Photo by torbakhopper HE DEAD [CC]
Starting and maintaining an ideas diary is a great way to exercise your creativity.
- Get a small paper note book - either feinted or blank. Or you can use your tablet/phone (with an application like
Papyrus, S Note or OneNote which lets you combine text and sketches in a relatively
free-form manner.) You want something fluid and easy. - Once or more times a day, set aside a moment to write down the random ideas that pop into your head. Don’t judge them. You don’t have to do anything with these ideas either. Just write them down.
- Be as fluid and unstructured as you like. You don’t have to start from the first page. You don't have to put things in the right way up.
- Aim for quantity. You don't have to evaluate or analyse any of the ideas you put down unless you want to.
You can also collect any visually interesting material you come across. This is where doing it on your phone is really cool. You can just snap a photo of an interesting article, a nice interior, a poster etc.
The point of this exercise is to exercise your ideation engine every day, and to increase your awareness of thoughts and ideas. After some time, you'll probably find yourself automatically adding material to your diary.
Have fun!
