My note about the Development Committee meeting became invaluable when reviewing our strategic plan progress.
• Health stuff — Symptoms, treatments, what worked. I’ve tracked a lingering injuries that get aggravated by running. My notes help me see patterns — what triggers them, how many rest days actually help, what stretches make a difference.

What NOT to Capture

Don’t capture:

• Long meeting transcripts (just outcomes)
• Other people’s content verbatim (make it your own)
• Complaints without solutions (vent elsewhere)
• Daily minutiae that won’t matter in a week (unless you record how you feel about it)

The 10-Second Voice Memo Hack

Here’s what really made this stick for me: voice memos.

Walking between meetings? Voice memo. Driving home with a fresh insight? Voice memo. Just made a decision? Voice memo.

My iPhone transcribes them automatically. I paste them into my notes later. No friction, no ceremony, just capture.

Start Ridiculously Small

If you’re starting today, capture just three things:

1. One thing you did
2. One decision you made
3. One thing you noticed

That’s it. Date it. Save it.

Do this for seven days, and next week you’ll have something meaningful to review. After a month, patterns emerge. After a year, you’ll have built something invaluable — an external record of your thinking, growth, and problem-solving.

At this point we’re only talking about basic journal entries. When we get to capturing your research, goals, and strategies for achieving them, it will be like adding rocket fuel to your knowledge engine.

Tomorrow, I’ll show you exactly how the three horizons work and why reviewing notes from a week, month, and year ago creates such powerful perspective shifts.

But for now, just start capturing. Open a note. Write today’s date. Record one thing.

Your future self will thank you.

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