When an Idea Hits
Ideas can come out of nowhere at the oddest times in the strangest places. Some of my best ideas for articles aren’t formulated when I write, but when I’m out in the world. After all, Opportunity Surrounds us.
The problem is an idea comes when you are busy. You can’t take the time to stop and work on that idea right away. But trying to file it away in your mind to remember later is a recipe to forget. I know, I’ve lost many ideas to the depths of my mind.
I have a new strategy to remember. It’s simple and takes very little time in the moment to create a way to remember without interrupting and derailing the task at hand.
Write it down
The obvious solution is often the best. But it’s not as simple as writing it down. What if you can’t. I personally don’t carry a notepad and pen with me everywhere I go.
But I do carry my phone. My response to a brilliant idea is to not think, but grab my phone and write down the essence of the idea. Not too much detail, I don’t want to be on my phone for 10 minutes. A simple sentence stating what the idea is will be enough to jog my memory.
Once in the phone, where does it go? It goes straight into an email I send to myself. I’ve tried notes and I forget to look back, but an email will land in my inbox so when I jump on the computer it’s ready and waiting.
Just because the idea is in writing doesn’t mean it’s always words. Sometimes I see a tree or a building and I’ll write down what I’m seeing, maybe snap a picture to attach, and write down what I was thinking.
Recently I was watching some birds which inspired me to design a chair. The idea I wrote was “bird wing chair design.” which resulted in this picture. I didn’t have time to draft it in the moment, but I had the idea of this chair in my head. All I needed was a good prompt to recall it when I did have drafting time.
Not All Ideas are Good
I’ll say it, sometimes your ideas are garbage. I know mine are. I had one the other day where I wrote “big coffee table.” That was it. I don’t know what that means.
Sure, a big coffee table, but in what design? What did I mean by big? With no context or reference image I have no idea what I wanted to tell myself. Maybe it was a fantastic idea, but I cannot fathom where my mind was going at the time.
But that’s the best part of this method. You’re out being busy, you have an idea you think is great, but get to explore it later when you have the head space and time to think through if it’s a good idea or a bad one. Then you can decide if it’s worth your time to invest further, expand and explore the idea, or if it’s better forgotten in the waste bin.
But it was worth writing down, worth remembering and exploring because you never know what idea you might think up and where it will go. My favorite piece I’ve ever built started as a random idea “end table tapered legs Foureyes Furniture” was the note and look at how that turned out.
