I keep a pad of paper and a pen in the nightstand by my bed a la Jerry Seinfeld to jot down random thoughts and ideas that I have in the middle of the night for review in the morning. Sometimes they come to me half-baked (sometimes not even that) and sometimes they come to me fairly fully formed. Regardless, I love the thrill and excitement of generating a new idea—even if I don’t do anything with it over in the long run.
With this in mind, I came across an interesting post a few days back regarding an idea locker. Basically, it’s a place (in the author’s case a spreadsheet) where you can keep track of ideas that you’ve had that you want to take action on along with next steps, necessary resources, and a rough time-frame for revisiting it. Not all ideas make it on to the list, however, because few–if any–of us have time to act on all of the ideas that run through our brains.
For me, I use a Moleskine notebook where I can jot down random thoughts and that I keep separate from my journal, which I don’t use as much as I should. One flaw with my personal idea locker is that I don’t review it nearly often enough not have I gotten comfortable enough where I can give away my unused ideas as the author recommends. Writing the idea down does allow me to focus on other, more time-sensitive thoughts, which is definitely a benefit.
I firmly believe in the power of committing your thoughts and ideas to paper. Do you agree?
UPDATE: Don’t like the idea of a Moleskine notebook? You could always try an online tool like Wridea.
