October 5, 2007

“We need to make a mental note of that somewhere.” 

Your first read of this quote will likely not engender much of a reaction.  When you read it again and focus on the suggestion of where the “mental note” should be made, you just might laugh out loud.  

We all say similar things.  This quote came during a late night proposal meeting when ideas and suggestions were being bandied about at breakneck speed.  In the midst of all the less than groundbreaking ideas, Bob, our finance director and a seasoned proposal veteran, heard what sounded like a great idea to him.  Showing pleasant surprise that there was actually a thought worth recording, Bob recognized the opinion by saying, “We need to make a mental note of that somewhere.”

Everyone in the room somehow understood Bob’s real message:  someone had just shared an important idea and we needed to pay attention to it.  Simultaneously, we also saw the humor in what he actually said.  When the laughter subsided, more than just “a mental note somewhere” was recorded.  In fact, meeting minutes captured the idea for follow up and action.

All of us are fond of making mental notes.  We subconsciously elect to catalog them “somewhere” at “sometime”.  Unfortunately, the place and time never seem to arrive.  Mental notes are thus lost in the next flurry of ideas or series of meetings.  Designs, concepts, brainstorms, intuitions, aims, feelings, and even our aspirations or dreams are all worthy of formal inscription.  Write them down.

The beauty of something inscribed is that it is conspicuous.  Mental notes, on the other hand, are “somewhere” in our brains…and who could expect to find anything there?