Have you ever struggled to remember your ideas?
I used to get so upset at myself because I would think of something that excited me and then tell myself I need to write that down or text it to myself so I don’t forget. Then, of course, I would do neither and the idea would be lost forever. Over the years I have started to actually become much better about remembering my ideas thanks to a few tools. So if you’re a person like me who once struggled with remembering your ideas, hopefully, these ideas will help.
Nobody is paying me to write this but the links are affiliate links so if you buy something using the link I may earn a small commission.
I currently have 28 drafted blog posts on this blog. I have 654 drafts on the Sneaker History blog. I’ve probably got another few dozen worth scattered across other blogs, and that’s not including all the drafts in my social media accounts. In addition, I have a handful of notebooks chalked full of ideas ranging from one-off blog posts to YouTube channel concepts, all the way up to full-fledged business outlines.
I never have a shortage of ideas for content. I only have a lack of time to create the content.
There are three ways that I try to capture the ideas that come to me.
- First and foremost is good old-fashioned pen and paper. Lists aren’t my strong suit but I have been becoming more and more consistent thanks to a new strategy I embraced at the beginning of the pandemic. I’ll get into those practices another time but if you’re trying to organize your thoughts, I suggest a notebook that you can dedicate one page per day. You don’t fill out the entire page. In fact, it’s good to have some empty space. That way, when revisiting an idea you have room for other notes that will inevitably come as time passes.I prefer Leuchtterm1917 but you can’t go wrong with Moleskin either. It really depends on the size and material you feel comfortable carrying.
- The next tool in my arsenal is the app Evernote. I have used Evernote for nearly 15 years. It’s my go-to for jotting down ideas, collecting links, photos, and more. It does everything you could imagine a “note-taking” app could do. You can use it for simple notes, tasks, calendars, and even scanning documents. I am not this advanced but they even have a partnership with Moleskin and you can turn your hand-written pages from these Moleskin journals into digital content in the app.
- The last thing I use, but probably the thing I use most frequently, is the WordPress app on my phone. I just throw the ideas straight into a draft when I have them. You can even send them as text messages if you want. Obviously this is specifically for blog posts, but it’s something I’ve done for a really long time. So when I am actually consistently blogging, like I will be this year, I’ll be able to use some of the ideas that I’ve saved previously.
Those are the 3 tools that help me better remember my ideas before they are gone. If you’re anything like me and your mind never shuts off, you can combine a couple of these. Unless of course, you have handwriting like me, in which case you will spend more time trying to read what you wrote in your notebook than you did writing the notes in the first place.
If you have any other strategies for remembering your ideas, feel free to leave a comment or share them with me on your favorite social media platform.
