Don't let your good ideas disappear

Good ideas come and go every second, but what doesn't happen very
often is the capturing of those thoughts. You can have the brightest
and sharpest ideas that could take your life and business to a whole
new level, but they mean absolutely nothing if they're pushed aside
and forgotten.

It doesn't matter what our education levels are or where we come from,
we all have great and wonderful ideas. The only problem is that most
people let the hustle and bustle of life get in the way and interrupt
their ability to capture their golden ideas.

Now, you might not come up with the world's next greatest invention
(or maybe you will). But everything we use in our day-to-day lives was
once just an idea. Not every idea will be worth a billion dollars, but
perhaps one or two of them can change the trajectory of your business
and life for the better.

We all have 24 hours in a day, no more or no less than the next
person. Think about how many times where an idea or thought comes to
mind but you do nothing about it. There really is no value for us if
we don't take the initiative. The other reason why it is so imperative
that we capture our ideas is because coincidence or not, some of our
best ideas don't come to us in the office.

Here are three steps to take every day

Have a system

The best way I have found to capture ideas on a regular basis is to
take a systematic approach to it. We all prefer different ways of
doing things. Some of us prefer electronic devices while some of us
stick to the trusted pen-and-paper route.

Either way, pick what works for you and stick with it. I prefer to log
all of my ideas and thoughts into evernote and then at the end of the
day analyze each idea. After I dig a little deeper, I transfer the
ideas that I may want to act on immediately or in the near future into
my moleskin journal.

Pick the good ones

Just because you start capturing your thoughts and ideas doesn't mean
everything that comes to mind is going to be something that you will
act on. Finding time alone where you can analyse what you logged for
the day helps tremendously. This is where you can determine whether a
specific idea is worthy of your time. Throw out what is useless.

Make it a habit

Just like with any new habit that we try to adopt into our everyday
lives, it takes time. I truly believe that if you make a determined
effort on a regular basis to capture your ideas, it will greatly
benefit your personal and professional life.

Of all the great men and women I have had the fortune to work with,
they all knew the importance of keeping track of their thoughts and
ideas. Stick with it.

-- entrepreneur.com