by Scott Allan
Capturing Valuable Ideas
on the Move
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”
— F. Scott Fitzgerald
One of the most important daily habits you can have for your ideas is to develop a system for gathering and compiling everything into one central location. Once you get into the habit of generating ideas for your business, lifestyle, hobby, or life’s passion, you’ll find your “idea machination” exploding.
It is natural and exciting. Imagine walking down the street and suddenly getting an idea for something that completely excites you. Then, ten minutes later, you totally forget what it was and you can’t recall it no matter how hard you try. The trick is, you have to write it down or record it right away.
If you don’t take action right away and get your idea down on paper or recorded into digital software, when you try to recall it later, you won’t be able to. This has happened to me many times. I lost a lot of good stuff this way that I couldn’t recall hours later when I wanted to. Fortunately, with today’s simplicity of taking notes on handheld devices, you can have an entire system for note collecting and idea gathering without skipping a beat.
After all, what’s the point of having good ideas if you can’t remember them?
This is why it is essential to have an idea journal. By creating a system where you capture your ideas on the run, you can avoid losing those golden moments when a good idea that could be worth cash in your hand suddenly materializes in your mind.
What Is an Idea Capturing System?
It could be an idea journal with pen or paper or digital software, such as an idea app, where you record your ideas. (I am old school and still love writing down my ideas in an idea journal).
By opening up the app on your computer or smartphone, you can plug in your idea for easy access later. You can also use the recording mic to speak your ideas into your phone (more on this later).
Then, when you are working on a particular project or this week’s goal, you can access your ideas easily and quickly, pull them up, and put them into action through idea expansion and building a set of action steps around the idea. I’ll get into this in more detail later.
There are countless ways you can record your ideas without risk of losing them. If you think you can get away with trying to remember your idea that you just had, your memory is a lot better than mine. I have so many ideas throughout the day for books, blogs, and strategies to grow my business that I couldn’t possibly manage on memory alone.
Even geniuses such as Edison and Einstein had to record their ideas because they had thousands of ideas that would otherwise be lost. In fact, Thomas Edison had so many ideas that an organization was founded called the Thomas A. Edison Papers Project committed to organizing and editing his life’s works.
These notebooks and documents are still being investigated today.
Idea Capturing Systems
Evernote. One of my favorite tools for capturing ideas is Evernote. But Evernote is a lot more than just an idea collector. I also use it for writing blogs, and I have written entire books on the Evernote platform. You can organize your ideas into individual notebooks within Evernote and then place your related notebooks into notebook “stacks.”
In addition, you can take a screenshot of website pages that also serve as ideas for articles you might be researching. You can record your voice and email your notes to people you want to share them with. I could say that with Evernote, you don’t really need anything else, but I will show you some other apps that are pretty good for getting your ideas out there and some cool ways to organize and be creative with your ideas.
Evernote is a powerful online tool that also syncs with all your other devices. When you are on the run and suddenly get an idea that you just have to keep, open up the Evernote app on your smartphone or tablet and get it down as fast as possible. We have over 50,000 thoughts a day so you can see how easy it can be to lose these ideas when they suddenly make an appearance.
You could be in the middle of your day and suddenly have an idea for a song, a book theme, a new recipe, or a business idea to launch your next product. But if you don’t write it down, it could be gone ten minutes later, and that idea had the potential to earn you lots of bucks later on down the road.
When you try to recall that same idea later on in the day, you’ll find, in most cases, you can’t. Believe me, I have lost many good ideas this way. They were great thoughts “in the moment,” but when I didn’t record them, I had forgotten what they were an hour later. Make capturing your ideas a habit; don’t rely on memory alone.
Here is the process you are going to use for capturing and putting your ideas into action:
Capture/record ideas
Organize ideas into folders
Initiate and take action
Now, I still love the pen and paper method. There is just something about writing it down that makes it more real and just adds more juice to your thinking process and memory retention. You actually retain things more when you put pen to paper. The physical process of writing stuff down actually makes it more real. When you allow your imagination to free flow, your subconscious takes over.
But because I don’t always have my journal notebook with me, I use the apps discussed here throughout the day. Then, at the end of the day, I’ll write out the ideas I had during that day. I keep an idea journal that I record all the good stuff in. I use this as a reminder for ideas that I want to take action on. You can also use this for free flow writing.
Free Flow Writing Method
Take thirty minutes and start to write. If you can’t think of what to write about, just start with anything. Don’t stop to think or edit what you write. Just let the writing flow uninterrupted. You can write about a topic you are interested in, or an idea that you want to try out and develop.
