Write notes to yourself.

See the title: Write notes to yourself. I don't mean keeping a diary or journal; that's something different, though good for its own purposes. By 'notes' I mean, when an idea occurs to you, big or small, brilliant or wacky, even ideas where you instantly see that it might not work — write or type it down in a specific place where you're keeping such notes, or send yourself an email.

Your brain is an amazing thing but it's out of control. Neurons fire in unexpected directions. A moment of inspiration can come at any time — so make a note of it. The answer to a question, or the question to an answer might pop into your mind without warning — add it to the list. The simple act of putting your idea into words, and then putting those words on paper or into a file, adds scrutiny, organization, and focus. It helps you remember those ideas, and keeps them simmering in your mind.

Then, set a specific time to go through those notes on a regular basis, to see what you can do with them. Every weekend I go through my list of notes to myself, deleting some but moving others onto other lists, like my "Think About This Some More" list, and my "Ask Someone About This" list, and my "To Do" list.

For me, writing it down means that the idea might go somewhere, but not writing it down means that eureka-moment is probably gone forever.

I hope this works for you. It definitely works for me. It's made my life better, my 'productive time' more productive, my 'creative time' much more creative, and my 'lazy time' more relaxing.

 

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