Maintain An Idea File

The nature of any idea is such that one moment it can appear capable of turning into the next big thing and in the next moment it can appear completely useless. A few days later, when seen with fresh eyes, the same idea can appear wonderful once again. This see-sawing quality of your perception of ideas can cause you to discard some of your best ones when they begin to appear lackluster. Don’t let that happen to you. Maintain a record of your ideas, no matter how strange or impractical they seem. Use a spreadsheet, Dropbox, your writing or note-taking app, or even an email draft to keep track of the thoughts from all your brainstorming sessions. While going through these notes days, months, or even years later, you might find something that’s just right for your next project. Those discarded ideas turn into inspiration more often than you think. If nothing else, they can spark off several others.