I had a coworker and friend over a decade ago who swore by them. On the cover, he always wrote "Shadow" and any time any one asked him a question, he always said "The Shadow knows" and would thumb through until he found it. This guy had journals going back over 20 years. He was an incredibly smart guy.

It never rubbed off. I rely on my memory almost exclusively.

I almost never walk into a meeting with a paper and writing utensil. If I do, it is likely for show. When I do spend the time writing down instructions, they are extremely detailed - but it is done for other people. I am going to be 2 ** 5 this November and people keep telling me that your memory starts failing you as you get older. Funny thing is, people have been telling me that all my life.

I remember being about 10 years old and quizzing my step-mother if she knew the order of the planets forwards and backwards. Her reply was - I used. Let's see if you still know them so well in twenty years. I was sure to remind her last year that I still knew them forwards and backwards despite pluto no longer being considered a planet. I am often the "go to" source when someone needs to recall something. I have a good memory and rely on it.

On the other hand, my memory seems to depend on adequate sleep. That's something I haven't really been able to get reliably in about the last 6 months. Recall time is slower and inaccurate. Sometimes it is worse to to misremember then it is to not remember at all. When I absolutely do need to write something down - it is in email. Email is the perfect medium for me.

Email for note taking allows you to "remember" using any number of hooks (Who, What, When, Where & Why). It also is useful if you want to break up a body of work in time intervals for the purposes of writing status reports :-)