Note-taking is NOT

just for writers! 

     Well, my writers critique group that meets at 6:45pm will never have to cross the bridge of me being unexpectedly absent due to the nearly pressing need I almost had to have to stay home to watch the 7pm Mets playoff for the National League wildcard slot, so I guess I won’t tell them.  See that?  Some good things come from losing. 

     You probably knew that baseballs, by the way, are rubbed up with mud before every professional game to render them less slippery and allow, especially, the pitcher to get a better grip?  Maybe you didn’t know, though that the “magic mud” that’s used for all pro team baseballs comes from one of two secret swamp locations in New Jersey!  Let’s hope not too many bodies surface while they’re digging in these swamps.

     This makes me wonder what each of us does to get a better grip on ourselves before strolling on stage to face the spotlights of business encounters?  You’ve heard me extoll the virtues of deep breathing a few thousand times, and it IS still the best way to collect your senses, calm down your muscles and make your brain more alert [complete detailed step-by-step at “ARE YOU BREATHING?” under Magazine Articles tab above]. 

•      There are of course other helpful things to think about, like being prepared with notes, and TAKING notes . . . no one is ever too smart or too experienced to excuse her or him self from note-taking!                                                          
•      A pocketpad should be as routine an item to carry as a cellphone, pen, and wristwatch. 
•      Note-taking is not just for writers!  Even the best and most successful mechanics and tech people (and surgeons!) I’ve known jot down information and ideas as they go through their workdays.  How else do you manage to remember all the details of a problem-solution situation after half a dozen telephone, email and walk-in interruptions? 
•      And, in case any of you wiseguy waiters and waitresses with your photographic memories are listening, stop playing show-off games and write the damn orders down; you’ll get bigger tips and make fewer mistakes.    
•      Besides, there’s nothing like flipping over a notebook cover to recite back a quote from someone (whether it’s to flatter or to snare a trap!), and –after all– don’t you like it when someone asks you to repeat something or speak slower so he or she can write it down? 

     Get back in the pen and paper habit:  sentences, phrases, key words, names, places, dates, diagrams, bullet points.  It may surprise you to know that there ARE some things that can’t be text-messaged.  Got that down?     halalpiar

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