Have you ever counted how many ideas you’ve had in a day,
week, month, or year? Maybe you’re not
quite sure exactly how many ideas you’ve had at any given time because you had
no way of keeping track of them. We get
them all the time—while we’re lying in bed at night and waiting for sleep to
grace us with its presence, while we watch our favorite TV show, and even when
we’re stuck in the 405 traffic nightmare.
In the past, when I used to get ideas (whether they be for
stories or for inventions), I’d seem to get them at the most inopportune
time—driving … always while driving. In
any event, I may have remembered I had said idea once I parked and got out of
the car, but because work was vying for much of my brain capacity, I ended up
telling myself that I wouldn’t do anything with the idea anyway and I should
just forget about it.
I look back on that attitude and say, “What. The.
Fuck.” If I could go back in time and
slap myself, I would. But, no one has
invented time travel (that I’m aware of), so instead I changed the way I dealt
with ideas. I actually took the time to
write them down even if I don’t know what to do with them yet or have the time
to dedicate to bringing them to fruition.
Because I don’t carry around a pen and paper everywhere I go, I use the
note function on my phone. I often get
the best ideas for new books when I’m doing things other than writing: sleeping (dreams are awesome for new book
ideas!), watching TV, cleaning, you get the point.
I digress … where I’m going with this is to say that no
matter who, what, why, where, or when, you should always write your ideas
down. Even if you don’t think you have
time to deal with them or put them to action.
You might and you should write them down to remind yourself that you
thought of that idea in hopes of taking some action sometime in the future.
Back in 2011, when we were test driving our new Toyota
Tundra, I remember sitting in the backseat and watching the Nav screen while
Bryan drove. As we travelled down the
road, points of interest popped up such as gas stations or places to eat. I was still working at Expedia and the
company was working on mobile apps (among other things) for booking
travel. I remember thinking how great it
would be if Expedia was able to contract with a company like Toyota to
incorporate a booking engine in conjunction with the Nav system so you could
search up hotels or activities nearby to book through the Nav on your way
there.
That was 2011.
Although I thought about the idea from time-to-time, I didn’t write it
down and it never went anywhere. Fast
forward to present day where I’ve recently traded in my 2008 Toyota Highlander
for a 2015 model. We’re checking out all
the features and guess what? You can
voice request the nearest Starbucks, or Hyatt Hotel, or whatever and it shows
up on the Nav. I’m sure there’s Internet
access on there, too. Many cars have all
these things that now tie into your phone’s network to go online (think: Facebook, Pandora, you name it) and I’m sure there
are some cars out there that already have apps that allow you to book travel
(they have an app to book a restaurant reservation, so why not a hotel?).
So, the moral of the story is this: write that shit down. As soon as possible. Post it in a prominent place where you’ll see
it every damn day because it will serve as a reminder that you need to get off
your ass and do something with that idea.
If you don’t, you’ll be like me … kicking myself for not exploring a
really great idea. Don’t be like “this” me.
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