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Stop Missing Out on Your Great Ideas

Ahmed El-Bahrawy Jun 17, 2021 Productivity


You are finally in your bed after a long, exhausting day just about to drift off to a comfortable sleep when an interesting idea starts to materialize in your head. It seems intriguing so you tell yourself that you will further explore it when you're less tired. Next morning, however hard you try, you can't seem to remember what yesterday's "brilliant" idea was all about. You might even not remember that you had an idea, to begin with. Coincidentally, many attractive ideas have popped up in my mind while I was doing something unrelated like working out, praying, especially Tarawih (should be more mindful, I know), and, of course, in the shower. My memory isn't stellar and I would frequently forget doing things that I previously planned just because I solely relied on my memory. However, I realized that when I wrote stuff down, I was more likely to follow through with tasks and remember ideas later. Over time, I tried to actively capture thoughts and ideas. And to say the least, it made my life a little bit easier.

Why is it useful to capture your ideas?

  • Prevents you from missing out on potentially great ideas. Needless to say, not all ideas are created equal, but it just takes a single idea to completely alter your life or add tremendous value to it. You don't want to come across a great idea and then be frustrated years later when you see it implemented elsewhere just because it slipped your mind.
  • Allows you to clear your mind. When a thought that you redeem worthy hits you, you will want to hold on to it to avoid forgetting it forever. It would keep nagging on your brain and preventing you from fully focusing on the tasks on hand. The simple act of writing it down will allow you to clear your mind. After all, you know the thought is somewhere safe and you can always get back to it later.
  • Increases the likelihood of you actually acting on your ideas. Sounds cliché, but by simply writing stuff down, you put yourself in a better position to follow through on them. After all, how can you act on something that you don't even remember?

What to do about it?

I acknowledge that there is no one right way to do things. I'm just stating what has worked for me on a personal level.

  • Consciously choose a central idea-capturing place. The emphasis here is on the word central. You don't want your thoughts and ideas scattered around different apps on your phone, random pieces of paper, notebooks, and that WhatsApp chat with your best friend (we've all been there). I have been using a Google Docs file named "Thoughts" for quite some time now. Whenever an amusing thought, article idea, book recommendation, or just about anything comes to me, I open the file and dump it there for a later time. As for pictures/screenshots, I would save them to my Google Drive account.
  • Pick out what is more convenient. I know the feeling of writing on paper is unmatched by digital means. However, I'm very outcome-oriented and the convenience of having my phone on me all the time makes it by far my preferred method to pin ideas down in real time. I know how fancy notebooks are attractive for some (I'm guilty as well), but just pick what makes the process as smooth as possible so you won't be discouraged to write down your thoughts.
  • Use a note-taking app available on both your phone and PC and that has offline functionality. You want to make the process as seamless as possible while not being locked out when you don't have internet connectivity. Here is a quick list of the best note-taking apps out there: Evernote, Notion (Holy grail of organization and planning), Google Docs (Not a dedicated note-taking app but fits well with Google's ecosystem), Apple Notes (for Apple users), and Microsoft OneNote.
  • Make it easily accessible. I have my "Thoughts" file bookmarked in my laptop's browser and as a widget on my phone's home screen as well to make the process as hassle-free as possible.
  • Organize your entries every now and then. It's no fun combing through a mountain of ideas, thoughts, and random pieces of writing when trying to come up with an idea for a project or weeding out some tasks. Every once in a while, I loosely organize the entries in my central file into different categories such as To-Dos, Ideas, Emotional Triggers, and Bucket List. I actually came up with the idea of starting this blog while going through my Ideas file. I was trying to settle on an idea for the final project of the computer science course I was taking. If I hadn't written down my desire to start a blog and later transferred it into my Ideas file, this blog might have never seen the light of day. And I'm happy it did!
  • All in all, it doesn't matter how complex or loose your note-capturing and organization system is. If it works for you, it works. For instance, some people advocate buying water-resistant shower notepads to avoid missing out on those precious shower thoughts as well as using voice recorders to capture thoughts in more detail. To me, this seems a little bit over the edge.

Take away:

Ideas aren't any good if you forget them before they become actionable. That's why it is critical to put into place a system for catching and organizing your ideas.

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Ahmed El-Bahrawy

Adventurer at heart!