When I go to write my blog post every night, I look back at my notes from the day and see which idea I want to turn into a full post. Usually I have 3-5 different things I’ve written down each day. So for every blog post I write, I have 3-5 blog post ideas that I might use. (I have over 1200 files in my notes app). It’s been nearly a year of my daily blog and I have never once had nothing to say. I’m confident I won’t run out of ideas and here’s how you can start to feel that way too:
Every day we have ideas pop into our heads. Some are good and worth remembering, others are not. Whether a fleeting idea can stand the test of time is not your decision to make in the moment. Just notice that you had the idea, then write the idea down or type it out.
What I’m proposing to you is that the hardest part about coming up with this many ideas is noticing when you’re having an idea. You need to be mindful enough to realize that your mind is thinking about an idea, then you need to be present enough to realize the idea is worth writing down. Here’s the catch: when you write down the idea, it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you.
Your notes don’t need to be blog posts. They’re more like personal bookmarks. You’ll look back at the end of the day and see some jibberish like:
“The job versus the work
The projects versus the tasks” (my note from 9/5/17)
But, you’ll know what that jibberish means. I’m sure those two lines mean nothing to you, but I remember what I was thinking and I could sit down and write a blog post about it now.
Your notes don’t need to pretty. In fact, they probably shouldn’t be pretty because no one else ever needs to read your notes. It’s about you. It’s about getting your thoughts on paper. Worry about the presentation later.
Lastly, make it a practice to revisit your notes. I browse all my new notes at the end of each when I’m deciding what to write about. Maybe you browse them every morning to pick up where you left off yesterday. Maybe you do a weekly review on Friday. It’s totally up to you, but if you don’t make an effort to revisit your ideas, they will be lost.
To wrap up the second (and final, for now) post in the note-taking series follow these three rules:
- Notice the ideas happening in your mind
- Write them down no matter in whatever form is easiest for you
- Revisit your notes