Tools to capturing ideas
Thursday, August 28, 2008 So you don't want to be caught out with an idea without noting it down somewhere? here are a few suggestions I have which have worked with me (some more than others):
- Moleskine Cahier: I cannot even begin to describe the beauty of these notebooks. Although there are many other notebooks out there, but there's something about this 64 light-weight notebook that lends itself to capturing ideas. I carry it everywhere I go, and has been an idea-saver for months now!
- Whiteboards: Have a small whiteboard in the kitchen (useful when you remember things you need to buy at the groceries) or in the living room/bedroom.. again, for those moments that ideas come to you and you can't be bothered to get out your notebook.
- Dictaphone: If you don't want to write it, say it!!! record yourself on your mobile or a dedicated dictaphone with the idea.. i find this slightly lame, as I don't like to listen to myself afterwards, I prefer to see my ideas written then heard. However some people express their ideas better when they talk it out, especially if the idea is abstract.
- Jott: Haven't tried this one yet, but it looks VERY appealing! Simply put, Jott is a service whereby you call Jott and voice your idea, and it notes it down in the form of a text/e-mail and sends it back to you or others! As NY times describle it" Meet Jott, your personal transcription service." Cool, eh?
So those are some ideas, What do you use?
Remember you need to be proactive when it comes to capturing ideas, don't just let them flow in and out, Allah is blessing you with these little gifts and you're just letting them go!?
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Reader Comments (2)
JazakaAllah khair. Well for me i use note pads that i stick all around my room (crazy huh). I buy these notes stickers, when ever an idea crosses my mind, i simply write down and on the wall it goes, now its fine when you have just a few notes on the wall, but in my case the walls simply disappear (poor walls :'() so i decided to incorporate your idea of using Moleskine Cahier and inshaAllah i hope to free my walls of terror they have suffered the past 2.5 years of my studies. The idea of using dictaphone is not so lame, but as you said we all have our ways of noting down our ideas, personally i used to have a dictaphone which i found useful although my family thought that i was going crazy, all those moment of talking to my self i decided to switch to note pads. But inshaAllah Moleskine cahier goes on my to do list.
@ Hayati: Ahh.. the good old yellow post-it notes. How could I forget them? Pre-Moleskine, I was relying on them, but the frustration of finding them made me look for alternatives.