Do you ever have those flashes of inspiration which seem brilliant in the moment, life changing possibly?
Do they appear out of nowhere and fill you with enthusiasm for what could be?
Or maybe those thoughts are at the other end of the spectrum, a recurring nagging dread or reminder you really have to deal with an important obligation?
I’m sure you do, I do.
How we deal with these thoughts can significantly affect our progress. I invite you to free up your mind and focus on your priority tasks by getting those ideas out of your head and into the right place to support you!
Free your mind, reduce overload
The more we try to hold ideas in our head, the more chance we have of developing a sense of overload or overwhelm. Your subconscious will constantly be trying to remind you of all the unfinished business you have kicking around. It’s not even clever enough to filter down to just the most important things. Everything from taking out the rubbish to planning for your retirement could get thrown into your waking day by your “helpful” subconscious.
By building solid habits around managing your commitments, to-do items and general ideas you can develop a trust in yourself that important things will get dealt with at an appropriate time. It’s this trust in yourself and your system which allows the subconscious to calm down enough to let you focus on what’s right in front of you. Enough to be in the moment and fully effective.
That trust won’t stop ideas and reminders coming up but it does make them a hell of a lot easier to deal with. So much easier to dismiss when you know they’re in your system. The mental interruption is brief and as a happy by-product, every time you notice one of those moments you can give yourself a pat on the back and your self-trust will be enhanced.
The mind is great for having ideas, not for holding them.
David Allen
But what about those thoughts and ideas which aren’t in your system already?
A Strategy for Success
Whether its a great idea or a nagging reminder, the same strategy can work. By being consistent with how you treat these mental interruptions, you again build trust in yourself.
So, here are the steps…
1. Decide in advance where to put your ideas.
A notebook, A new sheet of paper, an electronic system such as Evernote, OneNote, Trello (there are hundreds you could choose from). The tool isn’t important, it’s what you do with it that counts. It’s worth understanding what works best for you and if you don’t yet know, pick one and try it out.
2. Record just enough information to make it memorable
Coming next are the main pieces of info to collect. Sometimes great ideas are fleeting and if we don’t grab them while they’re here they get lost again, maybe never to return.
- Desired outcome
- What will be different as a result of this idea?
- Why is this idea a good one?
- When would be good to have this?
- Etc…
- Supporting info
- Where did the idea come from? a book – which one, what page? a podcast – which one, what episode and date? your own mind – where were you and what triggered the idea? A conversation with a friend or colleague or client – who, where were you?
Knowing where in idea came from has saved me lots of time and effort when I want to take things further. You’ll be glad you did when you want to refresh your memory with the source data again.
3. Review your ideas regularly
This could be the end of the day, once a week, monthly or other. It doesn’t really matter just as long as you do it and commit to doing it regularly. Without the commitment you’re subconscious will be up to its old tricks again.
In the review, you will need to decide if the idea stands up to scrutiny after the time you’ve given it to marinade. Some ideas won’t make the cut and should be deleted to clear the clutter. Others however will be worth following up. This is your time to put them in the most appropriate place so they’re useful.
4. Have a plan, wherever you are
Where are you when your ideas come to you? Knowing what you already know about yourself and where inspiration is likely to strike, what is your strategy to capture your gold nugget ideas when they show up?
We mostly now have the luxury of carrying an electronic notepad with us everywhere we go. Make use of it in a deliberate way. Have a note taking app, maybe one that syncs to the cloud so you can capture ideas from your phone, iPad, laptop, PC… and have them available to you wherever you are.
5. Build habits which support your new process
What habits support you in getting them curated into the right place as part of your system?
How can you help yourself to help yourself? (I know that sound very meta but go with it)
Good habits will pay off
A strategy for failure
Single word entries on a list that have no context or details. You might know what you mean now but will you in three or six months time?
Being inconsistent about where you put things. Knowing you’ve got a good idea “somewhere” and not being able to find it is a total waste of time and energy.
Final Comment
YOU are the one in control of your own idea curation. YOU have to take responsibility for it. YOU can make it powerfully work for you.
Building habits is simple but not necessarily easy. For help getting it all together or learning more about creating your own trusted system, check out the other articles on this site and if you’d like help getting started or fine-tuning your system get in touch and let’s talk.
Best wishes
Andrew
Disclaimer: The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this article are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article. Andrew Marshman disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article.
