What do do with all of your Creative Ideas.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Creatives!
So you’ve got a big idea? Now what do you do with it? Maybe more than one! First of all, I want to make it clear that all of your big ideas are valid and matter in some way or another. Too often, I run into people who have been shut down so much by others that they no longer feel confident in their own creativity. We can literally do something with ALL ideas, believe it or not, and I want to share those steps with you.
The thing you want to do with creative ideas is:

1. Capture

Capture as many of your creative ideas as possible and let them be your little secret for now. Put them in your notebook, sketchbook, phone notes, coffeeshop napkin, a post it note, just try and get it somewhere that you can remember it and look at it later.
Can’t do the idea now? Skip to step 5 after you’ve captured your big idea(s)!
I tend to keep two physical notebooks, and one on my phone. There is my journal where a lot of my thoughts come up, my separate daily to do notebook which also has room for brainstormed ideas and creative thoughts, or I write down my to dos/thoughts on my phone notes. Capturing your thoughts leaves judgment out of it, it allows your mind to flow into something worthwhile. It’s loving all of these little gems that might eventually spark into something. Sometimes, even while I’m working, an eruption of thoughts about how to market the business, where to go in a story, and I’ll just have to take a second and write a bunch of notes, or sketch out a concept on one of my two notebooks.
Capturing is key, it empowers everything and allows for every possibility. Capture as much as you can if you feel excited and good about an idea or concept. Sometimes, even if you feel mediocre about a concept, something can come of it!

2) Get Started
So you have a little time right now. Do a messy, sh*tty, bad 1st draft. Don’t worry about it being perfect, in fact, the less perfect the better. Getting your thoughts out on paper, on screen, on napkins, is what matters most–whether it’s a sketch or a few paragraphs.
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3) Create
Suppose your idea is actionable and doable today, especially if it won’t take too much time. Or suppose your big idea is an urgent step that your business, your heart, or your community needs. This is the step where you take your first draft and keep going with it! I will talk about the nitty gritty of the creative process later on, but for now, once you have a 2nd draft of something, refine, test or get feedback, and iterate the drafts until they are right. You may have to look over your drafts a few times–expect to do several revisions, it is just part of the process. Revisions can be some of the most tiresome stages, but they are the most crucial–think about the end result and how everyone will love your script, art piece, poster, photo edit etc at this point when you’re refining!

4) Delegate
If you love the idea, and you can’t get to it now but you work on a team, communicate the concept to a team member and see if they can carry out the task for you. Example: I have this idea of an Instagram post that will reach people–can you capture a photo and work on that post this week and post it by Thursday? Or “We need a poster for xyz, can you generate a few concepts?”

5) Schedule
For complete follow through we need dates and deadlines with steps to get there. This is for when you can’t get to it today, tomorrow, or even by the end of the week. But you can get to it next Tuesday at 1 pm after lunch. Put that in your calendar and make it a priority so you stick to it. When Tuesday rolls around, this idea gets all your attention and you can go through the creative process.

In Conclusion
Now that I’ve shown you what to do with your ideas, where to put them so they don’t get lost, I hope you can take this and capture all your ideas and put them somewhere in your life whether it’s on your notebook, calendar, or on your team’s to do.
Ultimately, the creative process different for everyone, this is just something I’ve discovered to keep my ideas easy to get started on.
Never stop being a messy, crazy, creative.


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