Making Ideas Happen

This summer I tore my ACL playing sand doubles volleyball, and during the surgery to repair it, cartilage damage was found and repaired. What was supposed to be a two day timeframe on crutches after the surgery turned into four weeks of non-weight bearing, dependence on crutches, balancing on one leg while getting clothes out of the dryer-type activity (or non-activity I should say). I spent four hours a day with my leg in a machine bending and straightening it. On the plus side, that gave me a lot of time to read, and considering the stack of books in my "to read" pile, that was a good thing.

I recently finished an excellent book by Scott Belsky, the founder and CEO of Behance entitled Making Ideas Happen. The book focuses partly on how to better organize your thoughts and processes in order to track and execute the ideas that pop into our minds all the time. Scott calls this "The Action Method."

I found I was doing some of these things already, but not in as formal of a way. Here's how I'm applying what I learned to work for me:

• Develop a way to record ideas as soon as they occur, for me it's either a notepad or recording a voice note on my phone, depending which is closer at the moment of inspiration.
• While taking meeting notes, jotting down ideas or anything else, divide them into three categories: action items, references and backburner items.
• Designate time each day for processing – for me it's the end of the day where I take inventory on the day's content and organize it into the three areas. I consolidate all action items in one journal, backburner items in another, and I file references that I will actually refer back to. If I cannot figure why I could refer back to it, I toss it. If an action item will take less than two minutes to complete, I complete it.
  
• Review backburner items monthly (I added the appointment in my calendar!) and move them to the action list if necessary.

Scott also recommends to include personal projects, so I will start using this process for personal items as well. I can already see how that will clear my head and allow me to be present in the moment without worrying about other things I have to do.

Give it a try and let me know how it works out for you!