The Importance of Taking Notes

Even after "school" you will need to continue to take notes and write stuff down.  The minute it will take to write something down and get it out of your head can save you much heartache later on.  I often get many ideas when I am about to go to sleep and use to ignore them, but now I take 5 minutes to write them on a piece of paper to review when I wake up.  I had a few blog posts fell apart because I did not write them down and figured I would remember them when I wake up or even in 30 minutes.  I didn't remember, and many good ideas have been lost because of this.

Thoughts and ideas are constantly racing through our heads, and dismissed so we can focus on the current task.  Many great ideas are lost during this time, these ideas are worthless.  This can be avoided by taking a minute to write the idea down.  I take a few minutes everyday, usually when I am running, where I can focus on my thoughts.  When I get an idea I stop and get out my mini notebook and write it down.  This is when I often get ideas for what I am working on, or blog posts.  The times when I can let my thoughts develop are rare and I now make sure I take advantage of them.  Everyone should take a few minutes every day to let their thoughts develop and devote their attention into that.  

You should take notes more than just when you have an idea or a spark of genius.  I take notes now to aid in my continual education after I read a marketing blog post or watch a Webinar.  I do this because with how much I read and how many different topics it becomes hard for me to keep them separate.  I also do this because it is a handy notebook with the main points and ideas of many posts all in one place.  When I finish I ask myself what have I learned by reading this, what were some main points.  If I can't think of anything I wait a minute and try again if still nothing I reread it.  I know that their is valuable information in what I just read, and sometimes after reading for a while it stops sinking in or I stopped reading and started skimming.

Without looking or scrolling up, what do you remember about the photo at the beginning?

I would be willing to say nothing other than it was a notebook, your mind went to focusing on the text of this post and you dismissed the image as just a thumbnail photo.  By the time you finish your task (reading the blog) the idea (image) is already vague and mostly gone.  That is just another example of how important note taking can be.

Some other great posts on this subject of note taking include:

Jim Raffel's post: Idea Factory

Mitch Joel's post: Take Notes

What main points did you take away from this post?  Do you take notes, how often?  How many ideas have you forgotten because you were too busy to write it down. 


Photo Credit to Brenderous who has a great idea about organizing notes which I will try to use from now on.

Ideas are Worthless (by itself)

There is no such thing as a million dollar idea.

What is valuable and creates worth is the action that is taken. If you have an idea and don't do anything with it then there is no difference if you had that thought or idea or not.

This is why I blog.

I blog to put my ideas into the world, albeit a small and select world of 10's of readers. But one solid idea or post is all one, or I, need to peak interest and increase my reader base. I also blog to help create my own identity and brand and to allow myself an avenue to market my thoughts and skills. This idea came to me at 3 am so I found a pen and paper and wrote my thoughts out until that pen died, then I grabbed another. This is not an original blog topic I have read some similar blogs but I am trying to incorporate my personal touch to it.

I hope that by blogging one of my marketing ideas which is the main focus of this blog will be original and have you my readers thinking to yourself why didn't I think of that.

Photo from Ethan Gibbs

So many ideas so little time.

I have many ideas, most of them will not succeed or at least not as well as I plan and hope. I know this so I put the most effort in those few ideas that I feel have potential and develop those ideas further, then hopefully post a blog on them.

"I didn't fail. I found out 2000 ways how not to make a light bulb.' But he only needed to find one way to make it work." - Thomas Edison (National Treasure)

Step 1: Idea

Step 2: ??

Step 3: Profit

Step 2 can be more than one step and could be done many ways but an action of some kind must be taken. This step is what makes ideas have value and not be worthless.

For me Step 2 usually involves blogging the idea, or telling someone who could use this idea and make it a reality.

Do you agree that ideas are worthless? What is Step 2 usually for you? Do your ideas just sit in your head or on a piece of paper that no one knows about? How do you determine which ideas are worth developing?