Sometimes a funny thing happens when you hang up the phone after an important conversation. You forget everything that just happened!  Haven’t we all been there?  I know I have.  I have a fail proof way of dealing with this.  I take notes on life.

Almost every time I’m on the phone — I take notes.  Even if it’s not an “important” call — I jot down words, phrases and questions that come up.  This way I pay better attention and really focus on what’s being said.  And I don’t lose track of my follow up questions.  It turns out you don’t even have to really take notes — you can just doodle.  There was a recent study in Applied Cognitive Psychology that found people who doodle were 29 percent better at a memory test than people who didn’t doodle.

I also use the “note-taking technique” during meetings and when I read magazines.  If I don’t — I move on to the next project and poof everything I learned goes out of my head.  I’m constantly writing down tidbits I want to remember, websites I want to check out and ideas that I have.  It helps you to think about what you’re doing and be mindful — remember multitasking is impossible!