EVERYDAY TOOLS
Keeping a pocket notebook.
A notebook does not have to contain a polished diary. It can hold a street name, a sketch of a room, a sentence heard on a train, or the dimensions of a shelf.
Small entries are easier to maintain than an ambitious system. Date the page, write the detail, and stop when the detail has been captured. Empty space is useful too.
Reading old pages turns ordinary fragments into a record of what once seemed worth noticing.