You are leaving an inspiring homeschool conference, workshop, practicum, event and your brain has reached saturation point. In fact, if you are like me, you are walking sideways to counterbalance the ton of notes in your tote bag. Thoughts of “Naptime, when is naptime? Coffee, where is coffee?” fill your mind. You desperately want to hold onto the information, but it seems to fade with each step you take.
Miraculously, my tilting self made its way home and while sitting in the middle of my pile of notes, brochures, handouts, bookmarks, stickers and random chocolate wrappers, an epiphany hit. I had to get a grip on this informational insanity or finger cramps from note taking would be in vain. Information would fade, never to be seen again. A solution appeared. Resolve grew firm. With Evernote in hand, I plunged my smartphone in the air as if releasing Excalibur from its stone. Drama is never lacking in our homeschool.
After making sure no chocolate remained from random candy wrappers, I started taking photos of handwritten notes (digital notes give me an eye twitch) and saving them into Evernote. Photos from a workshop were inserted into a single note and tagged with the name of presenter, title of talk, conference name along with anything else I could imagine. A folder with the event name was created to hold everything together. Since multiple photos are easily placed in a single note, time passed quickly.
Once I entered camera mode, it was hard to stop. Business cards, brochures, handouts made their way into a folder. Discount codes never to be washed with socks again, websites would not disappear into obscurity! Everything had a place. Peace in controlled chaos.
Half the battle was won. Excalibur was eager to battle onward. Victory was on the horizon!
Data stored does not make for data remembered. If I did not retrieve the information then all of my hard work would merely result in a virtual File 13. More had to be achieved if I was going to remember anything at all. After finding a hidden piece of chocolate that had bravely escaped from a wrapper, I started phase two. Operation Excalibur Remember.
I sat down, pondered my calendar and found bits of time I could use to review. I added Reminders to my notes so a notification would pop up to tell me to look at it again. Since I knew I’d be overwhelmed with everything at once, I decided to review only a few notes a week. As I review a note, I’ll jot down further thoughts, create action steps if needed and reschedule again for a future date if necessary. Each review will be brief, just enough to pull me back into the moment.
I can already foresee future events. I’ll be taking photos while waiting for the next session, scheduling reminders while standing in line and be organized before I see my front door. Of course, exhaustion could still be coursing through my veins and delusions of grandeur are rampant, but I can dream!