Catching Creativity

I have lost count of the number of times that I've had an idea for a trick, presentation, or move and thought to myself, "This one is too good to forget — I'll keep working on it!" Normally I'm about to fall asleep, or am driving, and so the idea stays in my mind while I am mulling it over.

And then ... I forget it.

I'm not the only one to suffer from that problem. But I have managed to fix it with an extremely obvious, and simple solution in the form of a little mantra: never let the idea escape.

So now, whenever I have an idea, I "catch" it by writing it down as soon as I can. I don't accept the thought that I'll remember it later — I write it down immediately. I use Evernote on my phone so that wherever I am, I can easily pick up my phone and write the idea down.

Without that mantra I was always able to convince myself that I didn't need to write the idea down because it was too good to forget. But now, that doesn't happen.