There’s a moment in every team where the air changes.
Someone asks, “Wait—what did we decide last time?”
And suddenly the conversation feels like it’s sliding backward. People start guessing. Someone opens old chat threads. Someone confidently remembers the wrong thing. Then the decision becomes emotional again, not because it’s controversial, but because the trail is gone.
That’s not a memory issue. That’s Memory Drift.
Tiago Forte’s idea of a Second Brain is simple: your brain is for thinking, not for storage. When you have a trusted place to capture and retrieve what matters, you stop rebuilding your thinking from scratch. You stop paying twice for the same lesson.
Austin Kleon adds a second layer. “Show your work” isn’t about showing off. It’s about leaving a trail. When progress becomes visible, work becomes believable. People cooperate faster. You cooperate with your own future self, too.
A good record is where those two ideas meet.
A Record Doesn’t Have to Be Text
Most people hear “record” and think minutes, documentation, or a long summary nobody reads.
But the most powerful record at work is often visual.
A photo of the whiteboard before it gets erased. A screenshot of the slide where the decision was made. A rough draft that shows what changed. A before-and-after snapshot that proves improvement happened.
Visual records don’t just help you remember. They help you feel progress.
And when work feels heavy, progress is the thing that keeps people going.
The Trail of Work
Here’s the habit I use: every meaningful session leaves behind one trail.
Not ten files. Not a long report. Just one page of clarity and one piece of proof.
That’s it.
When you do this consistently, the team stops asking, “Ano nga ulit?” because the work has a home. You don’t “argue” what was decided. You can point to it.
And pointing is lighter than explaining.
The Tool You Can Use Every Time
After any meeting or work session that changed something, write one short record that answers four questions: what was happening, what did we decide, what happens next, and when will this matter again.
Give it a title you can search later. Use a simple format like: Topic — Decision — Date. This one small move is underrated. Most notes don’t fail because people didn’t write them. Notes fail because people can’t find them.
In the record itself, keep your Context tight. Two sentences is usually enough. Then write the Decision in one sentence. If you can’t do that, the team probably isn’t clear yet. After that, write the Next step, and assign one owner with one date. Finally, add one line for the check-in—when you’ll revisit and what “success” will look like.
Then attach proof.
One photo. One screenshot. One visual artifact.
A record is not complete until there’s something you can see.
How I Do This in Notion
Notion works well for this because it turns records into something you can retrieve in seconds. I don’t treat it like a dumping ground. I treat it like a working log—a living trail.
I keep one database called Trail of Work Log. Each entry is one decision trail. The page holds the short record, and the file area holds the proof. This matters because it keeps the habit frictionless. I’m not thinking, “Where do I put this?” I’m only thinking, “Did I leave a trail?”
Inside that database, I keep only a few properties—the ones that help future me find things fast. There’s a date, a topic, an owner, a deadline, a revisit date, and a simple status like Draft, In Progress, Done, or Re-Decide. The rest is optional, but those basics make the log searchable and sortable without effort.
The best part is the template.
In Notion, I create one page template called New Trail. When I click it, the page already contains the prompts: Context, Decision, Next, Risks, and Check-in. It also has a section at the bottom where I drop the photo or screenshot. This matters because the habit becomes automatic. I’m not designing a note every time. I’m just filling in blanks while the meeting is still fresh.
And here’s the trick that makes it feel rewarding, not just “admin.”
I use two views.
The List view is for finding decisions quickly when someone asks. The Gallery view is for seeing progress. Gallery view shows the proof images like cards. When you scroll through it, you don’t just remember meetings—you see movement. That’s where the record becomes motivating, not merely informative.
How “Show Your Work” Looks in a Team
After the meeting, I don’t message a long recap.
I share the trail.
I paste the Notion link in the team channel with one line: what we decided, who owns the next step, and when we revisit. That’s “show your work” in a way that helps people act, not just react.
Over time, this changes the culture. Less confusion. Less re-deciding. Less emotional spinning.
More forward motion.
Do This in the Next 24 Hours
Pick one meeting from last week that still feels fuzzy.
Create one Trail entry in Notion. Write the decision in one sentence. Assign the next step to one owner with one date. Attach one piece of proof, even if it’s just a screenshot of the slide you discussed.
Then share the link where the work lives.
Not because you want to be organized.
Because you want to stop restarting.
If you’re tired of knowing but not doing…
Let’s make one shift easier to live daily.
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