I've written before about my Brainstorm Book technique. To sum it up quickly – I keep a book with me to write down Great Ideas relevant to my life/career/ambitions and review it regularly. I use a relatively small, 7×5 inch book that fits easily in my briefcase or sits on my nightstand.
This one I've been using since October 2008, reviewing it every few weeks to refresh myself on ideas I had, integrating certain ones into my future plans, preserving others for later. Indeed, part of this blog and how it's evolved came from there, as have generators at Seventh Sanctum, and other ideas.
I looked through the recent entries, and then placed it on my "must reread" shelf of books for review in the near future. I felt oddly sentimental, because I have a lot of great ideas in there, things that have changed, are changing, and will change and improve my life.
The brainstorm book idea, as I said, is a way to get, keep, and review good ideas – but it also provides the discipline to keep working on your personal vision for your life. It makes thinking about the future, about developing Great Ideas, a habit, an instinct. Great Ideas are really easy to have – we tend to make them hard, ignore them, or brush them off. Giving them a chance at life takes some work.
I have over eight months of great ideas, in my awful handwriting, sitting on my shelf. The ideas in that book – and it's brother, which now sits on my nightstand – will be with me for years or decades to come.
Yeah. It's worth doing. If you haven't, go read this essay, and go get one.
– Steven Savage