I recently read a book about waking up early in the morning and getting things done. So, based on this, I wrote a free flow article about all the benefits of waking up early. Then, I started to come up with ideas for what I can do if I wake up early. This led into an action plan I could initiate. My idea then expanded into the ways I could set my mornings up to wake up early and take action with a set routine.
Make free flow writing a daily habit. You can do this first thing in the morning when you get up or throughout the day using small pockets of time. This exercise really digs deep and gets the good stuff out of your mind. It’s like “mining” for the ideas that are in there. Before you know it, things that you had never thought of are hitting the paper.
You can use the Pomodoro technique and set a timer for twenty-five minutes during this structured time start your free flow writing. At the end of the twenty-five minutes, you can either stop or take a five-minute break and then continue for another twenty-five minutes.
I do these sessions three times a week where I will schedule my “idea creating” time so anything that is in my head I can get out and then work with it much easier. Here is the Pomodoro technique website so you can learn more about all the benefits of this great little system.
Free Flow Writing Action Tasks:
Schedule twenty–thirty minutes a day to do free flow writing. If you have nothing to write about, quickly scan some blogs or articles. Or dig into your ideas folder or idea journal and pull out an idea.
This is a great way to start taking action on your idea. Be sure to schedule your time for this, or else it will be something that you’ll do “when you have time,” and then it won’t get done.
So, collect during the day, and organize your ideas throughout the day or at night. Initiate your thoughts when the time is right. Set aside ten minutes for idea implementation. With this strategy, you can master your ideas and grow the habit of putting them into an organized system.
I don’t want to overload you with choices so I’ll give you four more software options and you
can choose from your favorite.
To learn more about the free flow method and morning pages, you can check out The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.
SwiftKey
This app will offer you accurate predictions based on your writing style. It scans for the words, phrases and writing habits that matter to you. It makes writing faster and easier than ever before by creating a “typing free” environment. SwiftKey spots your misspellings, missed spaces, and missed letters to correct them for you.
SwiftKey learns your writing style to suggest your next word. But the most amazon feature is you can type in up to five languages without switching settings while choosing from 200+ supported languages. With SwiftKey, your notes are tagged and kept with related notes so it is always easy to find them. It is also easy to create, edit, tag and delete notes.
Captio App
This app is great when you are on the run and need to deliver quickly. The app is simple to implement. When you get an idea, simply open it up on your phone, type in the note, and hit send. Done. It goes right to your email inbox. You can take pictures as well. This app integrates with other apps as well such as Evernote. You can work on or offline and it will store your notes until you’re ready to send.
One option you can do is take notes with the Captio app. Then, later on in the day, organize the notes taken and place into notebooks in Evernote. The one advantage with this app is that it is much faster to operate and open up on the go. This works especially well if you only have a moment to get something down, such as waiting for the light to change at the intersection (please don’t try it while driving!).
SuperNote
I am a visual learner. I love colors and looking at the project that I am creating. For these reasons, SuperNote has become one of my favorite apps for getting creative. You can take notes and make recording, photos, and schedule reminders.
This app works like a simple text editor and notebook as well. The color-coding allows you to organize themes or categories according to colors. Again, everything can be transferred to email or Dropbox for easy sharing.
Sometimes, note-taking isn’t very exciting, especially if it is something you have to do for a meeting, but, at least, with this app, you can put the fun back in the system again.
Dropbox
Most people I know use Dropbox these days. It comes with 2GB free and can be upgraded to 1 TB for an annual fee. It can be accessed across all devices like Evernote. The files can be easily shared with others if you are working on projects with people. I use Dropbox to back up ideas and books I am working on. Consider this option for storing data. But for the more creative approach, go with one of the apps previously mentioned.
You can share files with people as well and it makes project teamwork a breeze. If someone adds an idea or document to Dropbox, everyone can pick it up.
Create a Swipe File
A Swipe file is:
A collection of tested and proven advertising and sales letters. Keeping a swipe file (templates) is a common practice used by advertising copywriters and creative directors as a ready reference of ideas for projects. Copywriters are not the only ones who can benefit from having a swipe file.
As book publishing coach Diane Eble points out, authors and publishers can benefit from creating a swipe file of best-selling titles to give them ideas for their own titles. Publicists can create a swipe file of great press release headlines. Swipe files are a great jumping-off point for anybody who needs to come up with lots of ideas.
Creating a swipe file is another good idea for collecting ideas, resources, and information to be used on upcoming projects.
How to use a swipe file
Swipe files are great for gathering information related to ideas you have or projects you are working on.
