Take a screen shot

An easy way to remember things when you're on the go

Sarah Hart-Unger, my co-host on the Best of Both Worlds podcast, loves to run. She also loves to listen to podcasts while she runs. She realized that sometimes a host would say something she wanted to remember, but of course she wasn’t going to be able to jot that down while speeding along.

Her solution? Take a screen shot. She would take a screen shot showing where she was in that particular podcast (say, 10:47 in). Then, later, when she was back at her desk, she could go back to that spot in the podcast and write down whatever tidbit she found fascinating

Remembering something fleeting

I think this is a great idea for anything you want to capture on the fly. I hadn’t thought of taking a screen shot of podcasts, but I do use that function for other things.

For instance, I review a reasonable number of books. In the olden days, I’d have publishers send me galley copies (printed pre-publication manuscripts) so I could mark them up and highlight quotes I might use. These days, most people want to send out electronic galleys — which I totally understand. There’s no paper, no shipping, and no hoping the reviewer recycles responsibly afterwards. But I really struggle to take notes on anything electronic. I’d be reading on my phone (because I always have my phone with me) and then have to find paper to write something down, which is a high bar for a long quote I wasn’t sure I would use.

Then I realized I could take a screen shot of whatever page I found the cool quote on. I would save the screen shot to my photos and then later look back through them and pull out the information I intended to use. This is now how I handle reviews of anything I read electronically.

I also use the screen shot function to capture design ideas I see on social media, and even the names and authors of articles that I have found online, say if I’m researching a topic while sitting at a kid’s gymnastic lesson.

When things can’t be fully processed

Now I know there are all sorts of other ways people collect these bits of information. People paste design ideas to Pinterest boards or Houzz pages, and can look through all of them later if they consult with a designer or are standing in Home Depot choosing paint shades. People email themselves links to articles so they can go right back there from their inboxes later.

All of that can work, and makes a lot of sense for articles — except that if I have the title, author, and date, I know I will be able to Google it again if I decide I need it. That’s the key word: If. I like the screen shot concept because it’s so non-committal. Rather than finding six nearly identical tables on social media and pasting them all to Pinterest, I later look at my screen shots and choose one or two to send to the designer. Same with articles I might cite. When I process my email I’m doing everything as I go through my inbox. It will annoy me to have links to different articles in very different spots of my inbox. The screen shots, on the other hand, can sit on my photo roll until I plan to work on that particular project.

Plus a screen shot is really, really quick. So, today, if there’s something you think you might want to remember later, take a screen shot. That way, you don’t have to rely on your brain. Which is good. Because your brain is way too busy for stuff like that.