Ideas: How do you keep track?

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I’m having explosion of ideas now that I’ve finally found a topic that excites me, but keeping track of all these ideas is driving me crazy. I don’t want to lose them. I want to share them with you, but I can’t possibly write about them all at once.

I need a way of keeping track of these ideas, of jotting them down while I’m on the move, and organizing them. I’ve been writing down notes in a couple of notebooks, on Post-it notes and envelopes, in Gmail drafts, the Tasks function in Google calendar for to-do lists, using my cell phone voice memo feature and Dragon NaturallySpeaking to record notes, and Evernote and Instapaper for capturing websites and snippets that I want to write about.

One thing about us complete flakes: we are, for the most part, exceptionally creative people.

I don’t mean that necessarily in an artistic sense, but we’re full of ideas. We get excited about each one, and then we often lose steam after we’ve done a little research and discovered it’s not for us after all. Nothing wrong with that. It’s part of the creative process. But, being all excited about our ideas, we make the mistake of impulsively announcing them to everybody we know.

Am I right? I can’t be the only one.

Oops.

You know what that feels like. It’s not pleasant, especially if you have done this repeatedly in the past. Friends and family may have been supportive to start with, but after a while — well, they know you all too well. And you hate to see that look in their eyes, hear that tone in their voices.

So you start to censor yourself. You become afraid of taking action on your ideas, because you don’t want to be embarrassed again. You start to believe that you are a quitter. And the thing about the creative machine that is our brain is that it gets the message after a while: the ideas just stop flowing.

But then, a great idea hits and you can’t help yourself, you just have to run with it — everybody else be damned. And the floodgates open and suddenly you are overflowing with more great ideas. And MORE. It’s amazing.

Your brain is a creative organ: it NEEDS to create. That is its function.

So, if you want to achieve anything, like starting a business, or going to college, or creating art, or writing a book, you have to let the ideas flow.

And then you have to figure out how to keep track of them.

That’s where I am. I am about to drown in a sea of notes, bookmarks, and voice memos. I don’t know what to do with them all. I need to find a good way to keep this stuff organized — right now — so I can share them with you.

Got any good suggestions? What works for you? Please share them in the comments below. I’ll write about the best ones in a future post.

Photo credit: Kjunstorm

http://simplytrece.wordpress.com Trece

OK, so, like – we're identical twins, separated in the hospital, right? 'Cause you, like, totally are writing down what's in the place where my mind used to be. And, like, that's just not cool, K, dude?

Seriously, I could have written that. I have notebooks, backs of envelopes, file folders. Every once in awhile I try to wrangle 'em and copy them all into one place, but they escape. Sigh. . . Kind of like the ad starring the fury credit score (please tell me you know what I mean).
Have a good night, hon. I look forward to your next piece!
Pingback: 9 Free Tools That Can Help You Get [and STAY] Organized — The Complete Flake
http://www.engageyourstrengths.com wdaunheimer

Oh LaVonne, you could have been describing me in this post. Like you, I have idea after idea after idea, and am wildly enthusiastic about most of them. I'm guessing we are also alike in that our personality type is to outgoing and flexible, which means we have lots of ideas and share them with most everyone we know. That's great when you have a friend who is similar, but when you encounter the people who are reserved and structured (and there are a LOT of them) it makes things very difficult. I know this quandary well – my father and husband are both reserved and structured, and I often feel the weight of their disapproval which stifles me from being myself.

What works? First, I give myself permission to enthusiastically pursue any idea I come up with and quit at any time. It's me, it's part of my DNA and I have to nurture my tender, newly born ideas or my muse will quit sending them to me for safekeeping.

Second, I use the friends and family who are similar to me as idea “kindling” and save the sharing with the structured folks for after the early flames have started a bonfire.

Third, I think through how to share the idea with the others. This helps me work through the idea and answer some of the challenges for myself before others voice them to me.

Wow! You just inspired a post! I'll go write it and link to you. Thank you for sharing your problem with me. Maybe I can share one back that will inspire a post for you. :)
http://completeflake.com/ LaVonne Ellis

Wendy, you have me pegged exactly! And I know what you mean about
disapproving family members and friends, although I'm lucky that most those
people aren't around anymore. My family now is supportive — although once
in a while, I do see a certain someone's eyes rolling when he thinks I'm not
looking. That's okay.

Thanks for your excellent suggestions. I absolutely agree that you have to
allow the ideas to flow or they will stop cold. That's what happened to me
several years ago when I was a happy blogger, writing every day, and then a
“structured” family member mentioned that he read my blog. Gulp. That set me
up for a blogger's block that lasted until exactly 3 weeks ago. As you said,
saving the sharing for people we know will be supportive is crucial.

I'm so happy to hear I've inspired a post for you! You've already done that
for me, although I haven't written it yet, LOL. I better get cracking. :o]

I have a feeling this isn't the first time, we will inspire each other.
Pingback: Turn a Creative Spark into a Bonfire: Part 1 | Engage Your Strengths
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000375811964 Karyen Kinmond

I also thought you were talking about me!!!
Strangely enough I was just talking to a friend today and said the exact words…” I am drowning in a sea of paper, lists, notes and web links!!”…….Now that is weird!
Once again I just love your articles and posts!! Thank you!
http://completeflake.com/ LaVonne Ellis

Thanks, Karyen! I'm still trying to wrangle all my notes, lists & web links,
but keeping just one notebook for all my handwritten notes & lists is
helping a lot. For online notes such as blog post ideas/drafts, ONE PLACE is
again the concept that helps me the most. My Gmail drafts folder seems to be
my default choice most of the time.

Web links — still looking for a better way, but right now my browser
bookmarks are my tool of choice. I create folders for different categories,
such as WORK, TOOLS, SHOP, FUN, $ [for my bank, Paypal, bills I pay online
every month, etc.]

Now that I think of it, my bookmark organizing system is a pretty good one.
Might be worth a blog post. :) How do you keep track of your links?
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000375811964 Karyen Kinmond

I also thought you were talking about me!!!
Strangely enough I was just talking to a friend today and said the exact words…” I am drowning in a sea of paper, lists, notes and web links!!”…….Now that is weird!
Once again I just love your articles and posts!! Thank you!
http://completeflake.com/ LaVonne Ellis

Thanks, Karyen! I'm still trying to wrangle all my notes, lists & web links,
but keeping just one notebook for all my handwritten notes & lists is
helping a lot. For online notes such as blog post ideas/drafts, ONE PLACE is
again the concept that helps me the most. My Gmail drafts folder seems to be
my default choice most of the time.

Web links — still looking for a better way, but right now my browser
bookmarks are my tool of choice. I create folders for different categories,
such as WORK, TOOLS, SHOP, FUN, $ [for my bank, Paypal, bills I pay online
every month, etc.]

Now that I think of it, my bookmark organizing system is a pretty good one.
Might be worth a blog post. :) How do you keep track of your links?

Ideas: How do you keep track?

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