I’m in NYC this week! It’s been a busy week of work and travel… so you can imagine how it can get hectic sometimes. But I have a system that works for me and keeps me in check at all times!
Open my phone right now and you’d find a notes app that most people would probably call a mess. Pinned notes, random idea dumps, feedback I’m saving for a team member, goals I wrote down on a hiking trail in Wyoming, a list of people I want to see the next time I’m in Germany.
To me, it’s not a mess. It’s how I think. This is a breakdown of that system, and why I believe every founder, executive, and serious creative should have one of their own.
HOW MY IDEAS COME TO ME
Travelling sparks my ideas. Every time, without fail.
When I’m on the road I have full energy, fewer commitments, and I’m observing everything around me. Being in motion opens a part of your brain that doesn’t get much airtime in the office.
So I utilize my time, while I’m travelling. I’m editing photos, reviewing deliverables, brainstorming, drafting ideas. Whatever needs to get done.
And while I’m doing it, I put on a podcast that feeds my brain: TBPN, Group Chat, Founders. I listen to stories, conversations, motivational content. Trust me… what you listen to matters, just as much as the work!
Most of my thoughts and ideas end up in the same place: my notes app.
THE SYSTEM: APPLE NOTES
We have official tools at BDX: Asana, Gmail, Dropbox etc. And they serve their purpose.
But my actual thinking lives in Apple Notes… and it always will.
The reason is simple: zero friction. It’s always on my phone and it syncs automatically across every device. When an idea hits you on a street corner at 10pm, you don’t want to open three apps and log in. You want to write it down before it disappears. Notes is always there.
Here’s what my pinned notes actually look like right now:
- To-Do’s This Week: my running list of things I want to bring to the weekly team meeting. Not emergencies, those get handled immediately. I screenshot it and drop it in our group chat before the meeting.
- One goal for the week, one goal for the day: a simple personal accountability note. Lightweight, but it creates a filter for everything else.
- Random Thoughts: an idea dump from a hiking trip in Wyoming. Everything that came to me on the trail went straight in. Some of it has already become content. Some of it is still waiting.
- Personal Brand: prep notes before each session on this topic, plus short newsletter ideas I don’t want to lose.
- Yearly Goals: exactly what it sounds like. I come back to it more than I probably should.
- Event Ideas for BDX USA: a live, evolving list of what we could build next.
Every couple of months I go through all of it, the pinned notes first, then everything else. It keeps things from falling through the cracks. A good idea you don’t revisit might as well not exist.
HOW IT HELPED ME LEAD
Here’s something most people don’t do… keeping notes and reminders for people in your life. Close friends/ family, team members, people I collaborate with regularly. Before check-ins or one-on-ones, I’ll open that note and remind myself what to bring up.
I’ll have a funny story I want to tell someone the next time I see them and by the time I do, it’s gone. Or I’ll notice something in a production, a small mistake, something worth addressing, and I know that if I text about it right now I’ll just derail someone’s evening.
Over the years I’ve learned that everyone receives feedback differently, and not everything is urgent enough for a 8pm text asking about work. So if it’s not mission-critical, I let it sit and put it in the note. And the next time I’m with that person, in the office, or zoom, I bring it up.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Keep in mind, I’m not saying my system is perfect. I’m sharing it because most people have no system at all, and they’re losing ideas every single day because of it! You don’t need a specific app or categories/ color codes or a productivity framework.
You need somewhere to put things.
Whether it’s quotes, ads you saw that you want to reverse-engineer. Maybe you had a dream and want to remember again.
Write it down. All of it.
The ideas that built BDX didn’t come from boardrooms. They came from airport lounges, hiking trails, late nights, and a notes app full of things that had no business being in a meeting agenda.
The system isn’t the point. The habit of capturing is. Start there.
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Hope you liked today’s letter, lots of info I hope you learn from. See you next week.-Benni
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