There’s nothing more frustrating than having a brilliant idea leave my head as quickly as it came.

It took me till my senior year to put an end to this frustration when I finally learned the importance of writing things down.

One moment I have a great idea for a column, the next it’s gone.

I’ll rattle my brain to remember but sometimes the thought stays lost forever.

Unless, of course, I jot the thought down somewhere convenient in a timely matter. And mental notes don’t count.

Being a writer, I have thoughts and ideas on columns, stories or essays constantly. Those thought patterns are unlikely to come in the same form if I don’t write them somewhere I can easily recount.

But even writing down the little things, like remembering to put butter down on my shopping list makes a world of difference.

It keeps my life in order.

There is so much busyness in the life of a college student that it’s nearly impossible to stay on track without writing things down.

And while notes on my phone are nice, when it comes to to-do lists, making a physical, pen and paper list is my favorite.

There’s something just so satisfying in checking off the items on a to-do list.

Maybe some people really do have the capability of thinking back to the daily to-do’s or creative ideas.

But for me, I’ve found that writing things down, is up there on my list of to-do’s.

Julianna Eveland can be reached at [email protected] or @janeca12 on Twitter.