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Posted on 03.09.05 by Laura @ 12:43 am
There’s so much to be said for journaling that I’m not quite sure where to start! If you’ve ever taken a creativity course or read a book on becoming more creative you’ve probably had the idea of journaling every day shoved down your throat. For good reason! Try this. Even just for a week and see if it makes any changes in your life… Every morning make this your first priority. Sit down with a notebook and write. Everything that comes to mind. Even if all you write is “I want coffee…” over and over again. After 20 minutes you’re free to go about your day. And your coffee. By the end of the week I’ll bet you’ve seen some interesting ideas, thoughts, lists spill out of your brain and onto paper. And, although it may be too early to tell, you may also notice your creative side peeking through that usually logical, usually predictable personality of yours. That’s a creativity building exercise for you. Stay on it past the week and big changes are coming your way. Here’s where the Idea Bank comes into play… Take that same notebook and flip it over. Now you’re writing back to front but it doesn’t matter, I’m just trying to save you 67 cents for another notebook. Make this side your Idea Bank Notebook. Whenever you get an idea - whether it’s for an ebook you want to write, a recipe you want to experiment with, a new business venture or a solution to a problem that’s been hounding you - jot it down. Jot it down. Then let it go. You may never see it again. But if you need to, it is there. Take that little Idea Bank Notebook everywhere with you. You’ll get ideas all over the place. On the streetcar, in your coffee shop, watching television. If you are passionate about any one of those ideas, or if any one of them are true gold, your subconscious will remind you consistently until you can’t ignore it anymore. At that time you’ll grab your notebook, take out that idea and start to play with it. If the idea is for a business venture you’ll play at it by writing out a business plan. If the idea is for a recipe alteration, you’ll head into the kitchen. Or collaborate with friends. Or draft an outline. And your idea starts to grow. All because you had the foresight to jot it down when it entered your mind the first time. Filed under: Idea KickStarts and Ideas for Ebooks Comments: None |
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Posted on 03.01.05 by Laura @ 11:23 pm
We’ve been talking about the idea storming process… Brainstorming, then letting the idea mull around in your unconscious thought for a while. I just read a bit by Bertrand Russell. You’ve heard of him I’m sure. A prolific writer in the early 1900s. He wrote quite a bit about math and the mind. Betrand once wrote “I have found that if I have to write upon some rather difficult topic the best plan is to think about it with very great intensity - the greatest intensity of which I am capable - for a few hours or days, and at the end of that time give orders, so to speak, that the work is to proceed underground. After some months I would return consciously to the topic and find that the work had been done.” As an example of minor idea generation in action, in 1998 I decided to start up my own website but I was uncertain what to call it. The goal was to generate a site while I learned a new lifestyle. I desired a space online to record the things I’d learned so that others might one day use it as a reference. I had no desire to dominate the search engines or make a living online, so the name didn’t need to be competitive. But it did need to be catchy. Idea generation for the site name went something like this: Country Living (name of a popular magazine and I didn’t want to compete with that), Other names came to mind but for the purpose of this example, that’s enough. I left the work of site naming for awhile - it wasn’t imperative that I have my idea name immediately - and I moved onto some other work. As I worked I found myself singing the theme song from that series in the 70s: “Green Acres is the place to be, fun living is for you and me…you are my wife, Goodbye City Life!” … and the name idea was born! P.S I hope you caught the big secret to this technique! You must move onto some other mind engaging activity when you leave your idea to your subconscious. If you just hit the couch or do your laundry your bright idea will likely not come to you. You must find a way to keep your conscious brain actively working so that your subconscious brain kicks into action in the back ground. Filed under: Idea KickStarts and Recent Posts Comments: None |
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