How to Keep Your Idea File Alive and Useful
Posted by Joel Falconer in Writing ToolsJun 5th, 2008 | 8 responses
I’ve spoken about the benefits of using an idea file for those in the business of generating content on numerous occasions now, mostly at Lifehack. Whether you run out of ideas because you’re overworked and in need of some relaxation time, or you just cut it too close to the deadline to waste time thinking up a topic, the idea file is an essential tool in the writer’s kit.
The trouble is that most people will start an idea file, only to populate it with a few starter ideas and then leave it eternally dormant. The file is never opened again, the ideas in it never used, new ideas never written down and forever lost.
The key to keeping your idea file active and alive is in making it easy to add to it from any location or during any situation. If you have to hunt for the file, or it is in any minute way a nuisance to use, then it will not get used.
Augment Your Idea Capture System
Append with Quicksilver - Quicksilver allows you to append text (or prepend) to any text file in the blink of a keystroke. This means you can quickly add a line to your file without looking for it, opening more programs, or stopping what you’re doing. Just hit the keystroke, append your idea and keep working on whatever you were doing. Here’s how to do it.
Quicksilver is a Mac OS X program - if anyone knows of a Windows alternative, I’d love to update this post for my Microsoft-loving readers.
Use Evernote - Evernote is one of those programs that makes it possible to not only make notes anywhere, but access them from anywhere. The problem with ideas is that they pop up at the most inopportune of times, and with Evernote there are half a million ways to send and receive information. For instance, if you’re out doing groceries, you can send your note as an email to your Evernote account using your mobile phone.
Storing your idea file in Evernote rules out the use of Quicksilver’s Append feature, but it does mean that you’ll never, ever lose an idea. Unless you’re in the shower.
Notebook and Pen - this solution doesn’t suit everyone, but if you’re the kind of person who carries a notebook and pen or pencil with you everywhere you go, you don’t need Evernote or Quicksilver. It’s also unlikely that you don’t have a problem when it comes to recording your ideas!
I’m increasingly attracted to paper for managing information snippets. I already use the old fashioned stuff for my to-do list, but am I ready to go as far as an offline idea file? Very much doubt I could, but it is an effective and efficient method. Evernote’s synchronization features and Quicksilver’s ability to append to any text file offer more benefits, in my own opinion.
When to Ditch Your Idea File
If you have an article deadline coming up and a burning desire to write about an idea you’ve had, don’t add it to the end of your idea file and use it later. The idea file is not a sequential list that you must work through before getting to other ideas.
When an idea is capturing your interest, it’s the best time to write. It’ll be more interesting for your readers, since you’ll capture the passion and interest you have in the subject. The idea file is there for those days when you can’t think of anything to write about. Everyone has them. Don’t waste this valuable resource - use it only when you need it.
What Do You Do?
Do you have an effective idea capture system, or do you fall prey to late night panic attacks before deadlines strike? Tell us about your successes and failures, including any tips or tricks you have for getting the idea machine running when none are immediately forthcoming.
8 Responses to “How to Keep Your Idea File Alive and Useful”
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I think that just knowing that you have an idea file that you can resort to if need be helps you to relax when it comes time to write (you don’t have the added pressure of “I have to come up with something to write about” because if you can’t think of anything you can just pull out your file). And relaxing is the first step to get ideas flowing. I’m a paper person so I’ll either write down my ideas with a pen or write it in “word” and print it.
I manage blogging pipeline based on Outlook folders
http://practicethis.com/2008/02/11/the-fast-and-the-peaceful/
In general every interesting email i stick into it and tag it as a blog item with Outlook category. If i find something interesting on the web or just an idea i fire up an Outlook post (ctrl+shft+S) write it down there, tag it and stick into the folder. When the time comes for blogging i scan it, pick the most wanted and just blog. Currently i have 102 items in the pipeline. Now i need to thing how to most effectively to burn it.
What i come up with so far is a plugin i wrote for Windows Live Writer
http://practicethis.com/blog-post-template-plugin-for-windows-live-writer/
that helps me streamline writing and save some time.
Ha. I’m a notebook and pen kind of girl. I have one in the car, one next to my bed and one in the kitchen (for some reason, I get lots of ideas while cooking).
Since I’ve committed myself to a three-days-per-week publishing schedule on my blog (I don’t want to burn myself out with daily blogging), right now I have more ideas than I can publish. By the time I get to some of them, they don’t seem as fresh anymore.
@Marelisa: Agreed. I find that in the quieter months of the year, ideas flow easily, and then when things are jacked up to a high point of tension, the idea file starts getting used regularly and occasionally will even run out. At this point it’s really important to get it filled up again, in spite of the stress.
@Alik: When I was a PC user I also used Outlook as the central information database for just about everything, including ideas. It’s a good solution, especially if you spend a lot of time managing information in it already, since this will reduce the barriers to saving your ideas.
@Vered: You’re tempting me further to go the notebook route. One day I may do a 30-day trial ;)
Love the article - one of my favorite topics.
> The key … is in making it easy to add to it
There’s an important partner to this: Forming the capture *habit*. I had to change my attitude about capture from asking “Is this useful to me now?” to “Might this be useful to me someday?” The later makes me capture much more than I had before, which is good - I’ve been burned trying to find something (“Now WHERE did I see that?”). Tech tools aren’t there yet (browser histories), but there’s research coming along (e.g., “Keeping found things found” - http://kftf.ischool.washington.edu/index.htm)
Thanks for the thinking!
Joel -
Excellent post. I am using google docs as the ideas journal. I normally carry my laptop every where I go so google docs is pretty handy.
Another suggestion is to sign up free with
http://www.rememberthemilk.com
This is an excellent site. It has a space for ideas in addition to appointments, calendar etc.
Thanks Shilpan
@Matt - agreed! Thanks for pointing out the importance of forming habits in this area. The ability to form and change habits is essential to all productivity and personal development practices, I believe.
@Shilpan - I’ve used Remember The Milk and I liked it, though I do use paper for my task management now. Google Docs is an insanely great service, though I think the act of navigating to a site, logging in and opening a document makes idea tracking somewhat laborious for the lazier amongst us. Great for collab work, IMO.
[…] How to Keep Your Idea File Alive and Useful-Joel Falconer This article would be a helpful resource for anyone that is constantly coming up with good ideas and then forgetting them. The offer recommends using an “idea file” to store these thoughts before they are lost. […]