People who really get into the idea of maintaining a large personal information store generally seem to start fashioning technology that suits them, anything fr

People who really get into the idea of maintaining a large personal information store generally seem to start fashioning technology that suits them, anything from paper, cards, and filing boxes to original software development. And the problem of information loss is, indeed, well known. Anyone who has to take meeting minutes and distil them into a report faces a huge task; human conversation regularly drifts off topic. We have such a highly connected world now that in-brain memory, while still undeniably valuable, isn't quite as important as it used to be - certainly not as much as it was in the ancient era, where oral traditions were the rule. If you want to know general facts and principles, these days, you hit up a search engine. The only part that has to be committed to memory now is the practice and understanding necessary for subject fluency. I don't concern myself with knowing everything, but with being able to act naturally moment-to-moment, following small whims, and yet still progress towards some greater task with a few habits and techniques that will develop it regardless of the angle I am using at that moment. For my own ideas I use a variety of techniques now: To quickly develop stuff in the near term, I open an empty, private chat room and monologue into it. To visualize, brainstorm, and recall larger things, I make mind maps. For basic to-dos I use plain text or Trello. When I need visuals, I keep around some binder paper to doodle with.