Dig where you stand and take what you have

I have a penchant for always having something with me to write or record in. It can be a notebook or a stack of index cards.

Ideas come from … nowhere?

At least for me, ideas are volatile. As I mull something over while leading my everyday life, I get a moment of total lucidity. Suddenly, it is quite clear how I should design that particular workshop so that the rhythm is perfect, so that one topic leads to another in a natural way. For my inner vision, I see clearly what slides I will show and what to say to accompany them.

And, they disappear easily

I know from bitter experience that when this happens, it is urgent for me to write it down. Soon enough, something will distract me and then everything might disappear.

But, sometimes I do not have at hand the notebook that I always want with me, so then I grab what I have in my proximity.

Saved by a cardboard

This weekend, was unpacking coffee pods for our new Nespresso machine when such a moment of clarity struck. Quickly, I sketched down my idea on what I was holding at the moment, namely the box itself. (Isn’t the cardboard somewhat decorative after all?)

A piece of cardboard with idea scriblings on it.

So, if your ideas are as volatile as mine, take what you have right where you are and sketch away.

The important thing is not that you write the ideas down in the right place, but that you let the sticky note/carton/magazine page bounce in your inbox and that you decide what the next step is, i.e. define the to-do task, that is the start of realizing the idea.

Where do you prefer to record your ideas? Tell me!