How to Become an Idea Machine, According to This Famous Digital Writer
#2: Most of your ideas will make no sense—discard them.
Yesterday, I was reading an article by Dickie Bush where he shares how to start sharing ideas online and build a habit of doing that.
I resonated a lot with it. I took some notes and here I share with you what I learned from a section of that article about idea generation.
It’s a simple 3 step process!
- Idea Capture
- Idea Review
- Idea Abundance
Now let’s dig a little deeper into this concept and find out of it works for us.
Idea Capture
Try to capture anything and everything interesting you see around yourself (that’s related to the subject you write about).
Our brains are wired to generate and notice new ideas, and not hold them, as Dickie says.
- Take notes of things you’re reading
- Journal every day to reflect on the day before it’s over
- Carry a small diary or notebook to jot down ideas if they strike randomly
Ideas Review
On a weekend, review everything.
Most of the things will make so sense—it’s rubbish. Discard them.
If a mere 10% makes sense, that’s enough.
Now take these ideas and refine them.
Make some tweaks here and some edits there and filter them out of the pile.
Like filter out every idea that can turn into a Medium article and save it as a Draft here with a title and 4–5 bullet points.
Worked for me. This article is the result.
You’ll get enough ideas for your posts, newsletters, articles, etc.
Plus, you’ll learn something new along the way.
Idea Abundance
Once you have a lot of ideas in front of you, start working with them.
Create something. Write that article. Put that research. Just start working.
Ideas are of no use if you left them half-baked for long. When they’re fresh, cook something delicious.
Try it for a month and see the difference. Writing from scarcity is impossible; writing from abundance is effortless.
Read Dickie’s original article Five Steps to Starting and Sustaining an Idea Sharing Habit here. He goes deep into the nitty-gritty of how to start sharing ideas with the world.
Let’s connect on Twitter—I share a lot about writing online there.