If you’re like me, ideas may pop in your head at some of the most random or inconvenient times. Like in the morning when you are getting ready for your day, sitting quietly with a cup of coffee, or maybe driving in the car on your way to work, but then some type of distraction shows up, and that idea gets filed somewhere else in your head for another day. Sometimes, that idea gets totally forgotten about, or maybe just a part of it pops up but without the context that made you think it was great in the first place. Here is what I’ve learned to do about it.

You have to take action on those ideas right away! Drop what you are doing and take action!

You must do what you can to keep that idea moving forward or else risk losing it entirely.

Now, depending on what your inspiration is, will determine what action you need to take. For me, the inspiration has been to start writing. I have many ideas on topics that I love to engage with. There are many different subjects that interest me, and I have an opinion that I like to express and share. In the past, when an idea came to me, I would grab a post it note or the nearest sheet of paper, scribble down my thoughts, place it my pocket, and then hopefully return to it at the end of the day. But here’s the problem with that. And you can probably see it coming.

 After a long day at work and a stop at the gym, I would come home and get ready for bed or just flop down in front of the tv or with a book to unwind.

By now, just like everyone else, I am feeling a little spent. I was looking to unwind, and focus and discipline weren’t really a strong suit of mine, especially as the night was settling in. When I empty my pockets, and see whatever notes I may have taken, they more than likely got thrown into a pile of other notes sitting near my computer. I kept a binder that had all my great ideas that I accumulated over the years, but never acted on. (That’s a story for another day.)

There was also a problem, that I may have written my notes down hurriedly, and sometimes, if I was writing them down first thing in the morning, my handwriting wasn’t always in peak form or I may have written my thoughts down somewhat cryptically. Many ideas that seemed terrific when I wrote them, now got lost somewhere over the span of a few hours. They made total sense to me at 7 am while I just got out of the shower, but later in the day I had no idea what I was really aiming for.

Here is how I’ve solved that problem, and I have been having tremendous success using this as a support tool for myself.

Google doesn’t need a commercial from me, but they have a great application called Google keep, that you can access on your phone or your computer and easily take notes throughout the day. Think of it as having those little yellow post it notes electronically. You can find it here https://keep.google.com/

You don’t have to be tech savvy to use this app. I downloaded it and keep it on the home screen of my phone. One of the best things about it for me personally is that I can dictate my thoughts and notes directly to the app through use of the phone’s microphone. It’s easy:

1. Open the app,
2. Click on “take a note”
3. Hit the microphone icon on keyboard and start talking.

 It couldn’t be easier. By allowing yourself to speak instead of type, you can now expand on your idea, talk it through, and cover the key points without worry. This is an instantaneous way to capture the moment of your inspirational idea, whatever it may be.

Now that you’ve recorded and saved your thoughts, it frees you up to either expand on that idea or go back to whatever you were doing and return to it at any time.

How do you keep track of your ideas? Have you tried this method?