5 Easy Ways to Capture Your Ideas

If you’re anything like me, you’re having million dollar ideas all the time. The problem is that when you get home to work on them, all that you can remember is that Heroes isn’t on because of the writer’s strike, or that you have to get the bills paid before they shut off the cable (which really wouldn’t matter… I mean, there is a writer’s strike going on.)

Most personal productivity systems and experts suggest that you use something other than your own brain to record your ideas. With two of my favorites, GTD and Simpleology, it’s absolutely essential that you do so. GTD talks about using “trusted systems” - use anything that you know will be there later, and be easily accessible, so that your brain can forget about it. Simpleology has a “Dream Catcher” built into it’s online software, and suggests that you use it to prevent “Runaway Brainware.”

I actually remember learning about this for the first time way back when I was still in grammar school. I was going to be a famous novelist back then (there weren’t blogs yet), and was a big fan of Roald Dahl. He’s most famous for being the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I remember reading a book of his short stories and essays, and one of them was about the process of writing. (I wish I could remember the name of the book or the essay itself…)

It was from this essay that I first learned about the importance of capturing ideas. In one of the examples that he gave, he was driving when an idea came to him. He pulled over to the side of the road to write it down, but couldn’t find a pen… so he made a note in the dirt on the bumper of his car! Now that’s dedication!

Hopefully the following methods are a little easier:

1. Notebook

Low-tech solutions can often be best. No worries about crashes, accidental erasures, or battery life. And it’s also cost friendly - nearly anyone can afford to pick up a pocket sized notebook. The biggest problem that I personally have with this one is finding a pen or pencil when I need one. I swear to god, I don’t care if I am a man, one of these days I’m going to start carrying a purse!

2. Cell Phone with a Notes or To Do List Function

Most modern cell phones have these. This one solves the problem of having to find a pen, and you are probably less likely to misplace or forget it. The problem is that it can often be difficult to enter notes into one unless you’ve got a text friendly keypad.

3. Voice Recorder

These are great for when you’re driving and can’t use your hands to write or type. Some cell phones have a record function built in, but you can also pick up stand-alone versions at most of the big retail stores.

4. PC Software

If you live in a small apartment (like I do), and have your computer on all of the time (like I do), it can be easy to just jump over to the PC and type something into a notebook application. My two favorites for this are both from Google - the scratch pad gadget for Google Desktop, or the Google Notebook browser add-on. I’ve actally begun using Google Notebook quite extensively… with it’s ability to use multiple notebooks, sections, and tagging, it’s usually pretty easy to find what I’ve filed there.

5. Post-Its

These were the inspiration for this article.

Last night, I was at the computer and one of those million dollar ideas (OK, maybe this was only a thousand dollar one) popped into my head. Being the good collector I am, I fired up Google Notebook to record it…

… and the screen froze. Nothing moving. I’d aked my baby to do one too many things.

It was a godsend that I had a stack of Post-Its in front of me. So I wrote down the initial idea, and then thought, “Hey, wouldn’t it be helpful if I shared some of my ideas on capturing ideas?”

So out comes another little yellow sheet of paper, and a day later, this very article is born.

(By the way… I’ve written about my love of Post-its before…)

So those are my 5 favorites… which of these do you use? Have I missed any that you like to use?

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