Image by Lisandro Moises
The caption of an Indian cellular firm says , “An Idea can change your life!” . Quite true . Great achievements are nothing but excellent implementation of great ideas . Those who are in the business of writing or blogging , tend to think more than others and hence are bound to get more ideas . But does everyone of them know how to manage them? Don’t you think many times it happens , when an idea strikes you and you plan to write about it but later tend to forget it due to some other commitments . Atleast I can say that it has happened with me in the past and hence I implemented some steps to manage ideas , which has helped a lot and hence I am sharing them here . The tips are very simple but they certainly help in idea retention and further increasing our productivity .
When you are at home (or working on your computer)…
1: Use Sticky Notes
An idea struck you?? .. write it… yes write at least 1 or 2 lines about it immediately . And instead of doing that in your computer , I’ll suggest you to use sticky notes first . You can write on them immediately and paste them on your monitor. These are quite handy and you will remember the idea till you have accomplished the task of implementing them in your posts . And if you think you’d rather save it in your computer , check this post by David . I think sticky notes are always quite handy.
2: Google it!
The next step should be googling your idea . Yes..find all relevant information about the idea using Google or Wikipedia and also research through some sites/blogs to know more about it .
3: Organize it!
Organize the scattered information using different tools like snagit or evernote . These tools help you to capture information from different places and keep them in one place so that you can refer to them when needed . However if you are not comfortable doing that , trust your pen and notepad . Yes…typing is yet to overtake writing with pen . Don’t believe?..well….even Gina Trapani of Lifehacker uses the same method.
When you are out and/or traveling…
My personal experience says that ideas strike more when you are not near your computer . So what do you do then?…Here are 3 simple tips to manage those ideas :-
1: Pen and Paper
If you are one of those who always carry a pen and a small notepad with them , then you know what to do . Just make use of them immediately when an idea comes to your mind . And when you reach home you can research on it on your computer .
2: Use your Cellphone!!
No pen or notepad?…have your cellphone?…great,use it to save 2-3 lines about your idea . It has happened with me many times when I got an idea while traveling in the cab and returning home . And when I reached home , I was busy in something else and forgot it . Hence now I use my cellphone to capture such random ideas . Also I’ll suggest you to set a reminder in your cell , so that you don’t forget after saving in it .
3: Just remember it !
And if you have no cellphone , paper or pen and an idea strikes you then the only solution is to remember it till you are home and then immediately use sticky notes to write it .
So these were the simple but effective tips which I was talking about . Let me know if you have something to add to it .
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Nothing beats pen and paper. I’m already a bit used to carrying a notebook wherever I go, and now I’m planning to buy a moleskine notebook.
Its true.Pen and paper can be the most useful companion of bloggers and freelancers.
I actually heard a sage piece of advice that said “Forget it. If the idea is good it’ll come back to you”. It’s a great way to reduce idea overload and ensure high quality.
That is a real problem for high idea people. You have ideas all the time, but finite time to implement them. Like Abhijeet said, the best things are only implemented well.
So I do everything possible to ignore ideas. I scribble them down and forget them. Every now and again, I’ll read old ideas and if I *still* like them; then maybe I’ll do something. More than that, I’ll try and combine 5 different ideas into one good idea - which is easiest when you have 100 old ideas written down in front of you (pick the best; then the next 5 that are similar to it to add them in).
Finally I keep a blog - 3dogsbark.com - this stops me getting too tempted. If I ever have an idea that I like; but know I don’t have the time to do; I’ll write it down in the public domain so I don’t do it. There’s another great quote, “The only way to make room for new [better] ideas is to throw away the ones you’ve already had”.
Andy Mitchell’s last blog post..Google To Do List Imminent?
Well said Andy, I definitely agree with you there. Thanks for such an elaborate comment.
This was an excellent article.
I tend to use google notebook addon for firefox to help maintain my ToDo list in addition to my ideas. The great thing is I can access all of these on my Macbook, PC, or iPhone.
Although, accessing it on my iPhone isn’t exactly quick, so I have another note app on there for that purpose.
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