On Friday I was on the way to pick my daughter up from school, and as I was driving I had a really good idea for a blog post. Of course it’s NOT the best place to have an idea. I couldn’t exactly stop and write it down. But I noticed that it wasn’t the first time that it happened. In fact, I often have business ideas as I’m driving to pick her up from school. I’m not sure why…maybe because at that point I’m done working for the day, and am not actively thinking about anything about my business, but the back of my mind is still working? I couldn’t tell you why really. All I know is I’m happy to have these thoughts.
Where Do You Get Your Best Business Ideas?
If I were to sit down, and try to come up with a bunch of ideas on any topic…I’m sure I’d come up with something, but it probably wouldn’t be a long list. I’m not good at being “forced” to come up with ideas, even if I’m the one that wants to make the list. I’m sure a lot of people are the same way. My great ideas happen whenever they want, they don’t usually happen when I want them to. For some reason, I either get great ideas in the shower (like most people I’m sure!) or when I’m driving by myself. Here’s the important question you need to ask yourself. Where do you get your best business ideas? Depending on where they are, can you replicate that so you can have more of them? Obviously you’re not going to take multiple showers a day just so you can have more great ideas, but if you have great ideas after taking a small break to relax, or after going for a walk in the park for example, you can make sure you do these things more often, so that you’re setting yourself up to have more great ideas.
When Do You Get Your Great Ideas?
Besides knowing where you are when you get your best business ideas, another thing to think about is when do you get these great ideas? Maybe you’re a morning person who always has great ideas first thing in the morning, and by mid afternoon can’t do anything but monotonous tasks that require no creativity at all. Well that’s a great thing to know! You can then schedule your creative things for the morning, and tasks that don’t require as much creativity for later in the day. If on the other hand, you notice you are more creative at night and your ideas all happen then, maybe you’ll want to schedule a few hours of work in then. Even if you can’t “force” great ideas, you an make it easier to be ready for them.
What Do You Do When You Get Your Awesome Ideas?
Like I mentioned, I often have great business ideas when I’m NOT in the best place to write them down. I can’t exactly take out a pen and paper in the car, or in the shower. But it doesn’t meant that I’m doomed to forget my amazing ideas before I’ve even had a chance to anything with them.
I’ve learned that I just need to be creative about it, and you may need to be creative as well. As for the car, I’ve found a pretty simple solution. Before I get in the car to pick my daughter up, I open the Voice Recorder app. If I have an awesome idea, I just keep repeating it to myself (out loud of course…I’m in the car by myself, so it doesn’t matter!) until I come to a red light (or arrive at her school.) At that point I can hit record and talk away! I don’t have to worry about getting into an accident and my idea is saved for later. I try to say as much as I can about the idea so that I’ll be able to remember what I was thinking about later. I’ve done this a few times now, and I’ve found it easy to pick up with my ideas later on based on the recording. In fact, I’ve found that just by recording them I’ve remembered a lot more about the ideas, so I haven’t had to rely on them as much…but they’re still great to have.
As far as the shower, I’ve been saying this for years, but I’m going to buy one of those pencil and paper sets that are made to use in the shower. That way I can just write it down and move on. Who knows, maybe I’ll have even more ideas that way. Right now I just keep trying to think about the idea until I can get out of the shower and write them down.
What can you do when you have an idea? Can you keep a small notebook with you (I have one with me at all times!) so that you can write it down so you don’t forget? Is there anything else you can do to make sure you remember them and can go back to your ideas later?
While yes, you can work on your business whatever hours you want to…sometimes you aren’t at your most creative and getting your best ideas while you’re working. Try to come up with ways to make sure you can jot down your amazing ideas when you’re not ready to work on them, so that the next time you are you’ll be able to get right to work on them!
Enjoy,
