Writing Things Down So You Won’t Forget Them

Do you like to compile daily to-do lists? Not a to-do list someone else makes for you (like a honey-do list), but your own listing of tasks and appointments for the day. For much of my adult life I’ve done that and take some satisfaction in crossing an item off my list, knowing it’s been accomplished. 

Years ago, my employer enrolled me in two days of time management training. Admittedly, time management is a bit of a misnomer, because we can’t really manage time. We can’t slow it down; can’t speed it up; and certainly, can’t save it for later use. 

 

If it's important enough to
remember, write it down.

However, we can ‘budget’ our time, prioritizing the most important things so they don’t get pushed aside by squeaky-wheel, “urgent” things. I learned to give an ‘A’ priority to items that must be done, ones that would reflect negatively on me if I didn’t complete them. Other things would get a ‘B’ designation – nice to get them done, but if not there’s always tomorrow. I still practice that kind of prioritizing today.

Another thing I learned was to keep one master to-do list, rather than having separate ones for work and my personal life. That basically solved the problem of overscheduling – committing to something for work that conflicted with an important family activity or appointment. 

 

But the most important principle I learned about scheduling and daily planning was to write everything down. Experts say our greatest expenditure of mental energy is repeatedly having to remind ourselves not to forget something. Writing tasks and commitments down eliminates that need – as long as we remember where we wrote them.

 

Writing things down also can serve as a great asset for growing spiritually. At a conference or attending a worship service, for example, we use our eyes and ears to take in whatever’s being said. But how often have you left an event, having heard a powerful message, and then struggled to remember the profound things that impressed you?

 

An easy solution to that problem is to write it down as you’re hearing it. Behavioral scientists tell us that the more senses we engage in an experience, the easier it is to remember. If we see and hear something and then repeat it orally, we’re engaging several senses. Writing down key thoughts is another step in the process of retaining important information. As someone has termed it, “In the ears and over the lips and through the fingertips.”

 

Being a writer, this is second nature, but I always attend a worship service with pen in hand, ready to make notes of anything the pastor says that I want to recall later. I don’t always revisit what I’ve written down, but the simple act of writing down key thoughts helps to impress them on my mind.

 

Some people maintain journals as part of their regular prayer and quiet times. They jot down specific prayer requests and reread them later to see how God has responded. They also write thoughts and ideas they have while reading and studying the Scriptures. 

 

This can also help in doing what King David wrote: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your word…. I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:9,11). For people who find memorizing Bible verses to be a challenge, the physical act of writing down passages they want to remember can be very helpful. Again, the more senses we can involve in the ‘remembering process,’ the better.

 

The Bible’s final book was written by the apostle John, whom the Lord instructed to, “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later…” (Revelation 1:19). Much of the Old Testament, scholars tell us, originally was passed down through a very meticulous oral tradition, but over time the process of remembering what the Scriptures taught was made easier by writing down what God had inspired through numerous men.

 

Much of the New Testament consists of letters the apostle Paul wrote to believers in various regions. I suspect that in the process of writing, he not only communicated to his readers the truths God had taught him, but also reinforced for himself the doctrines and precepts he knew to be true. “This is why I write these things when I am absent….the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down” (2 Corinthians 13:10).

 

As Moses was beginning to conclude his leadership responsibilities and pass them along to Joshua, God commanded him, “Now write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness for Me against them” (Deuteronomy 31:19).

 

In a similar way, when God teaches us something important – whether through a sermon, something we hear over the radio, at a conference, in a Bible study, during a casual conversation, or as we’re reading the Scriptures – one of the best ways for retaining it is to write it down. That way we don’t have to expend unnecessary mental energy trying to remind ourselves not to forget. You could say it’s the ‘write thing to do’!

Remembering Not To Forget

More than three decades ago, one of my first assignments as a new CBMC staff member was to attend a one-day training session to learn how to properly use the daily planner then called "Time:Systems." (You know a daily planner must be good if you need training to use it right.)

Actually, I did learn a lot, especially that every day significant mental energy is expended trying to remind ourselves not to forget important things. The training taught me a simple solution to such forgetfulness: Write it down.

For decades my daily planner has been the solution
to my "forgetter": I just write things down I must remember.

When you write down things you want to remember, you only have to remember where you wrote down the stuff you need to remember. Got it?

I also learned to maintain only one to-do list, not separate lists for work and for personal concerns. That helps you avoid making commitments at work when you already have family obligations, and vice versa. Write it down, keep everything together, and simply remember to review your list occasionally. This frees up your mind for more pressing matters.

One other memory trick I discovered – actually this one I taught myself – was when I think of something I don’t want to forget, wherever and whenever that occurs, write it down immediately. Even if I awaken from a sound sleep.

Early in my newspaper career I learned this lesson the hard way. On a couple occasions I woke up in the middle of the night with great ideas for articles or columns. “That’s good. I’ll have to remember that in the morning,” I thought, before turning over to return to dreamland. Come morning the marvelous idea, whatever it was, was gone. Vanished, like a vapor.

Perhaps it could been the seed for the next great American novel, the secret to world peace, or something of that magnitude. But whatever it was, it had been withdrawn from my memory bank.

So I resolved that whenever I have an idea good enough to wake me up in the wee dark hours, I’d write it down. Right then and there. Whether in a notepad on the nightstand next to my bed, or actually getting up to type it on my computer. In fact, I did that just last night. I woke up with a crazy idea rattling around my mind – no idea where it had come from – but thought, “If I don’t write this down, it won’t be there when I get up in the morning.”

Now whether this idea ever amounts to anything, time will tell. But the point is, I didn’t have to fret about forgetting it. I lost no sleep reminding myself not to forget.

This is one reason God often tells His people, in essence, “Write it down.” For instance, after God used Moses to lead the Israelites to a decisive victory, He directed him, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered…” (Exodus 17:14).

Instructing His people to never forget the greatest commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength,” God instructed fathers in Israel to “Impress them on your children…. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).

New Testament authors frequently explained the importance of putting into writing the truths and principles that undergirded their faith. The apostle Paul wrote, “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you” (Philippians 3:1).

There are numerous other examples, but the point is simple: Write down what God has done in your life. So when times come, and they will, that you want to ask, “Lord, what have you done for me lately?” you have a supply of written reminders not only to help you remember His provision in the past, but also His promises for the future.

You can maintain a spiritual journal, make notations in the margins of your Bible, whatever works for you. How you do it makes little difference – just do it. Write what God has done in your life and periodically review what you’ve written.

And while you’re at it, be faithful to regularly read what others have written – in the Word of God. Even Jesus, when tempted by Satan, would respond, “It is written…,” and quote from the Scriptures. If it was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for us.