How to get good ideas and keep them.
People always ask Neil Gaiman where he gets his ideas. The popular author of several books and screenwriter of the recent films Stardust and Beowulf has a lot to say about answering this question. His short answer:
‘I make them up,’ I tell them. ‘Out of my head.’
But before, you go and read his essay on the topic which I highly recommend, stick around here for what I think is the most effective tip for coming up with (and keeping) new ideas.
Here’s the short answer: write them down.
Sounds too simple to be the killer solution doesn’t it?
Maybe, but here’s the truth, writing down ideas eliminates a block to having them. If an idea has to hang around in your short term memory for a long time in order for it to get written down, that’s a serious stress on your brain. Your brain is not going to generate ideas if it’s just going to mean more stress, more work, more things to remember. When you write them down, you get them out of your head and then your brain is free to come up with more ideas, new ideas, better ideas.
Get the right tools
Personal productivity mavens will be familiar with the term “ubiquitous capture tool.” That’s a fancy term for a notebook and pen that you always have at hand. Ideas come all the time. Be ready.
I recommend choosing a notebook format that you like and stick with it. You will be surprised how fast you fill them and need to line them up on a bookshelf somewhere. Personally, I am a fan of the Circa notebooks from Levenger because I can rearrange the pages like its a binder but it doesn’t have the clunky metal rings. I know a lot of people swear by the Moleskine, also a good option. For the budget savvy, there is also the Hipster PDA (which I also use when even a notebook is too cumbersome). A Hipster PDA is just a stack of 3×5 index cards held together by a binder clip. You’ll find this has all kinds of other useful side effects. Any way you go, having a system makes a huge difference.
Okay, now go read Neil Gaiman’s essay on getting ideas and after every bit of advice he gives, add the words “and then write that idea down.”