Grace wrote a great post about idea creation and making sure to act when inspiration strikes. I have this happen to me ALL THE TIME and I am always jotting down cool ideas wherever I can. I honestly have a problem concentrating if I don’t write them down, because they will be bouncing around inside of my head all day. But, I wanted to take her post one step further, I created a theoretical Coinstar for the mind.
What happens to ideas once they are written down in a notebook? I have a lot of pieces of paper floating around my desk and I have been trying to figure out what to do with them all. During one of these crazy Mid-Atlantic snow days, I sat down and created a system to organize them.
The purpose of the system was to filter all of my crazy ideas to reach my goals. Jenny Blake wrote a great post about automating her money, I thought I could use that system with my random ideas. So first I sat down and thought about what I want to achieve in the next few years. I thought about what types of ideas I usually have and my goals and connected them all together. Behold, the idea flowchart.
(Picture of the flowchart on my wall, in all of it’s nerdery…)
The picture is kind of small, so I am going to give you the gist of my the flowchart. Once ideas pop into my head, I frantically scribble these ideas onto any piece of paper that I can find. From here, there are four possible paths the idea can take.
Watch/Read/Listen/Eat/Buy Notebook – This notebook is pretty self explanatory. I write down things to watch on television or the movies, books and articles to read, new music to listen to, things to buy at the grocery store and miscellaneous things that I need to buy at the store. This is actually a pretty common tactic used to spend less money. The logic behind the trick is that if you write it down what you would like to buy instead of buying it right away, it makes you think more critically about your purchases. For me, the watch is replaced with Netflix, read is replaced with Amazon.com, and listen also lives in my iTunes wish list.
Business Idea Notebook – Business ideas and brainstorms go into my business idea notebook that I keep at my desk. This where a lot of my ideas are going, because most of my interest lately has been in business. Maybe for you it is a home decorating notebook, a dog training tip notebook, or a notebook with ideas for new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters.
Google Docs – My Google documents account is used for reference, book notes, business strategies and cool quotes that I want to remember. Also, if there are some reference documents for ideas, I will keep them in Google Docs.
Free Time, Long Term Tasks – I keep a list of random tasks and phone calls that I should make when I have the time to do them. That is where most of the rest of my jotted notes will go. “Remember to call Comcast and tell them to come out and service their terrible cable modem.”
Now this all seems kind of OCD, maybe my engineering training has started to work its way through. What do you guys think about this system? Is it a great thing or have I developed a case of cabin fever? I would love to hear in the comments.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
You should volunteer to be some little kid’s mentor. Then setup a weekly meeting in Outlook to review your ideas with the kid once a week. Force them to listen to all ideas for the week. Presenting your ideas once a week will help solidify fuzzy ideas and organize your thinking better. It will also build disciple and improve your communication skills.
If the kid says your ideas are great, it will boost your confidence. If the kid says your ideas are stupid, you can tell him he’s an idiot and throw him back in your trunk.
Hey! Thanks for including the post – glad you liked it
Your flowchart is pretty amazing. I’m not nearly as organized – more wild about my inspiration but it’s so important to do what works for you. I also like your Google Docs idea. I have a “notes” section on my Blackberry there are all kinds of thoughts, music, books I want to read, etc. because my phone is always on me. Good post and ideas!
Dude, I used to blow a million ideas into the air and hope the best ones fell into my hands first… talk about a recipe for anxiety and lack of productivity. Your system is awesome. I was introduced to something like this about 4 years ago when my friends cornered me in one of their kitchens and forced me to mind map what I wanted from the universe, rather than just kicking and screaming about how broke I was and how much I hated my job. Figuring out what needs to be done and what you WANT to do is the most important part… this is a great way to make it happen!
@Melson – I like where your head’s at, but I am going to go a slightly less sketchy direction with it.
@Grace – I did really enjoy your post and it sparked a lot of ideas on my own. I totally agree that it is important to do what works for you, probably the most important advice you could give to anyone.
@JR – Thanks for the props on my system, it is still a work in progress, but I like where it is headed. Also, you should check out the new post I wrote that takes this one to the next level, complete with more crazy organization.
Thanks for your comments guys!