Coming up with ideas is tough. In fact, the only thing tougher than coming up with ideas is executing on them. And the only thing tougher than that, is actually remembering to write them down. That is the goal for today’s blog post. Encouraging you to jot down your damn notes.
Here’s a tip: There’s this idea in novel writing (or any writing for that matter) that no matter what you write it will always have some purpose, some greater meaning for the work that you’re producing.
In a fiction novel for example, a section of story that you think is terrible might not be good for one character, but can actually fit for another. Or perhaps you’ve written an entire backstory to one that can be condensed, but also serves a greater purpose within the plot.
It doesn’t sound like it works, but it does.
The only reason that I don’t do this more is that what I’m writing can feel like a complete waste. Truth is though, it never is and that’s just a lame excuse.
Any reason to not write is probably a lame excuse
What’s this got to do with marketing?
Well, no matter what crazy or stupid ideas you have, you need to always write them down because you just don’t know what they’ll feed.
Our brains are confusing. They form links to things we’re not even aware of. The more we drop our defenses with something funny, or unusual, or inspirational, the more likely we are to form those links in our brain even for things that are completely unrelated.
I will encourage you no more than probably a hundred times in the creation of anything I write: good ideas come out of the bad. And if there’s anything I learnt in my $30,000 advertising degree, it’s that your first ideas are never the best.
So, what we’re really looking for is a bunch of first ideas that are funny or impactful enough to be jotted down, but probably aren’t anything close to a polished result.
Here’s some I prepared earlier:
The point of this was…?
At the end of the day, take your notes and turn them into something. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve had things I’ve written come together because I took notes. I also can’t count the amount of funny memories doing so has provided.
Keep a history of yourself. Document stuff. Because really, you just never know what you’ll be able to make or share without it.
