Lightbulb | What To Do When Creativity Strikes
Ideas can come at any time, anywhere. Wouldn’t it be great if your brain would only come up with ideas when you were ready to document them and could devote time to really thinking it through? However, that’s not how life works. Ideas can come at the most inconvenient times. For me, they typically come either right before I fall asleep, when I’m driving in the car, or when I’m in the shower. None of those places are ideal for me to jot them down.
I always carry a bullet journal or sketchbook with me so I am prepared for when inspiration strikes. I have a specific section where I document the ideas and I typically put them into a category. For example, I have a section for quote ideas, blog post ideas, photo ideas, and more. Being organized has drastically changed my workflow and having these ideas documented according to categories makes it easier for me to execute. If I am going to devote time to working specifically on blog posts, like I’m doing right now, I go to my blog ideas section and write as many as I can. By having all my blog post ideas in one place, I can quickly see my ideas and execute them without sorting through pages of ideas that include quotes, photos, and other aspects of my business.
As for the inconvenient times when ideas strike, I usually write jot them down on a note in my phone. I write as much information as I can in the amount of time I have. I then set a reminder to go off for later that day, for when I’m off work, so I can then transport it into my bullet journal with the rest of the ideas. That way, I can keep all the ideas in the same place for convenience. If I am driving when an idea strikes, I think on that idea until I am at a red light or a stop sign and can open the camera or voice memos in my phone. I then sit my phone in the cupholder while I drive and I describe the idea. I say all of the things that I would jot down in my phone or bullet journal so that I can then transfer them over.
Ideas don’t always come at the right times but each one can be important. Even if that idea isn’t one you directly end up going with, it can lead to the one that is. “There is no such thing as a bad idea” so we have to capture them as they come.
