I recommend you capture all your ideas – you never know when they will come in handy. As a practitioner of David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology, I know I am supposed to capture all kind of actions, but I sometimes forget to capture fleeting ideas that may come in useful later. Thanks to a recent inspiration by Douglas E. Welch at Career Opportunities, I am reminded to capture ALL my ideas – and trust me, I have some pretty bizarre ones sometimes.
Like many of you, I have many hats to wear including father, husband, new media producer, author, local chapter officer, local group organizer, Sunday School teacher, IT Manager, and a few others; so it isn’t surprising that some ideas for one facet hit at times when I’m out of context. If I don’t write these ideas down they’re likely lost to time; unless they have a strong emotional tie.
The key to this is having an easy way to capture those ideas and be able to reference them later. I prefer a small notebook that I keep in my computer bag. You may choose a PDA. Whatever the tool, make the practice simple.
I seem to be gathering quite a collection of geek humor and there is a section in my notebook for that. Just this past week we had a rather humorous conversation at lunch that I wanted to add to the collection. The conversation was completely spontaneous and inspired me to create a couple minutes of comedy sketch that might come in handy on a podcast or if I ever find myself on “open mic” night. Had I not written it down, it would have been lost. Is it comedy gold? Probably not. If I can brighten someone’s day with a humorous anecdote, that’s worth it to me.
Whether it’s an idea for a funny story, or an idea for an invention that might save the world, write it down. Let it bake. You can always refer to it when you get a chance or have a need. It only takes seconds.
And yes, the idea for this post came while I was in one of those “other modes” and I wrote it down.
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