Write it Down!

How many great ideas come to you during the course of a day? If you have an awareness of your passions you will inevitably have those "stream of thought" moments where your mind pours out pure gold. So, how can we bring those thoughts to life?

Write them down!

An Antidote to Missed Opportunities

As you may know, many of those ideas slip into the aether of our mind, never to be found again and yet the emotion and passion they brought forth in your head and heart was deeply moving. These are seminal moments in our lives that we have a tendency to take for granted. Don't do that!

The antidote to missed opportunity is to write it down!

Remember that great definition for luck? It's where preparation meets opportunity. Think about that for a second. Now ask, "what opportunities have I missed because I wasn't prepared?"

Nearly every opportunity that is before us is going to require managing information. Big ideas are going to have many details. Those details connect people, organizations, and other ideas that all work together for the result we want. Organizing them in our head is impossible. That's right! IMPOSSIBLE!

When we write ideas down they intrinsically become more valuable. To illustrate, what are some things that become more valuable when we write them down?

• A business plan? Write it down.
• An invention? Write it down.
• A song lyric with a sweet riff? Write it down.
• That chemistry lecture I need to graduate? Write it down.
• Get coached? Write it down! C'mon, you know I had to include your coach :-) 

Good ideas are great to have rattling around in our heads. It feels good to think about them. Yet, if we want to bring them into the real world the best place to start is to write them down.

Here's Why...

The first thing you will learn when you start writing out your ideas is that they are different on paper. The good news is, they actually get way better! Writing the idea begins to expose areas of thinking that will never surface while it's just in your head. Those details turn into the action steps that start you on your path for real results.

Imagine how good you felt when you had the idea. Now, what if those ideas were better? What if you had a clear path forward? Yea, that's pure Almond Joy! :-D

𝅘𝅥𝅯 ♫ Isn't it Romantic ♫ 𝅘𝅥𝅮

Good ideas need to be nurtured. They need attention. Just like seeing an attractive person you would like to get to know, you learn as many details as you can about that person. You start to notice details. A new haircut, new shoes, their nails, a new bag that they carry, an accent, their cologne... and the list goes on and on.

That affection turns to poems, we pass notes, we text, we communicate in romantic ways. The similes become sublime. "He/she makes me feel like I can take on the world!" This expression comes from passion and intimacy.

If you can romance your ideas, then you will want to detail them just like getting to know the person who draws your affection.

Shakespeare, I Am Not

Writing doesn't have to be Shakespearean! Bullet points are your friend. Use them. Use what flows from your head. Write first. Organize only after you have have dumped every thought you have on your idea.

It's important to not organize while you are writing. This is because organizing brings its own thought process and writings. If you can empty your brain of the initial idea those thoughts won't get muddled in the organizational phase. See these two steps as mutually exclusive processes.

When you get to the organizing stage, you may find you do not have a great organizational approach. Keep writing and organizing and you will grow into a structure that maximizes your ideas and helps communicate it well to others. If you have a friend who writes or you see someone writing, ask them how they organize what they are writing. They may have a few cool tips for you.

I highly recommend using OneNote to organize your ideas. There are other good applications that you can use. Evernote, Google Keep or even a nice binder and paper will work. The online method is good for sharing and having access everywhere you go. Access on your laptop, tablet and/or phone is efficient and kinda awesome.

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Take Action!

1. What is your idea?
• How many ways can you look at it?
• What will this idea give you?
• What would be even bigger?
2. Choose a medium.
• OneNote is my favorite! 
• Evernote and Google Keep are great ways to track your info, as well.
• Are you a pen and pad kinda person? These are great too.
• Are you using something other than these? Please, let us know in the comment section.
3. Design a peaceful moment.
• It's a place. 
• It's a mindset. 
• It's a cup of coffee and a notepad. :-)
4. Write it down.
• Write it as it comes.
• Use bullet points.
• Expand on your ideas.
• Get it all out of your head and on paper (or computer).
5. Organize it.
• Stop! Finish the initial writing session first. 
• Organize to your heart's content.
• "Next step" thoughts will begin to flood your thought process in this stage. Write them as you organize. 
• Ask a friend or if you see someone writing at Starbucks, "how do you organize your writing?"

Please, add your thoughts in the comment section.

Concept: Write down your ideas, goals and aspirations.

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