I’ve gotten in the habit of having pen and paper with me nearly everywhere I go, to better capture the ideas that aren’t always thoughtful enough to show up when I can do something about them. When I’m mobile and writing something down isn’t easy (or safe), I use Jott.com.

Neither are very helpful when exercising. Last weekend, I had a number of good ideas during a great morning run. Unfortunately, I had no way of recording them, so most were lost.

Yesterday, on the same run, I took a small digital voice recorder with me. Merely pressed a button when I had something to say or remember.

I came home with 14 short recordings, some incredibly tactical and some more long-term valuable.

I’d recommend this approach at the gym as well, especially if it’s noisy enough that people won’t think you’re talking to yourself like a crazy person. On the contrary, they just might admire the fact that you’re capturing all of the ideas that they routinely lose right back into the Stairmaster.

Still haven’t figured out the shower. I think my wife would draw the line at the waterproof whiteboard…