Howdy! In this issue, I will discuss…
An extremely simple method to collect great ideas.
Why ideas are a volume business: The more you have, the more great ones you will have.
And how having a collection of hundreds of ideas will save you at crunch time.
“One minute, please”
If you’ve ever spent time with a stand-up comedian, you’ve undoubtably seen them grab their phone or a tiny notebook mid-conversation and say “hold on just one minute.” Loved ones of comedians often play second fiddle to the most important thing to a comedian: an idea. They know ideas come and go and that a great one could make a big difference in their act.
How about you? Are you as careful with your ideas? Do you stop everything and write them down, or do you assume you’ll remember them later?
The truth is, for most people, there is a high probability you won’t remember your ideas unless you write them down.
I work in a field where I’m expected to have ideas all the time. Maybe you do too. Ideas are a part of life. Ex: You work for an ad agency, or in a marketing team, or maybe you’re looking for a job at a late night TV show, or the phone rings and someone wants you to give a speech in 2 days.
Now you are in crunch time. Some people work great at crunch time, but a lot of people don’t. It creates stress. That’s why it’s essential to have a pile of ideas you can go to when you need them.
3 Ideas
This is where an idea system comes in handy. I call mine “3 ideas.” If you know what Second Brain is, this will feel familiar. But way simpler. Here’s how it works:
You just commit to writing down 3 ideas a day.
That’s it! Good night! Tip your waiters and waitresses and try the veal!
Encore!
If you can write down more, you will get even more value out of the system, but let’s start with 3 ideas.
They can be anything. Don’t sweat this commitment because they don’t even have to be great. In fact, most of them won’t be. And to prove it, here are a few of mine:
Award Shows: What Speakers can Learn #newsletter #3ideas
I wish I was on Queer Eye. Not because I want to be a better person, I just want someone to paint my living room for free. #premise #3ideas
The guy who invented Happy Hour was like "I'm sure of two things.. I've got shitty well liquor and I know there are people who'd like to start drinking earlier in the day" #premise #3ideas
Business clients don't seem to want to cop to flaws in storytelling so how can I still incorporate that element? Maybe introduce a mindset getting in the way of the goal? #coaching #bizstorytelling #3ideas
I told you, they don’t have to be great. Think of them as ideas that might lead somewhere. In the above, #1 is an idea for a newsletter post, #2 and #3 are premises for jokes, and #4 is an idea for a presentation I am giving on business storytelling. It probably won’t make sense to anyone but me. Notice I don’t care about grammar and I tag them so I can sort them later.
IDEAS are a numbers game. The more you have, the better the chance you will come up with a great one. The point is to commit to writing them down, good or bad.
The numbers game: Here’s where it gets great:
At the end of the first month you will have around 90 Ideas
At the end of the quarter you will have like 200
At the end of the year, you could have 1000 ideas!
SOME OF THEM WILL BE GREAT.
You could come up with the idea that changes your life.
Here’s the “how to”
Set aside a little bit of time each day to come up with ideas, or capture them as they hit you. It’s harder to set aside time, but you might have a deeper idea when you do. On the flip side, if you get great at catching them as you go through your day, you will be building a valuable life skill and learning to be present.
I don’t care how you do it, just do it. Write down your ideas.
Where?
Write them down somewhere that’s easy. A physical notebook, on Apple Notes on your phone, it doesn’t matter.
Tag ‘em
The crucial part – tag them so you can quickly sort and review them. If you are using a physical notebook, color code them. If you are using apple notes, put hashtags on your notes. You could also put them in a 2-column Notion database. Use the tags to organize them into buckets of your life, creative interests, or aspirations. Ex: A business idea, ideas for your content channel, something you want to do in your life, premises for jokes, observations, book ideas, ideas for a blog post, etc.
Review
Every week, review the new ideas on your list and rank the ones that are the best. Quickly rewrite/cleanup those ideas so they are clearer for when you come back to them. Tag them as great or put them in another list called “super terrific best ideas.” Then, review the new ideas along with the best ideas each month. And then, the best ideas each quarter. And at the end of the year. You get it.
It’s like the Hunger games but with ideas.
Hone in on the great ones
Along the way, you will hone in on the ideas you love and then you can focus on ideas in that area, and flesh out a larger project.
Now you are ready to Crush It At Crunch Time.
Here’s the great really part.
If you are a promoting your business and need an idea for a blog post, or if you are a comedy writer and you find out there’s a call for submission on a late night package, or you get a meeting with someone who asks you “what do you want to do?”…
You don’t need to freak out, because you will already have a giant pile of ideas. And a smaller but still big pile of great ideas.
You will never be in a situation where you will not have ideas. And if you don’t have the perfect idea, you will have trained your brain to develop them. And you will come up with the idea you need.
See you next week!
This is great. I compulsively write ideas. Never thought to tag them or sort them! #genius