Write This Down!
Write this down, take a little note…no, I’m not going to start singing a George Strait song (even though I do like me some George Strait from time to time). Those words do appear in a song but they also need to show up for us every day.
What do I mean? All of us have thoughts and ideas that pop into our head. When those thoughts/ideas do come up, what do you do with them? Do you tell yourself you’ll get to it later? Do you remember to ‘get to it’ later? If you are like me, you don’t always remember and when you do finally sit down the thoughts are gone. For example, I lay down in my youngest daughter’s room every night as she falls asleep and as you can imagine, tons of great ideas show up during that time. I tell myself I’ll write them down when I get downstairs but I don’t always remember.
Now, don’t beat yourself up for forgetting but let’s work on capturing those thoughts and ideas. Those things are showing up for a reason and I want all of us to do a better job of writing them down. The following are some simple things we can do to make sure we keep those ideas and hopefully, act on them in the future.
- USE YOUR PHONE
We all have one and carry it with us at all times. So, let’s use it! Use the notes app on your phone or find a free one…there are plenty out there. When that idea shows up, grab your phone and type it out as soon as you can. If that’s not your thing, use a voice app. There are plenty of those available as well that you can use to record your thoughts. Personally, I don’t use this one enough but I do have tons of notes stored in my phone that contain thoughts, ideas, things I need to remember, etc.
2. CARRY A SMALL NOTEBOOK
Run by Staples, Office Depot, whatever you have in your area and grab a small notebook. Something that will fit in your pocket. I know this is old school and #1 is probably the best option for most of us, but I do like writing things down from time to time with an actual pen. This small notebook, call it your idea book or something if you want, will help you capture those thoughts. Of course, you’ll also need to make sure you keep a pen or pencil handy! But trust me, this does work. In fact, one of the big projects I’m currently working on in my business came from an idea I put in a small notebook while I was running errands.
3. KEEP A BLANK DOCUMENT OPEN ON YOUR COMPUTER
If you work on a computer most of the day keeping a document open can be helpful. I don’t spend as much time on a computer during the day as I used to, but when I did I utilized this well. Nothing fancy, just a simple Word document will do. My Macbook has the same notes app that my iPhone does and they are connected so that makes it easier to keep everything organized.
What are some other ways you can make sure your ideas and thoughts get out of your head? These are just three ways and I know there are many others. Point in all of this is to capture them! Don’t let that stuff stay in your head because while you may have a fantastic memory, life will happen. You will get pulled in a different direction.
Make today the day you get those thoughts out of your head and onto something that you can see. It is much easier than we all realize and we all have access to tools that will help in this area.