Writers use swipe files to collect ideas on existing book titles. Business managers use swipe files to collect data and information on how to improve profit margins. Designers use swipe files to gather ideas for pictures and ideas related to new artistic projects. If you are in a profession that demands you store information, ideas, or resources, a swipe file is necessary to keep everything together.
You can create a swipe file for just about anything you are working on: projects at work, a website, or organizing a workshop. Swipe files are great for keeping track of your ideas that you can implement later on down the road. A swipe file can be anything used from magazines, websites, or catalogues, and can be composed of pictures, articles, or your original ideas.
Keep in mind that a swipe file is a collection of ideas from other sources and can be used for inspiration or information storage. In addition, it is a clear record of resources that you might use and can be referred to later on for citing or bibliographic purposes.
Each swipe file is unique and can be used to collect articles, snippets, or pictures for reference depending on the type of work you do. Swipe files are great for inspiration and can be used to brainstorm or provide inspiration for creativity.
The Whitman Strategy
This is a strategy that the American poet, essayist, and journalist Walt Whitman used to organize his ideas. Similar to our digital formats of organizing into folders, this is another great alternative to keeping your ideas in physical location.
While it’s great to keep everything backed up and organized using apps and digital devices, many people are still prefer keeping notebook journals or, in the case of the Whitman strategy, categorizing ideas and keeping them separated according to whatever projects you are working on.
Whitman, whenever he had an idea, would write it down on paper and place in an envelope according to the category. Later on, when he needed an idea, he would pull out the slips of paper from the envelopes and piece them together. This might seem old school compared to today’s methods of recording (Evernote, note-taking apps, or using Word), but the system is solid and adds to the fun of idea gathering and organizing.
Some people like to keep their ideas in physical form, and if you do, the Whitman strategy works great. Another variation to this is to use a large binder with plastic sleeves. Each sleeve or pocket would be used for a different category.
You can adopt another similar strategy by using files as well and keeping them in a cabinet. The Whitman strategy of using envelopes doesn’t require much space, and you can set it up quickly.
Building Your “Idea Organizing” System
“Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and
energy to execute your ideas.”
— Henry Ford
Now I’m going to show you a productive system for organizing your ideas so you can find them when you need to. Without a system for locating the right ideas at the right time, you’ll waste time scrolling through the numerous files and folders, wondering where you put them.
Spare yourself the frustration and create a simple system to access your ideas when you need them. With a simple system in place, you’ll be able to keep everything organized for easy access later.
In David Allen’s book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity, he says that when you organize your papers in the office, you should only touch a paper twice: once when you receive it and the second time when you put it into its appropriate folder. If not, you end up shifting papers around to find it. This is counterproductive. Things get lost. Time is lost.
This same system applies to your ideas as well. The worst place to keep ideas is in your mind. You need a better place to store your ideas so they can be accessed right away without trying to remember the great idea you had the other night when you were out with your friends.
Just as every piece of paper needs to be filed away so it doesn’t get lost, your ideas need be stored digitally as well. You need an organized storage and retrieval system for those ideas.
Without a system, your ideas will end up everywhere, and when you
try to recall that “thought you had last week,” finding it is going to be difficult. In the last chapter, you learned how to capture your ideas; now you have to know where and how to store them so they can stay parked until you’re ready for taking action (more on this later).
When you are busy dumping your notes into a folder, if you don’t take the time to organize them at the end of the day or week, you’ll end up with a big mess and finding what you want will be time consuming. If you don’t do something with them, notes will be everywhere and possibly spread across various apps or buried in other folders on your desktop, which adds to the confusion.
To avoid this, the next stage is to have a system for organizing these ideas so they stay current and easily retrievable
Remember there are three steps, I already covered the first one—having a system in place to capture your ideas—so now I am going to cover the next one—a place to put the ideas.
The first step you have already covered by having a system in place to capture your ideas. Now, you need a place to put the ideas so they’re in the right folders. You already know how a filing cabinet works:
Loose paper is found in office.
Paper goes into folder in filing cabinet.
Folder is located with a stack of other folders (This might be a project you are working on or related subjects.)
When information or a document is needed regarding this particular client or contract, the file is opened up and the contents taken out.
Simple, right?
Okay then, let’s take a look at how you can store your ideas in digital and physical format.
I collect ideas by dividing them into categories. It works like this: Organize a group of folders and label each one according to the specific category, niche, or project. You can loop your ideas together if they are to be used in the same project or work. This is a process also known as cross-fertilization that Edison employed when he was working on several projects or inventions at the same time.