Have you ever come across a great recommendation online and later forgotten about it?
You could have saved it in a number of ways.
But you didn’t.
You’re not alone. All of us do it. So why do we let these great ideas slip away?
Because we believe we can easily find them later.
You can thank search engines for this. We’re so used to relying on them to answer our questions that we forget there are some things even a search bar can’t answer.
Consider for a moment where you get your suggestions. We’ll stick to just online for now. You have websites, blogs, forums, social media, apps, email, and messaging services. There are lots of places to find good ideas.
There are lots of places for those ideas to hide as well.
But If something is online shouldn’t Google be able to find it?
Not always.
Google may be able to find that New York Times article about a great new restaurant in San Francisco, but you’re not able to search for a friend’s Facebook status update that mentioned a new book you should read. There is a lot of information out there that isn’t shared with our search engine. Our connected world can be a pretty disconnected place. The web can also be pretty unpredictable too. Especially with social media, things don’t tend to stay where they are. A new bar might be on the front page of your feed today and not be there tomorrow.
If you don’t preserve a good idea when you first find it, you may never see it again.
It’s time we start treating recommendations online the same way we treat them offline. When you read about an interesting television show in a magazine at the doctors office or overhear someone raving about a new film on the train, you find a way to save this information for later. Why? Because you know that going back to find a magazine or tracking down a stranger on a train is impractical (if not impossible). The chaos of searching for an online suggestion is really no different.
Usually, it doesn’t even get this far. Often we can barely recall something we came across in passing. If we didn’t save it to begin with, we may not even remember to search for it. It either becomes a great missed experience or a frustrating treasure hunt.
Fortunately, it’s preventable.
All you need to do is get in the habit of saving these great ideas at the moment you discover them (or as soon as possible). This can be challenging for a lot of people because the tools they have available to them aren’t well-suited for saving and managing suggestions. Finding a solution that works for you and helps to build the habit of tracking recommendations is a must. Finding that solution and building that habit may take some time, but it’s worth it.
Experience more and forget less. Stop searching and start doing.
Your time is valuable. Make the most of it.
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