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November 04, 2004

TIP #11: One Idea a Day

One idea a day is all it takes to develop a creative thinking habit with big paybacks. You have hundreds of ideas passing through your head on any given day. The key is to recognize them and note them down. These are not world changing ideas I'm talking about, but the everyday type. Think of it more like idea-singles vs. idea-home runs, knowing that overtime singles can add up and be a winning strategy.

I keep online logs of ideas and add to them throughout the day, when something pops to mind or I come across something I find interesting. It may just be an idea snippet, but I still note it down. These lists are about all sorts of things: potential column topics, enhancements for my website, marketing ideas for my book, personal development areas, or even fun weekend get-aways.

Often I have no idea what I'm going to do with the idea, but I find if I note it down I can come back to the list and cherry pick the best ideas, or evolve a snippet of an idea into something bigger and better.

Sometimes ideas are borrowed from others, or built on from other ones. Maybe I read something interesting that someone else is doing that's helped them, and that leads to an idea on how I might do something similar.

Ideas are everywhere. But, developing a discipline to capture, develop and use them can dramatically impact your results.

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Posted by Nan Russell at November 4, 2004 01:47 PM