Monday, January 24, 2011

Never Lose an Idea, Google App Tackles Bad Memory

Ideas come at inconvenient times. You’ll get ideas in the shower, at the doctor, or while running. What’s worse is that sometimes you’ll get two or three ideas in a row. So then just remembering them is a challenge. On days when you have a lot on your mind, you can forget an idea seconds after its conception. That’s bad.

Record your ideas immediately! You don’t need to be at your desk, ready to write an article. Do you have your phone nearby? Chances are you do.

Use your phone to get your ideas down. It seems obvious. On most phones there are notepad apps. But notepads are just notepads. Your ideas deserve more than that. Try Google Docs. It’s a great way to record your ideas.

  • Google’s documents do not default to a page view. An empty page can be intimidating.
  • Google saves your document automatically every few seconds, so just write, then turn your phone off.
  • You’ll see the progress you’re making when you can scroll up and look at the other entries you’ve made. Recording your ideas will feel productive. You may even gain momentum.

Try fleshing out the promising ideas on the same document. Eliminate the bad ones. The result will be a mass of ideas at different levels of maturity. It’s pretty neat to see. When ideas are fully developed and ready to go, you may want to take them off your idea doc. Make room for the youngsters.

          Make room for the idea.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Patrick - Jason Temple here. I like the look of your blog, and the name and idea is pretty cool! Keep it up, and you'll soon have more than idiots like me commenting on it.

Maybe you could post some of your architectural secrets related to technology that laymen like me wouldn't know?

peace out dj patty

Patrick O'Brien said...

What's up, Jason? Thanks for the props. Yeah, the name came to me after like an hour of really bad name ideas. Finally I just brainstormed and entertained all sorts of weird stuff. This one seemed right. Things are headed toward perfect information. It won't ever get there, but at least we're better off than the days when we'd send messengers out on foot, only for them to be killed in the forest by banditos.
I'll try to do a blog about arch techs. That's a good idea.
And by the way, check out www.theleakywiki.com. It's my pet project.

Nice hearing from you.

P