Ideas can change the direction and quality of your life one by one. Ideas are one of the most valuable things we have in life. Ideas are what create a better future. We have been talking about how to get ideas over the last few days, if you have missed it read this…
Today I want to talk about the next step after taking time to think. Remember ideas birth more ideas, if you want to have great ideas you have to take the time to intentionally think. But what happens once you start to get ideas? I think we have all had great ideas that popped into our mind at times. Sometimes they come when we are intentionally thinking of them, sometimes they come to us while we are driving, in the shower, working out, eating, in our conversations with others, at work, etc… Everyone gets ideas all throughout the day. According to research by UCLA the average person has 70,000 thoughts per day. I am sure there are some great ideas hiding out in there somewhere. I bet you remember having some great ideas at times throughout the day that you thought could change the world. But what happen to them? Where did they go? The issue isn’t that we don’t have ideas, it’s that we don’t remember what they were!
How many times have you been going about your day and had an amazing thought that really impacted you? But then what happened later that night? You tried to remember what it was, but nothing comes to your mind! Great ideas get lost if not written down and collected. Too many ideas come and go through our mind to simply hope you remember them. You can’t rely on memory, you have to take the time to collect them by writing them down.
So the lesson today is…Lesson #2 Collect Your Ideas
If you don’t collect ideas, you will forget what ideas you had. Think about how many amazing ideas have been lost in the sea of forgetfulness. French Composer Hector Berlioz said,
“Every composer knows the anguish and despair occasioned by forgetting ideas which one had no time to write down.”
If you do not take the time to write down and collect your ideas you WILL lose them. When you lose ideas you lose the potential for incredible opportunities. What a tragedy that we would forget and not take the time to write down every idea that pops into our mind. If we forget to collect ideas we are in danger of missing our future. Government official Paul Nitze said,
“One of the most dangerous forms of human error is forgetting what one is trying to achieve.”
We can’t let our ideas come in our mind and go out just as fast! Collect as many ideas as you can. Write down everything that comes to your mind. Remember ideas birth more ideas, however if you are not collecting your ideas you won’t be able to birth new ones. I suggest you have a notebook, app, something that you can carry with you at all times. You need to be able and capture your thoughts on the fly at all times. Author John Steinbeck said,
“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”
You handle your ideas by writing them down and collecting them. You cannot deal with an idea that you do not remember. So keep a file of your ideas. Break them into subjects, topics, issues, that you are thinking about. Always have a way of collecting your ideas. I use a computer program called SPRINGPAD to collect ALL my ideas. It syncs with my iphone & ipad, and is web based. I categorize my ideas into subjects and collect them at all times. It takes much discipline but the reward of a better future and more opportunity is worth it. The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is their ability to act on great ideas. But you cannot be successful with great ideas if you forget them.
So what are you doing to collect your ideas? Never let the potential of an idea escape you and get away. You must capture your thoughts and write them down if you are going to get amazing ideas that will change the course of your life and others! My system to collect ideas was birthed out of frustration of forgetting all the great ideas I was having each day. I got so mad that I couldn’t remember half of them that I decided to do something about it. I started to collect my ideas and now it has become one of the most important things I do! I now remember my ideas and go through the powerful process of writing them down. There is something special that happens when you take a floating idea in your mind and write it down. It becomes a real idea with meaning not just an obscure thought floating in your mind. You will be amazed at the power of writing your ideas down! Give it a try…starting today!
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