Organize your ideas

Your ideas are important, and should be kept organized. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, American business speaker and consultant said, "To stay ahead, you must have your next idea waiting in the wings." So where are the "wings" where you keep your ideas waiting?

Ideas don't always happen at convenient times. While my wife and I were eating out last week, our conversation sparked several ideas for blog posts. I knew I would not remember them later, so I borrowed a pen and piece of paper from my wife so I could jot them down. But I tend to lose pieces of paper easily, or find them in my coat pocket a few days after I needed the idea. So as soon as we got home, I opened up my Google Docs and Spreadsheets where I keep spreadsheets for various lists of ideas. There I transferred my paper notes to the appropriate idea list.

To organize ideas in a spreadsheet, I use several columns.

1. The date I enter the idea.
2. The idea itself.
3. A "priority" assignment.
4. Any links I might make.
5. The date I actually use the idea.

The "priority" assignment can be a simple 1, 2, 3... The ones are those that are most important and need to be done first. Twos are those that can wait a little yet. Threes are those which need some research and can be developed later on. Or you can use A,B,C... Or you might try G,B,U (Good, Bad, Ugly). Whatever works!

If you are like me, you've lost a lot of ideas because you couldn't remember them later on when you needed them. So in order to "keep them in the wings," organize them. Keep track of them with a method with which you are most comfortable so you'll be able to find them when you need them. Pieces of paper can work if you don't lose them. Sticky notes can work if they don't fall off and get swept away. A notebook is good if you always keep it where you can find it. I prefer spreadsheets, because I know where to find them. Just be sure you give the spreadsheet a name you will remember, and store it in a folder you can easily find. Organize your good ideas so you can stay ahead by having ideas in the wings.


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Organize your email and/or gmail

When I got my first Internet account, it was exciting getting email. In fact, the first email I received was one I sent to myself to see if it worked. At that time the "Inbox" was all I knew. Every email came into my inbox. This was back in the days of dial-up for me. It was exciting waiting for the buzz as the computer dialed up my Internet connection and watching to see if any emails came in. That wasn't a big deal until the spammers got hold of my email address. Then it started taking forever for my emails to download. And I got tired of paging through tons of emails only to discover that I didn't get anything important that day.

Eventually I discovered that Microsoft includes the ability to create new folders and "message rules" which allowed me to direct incoming emails to separate folders. For example, all emails from family members go directly to my "Family" folder. That helps because I don't have to look through all the incoming emails just to see if there is one from a family member. If you haven't discovered that yet, your email program should allow you to do that. In Microsoft Outlook Express, for example, go to File/Folder/New and create the folders you want. Then go to Tools/Message Rules to create the filters you need. Or if you have an email open, you can go to Message/Create Rule from Message. That will help keep your inbox empty.

Eventually, waiting for the dial-up to download emails got too tedious. I was envious of my son who had high speed service. He finally convinced me (and my wife who needs more convincing than I do) to switch to Roadrunner. My Roadrunner account has EZ anti-spam which does a good job of filtering out spam and sends it directly to a Spam folder where it is autaomatically deleted after 30 days. So my Inbox is basically always empty except for a few spams that sneak through. At that point I can click on "Block" on the EZ-Anti-Spam button, and it is gone.

Then my son, Brian, introduced me to gmail. This Google service works great for email. It puts emails in threads, so when I reply to a gmail and they reply back, it keeps them together like an ongoing conversation. I now use my gmail address whenever I'm asked for an email address. Gmail does a good job of filtering out spam. If something sneaks through, I click on "Report Spam" and it goes to the spam box.

Brian later pointed out that I can put labels on incoming gmail. It is a simple process of clicking on "Create a Filter" and following the instructions. After setting that up, I can now click on a label and see everything in that folder. Brian probably figured I would be able to figure out the next step by myself, creating filters to automatically direct them there. But later he had to point that out as well. It seems pretty basic, and I should have figured it out by myself. But I didn't. He is smarter than me and figures these things out by himself. That's one of the reasons he is referred to around the country as "The Brain," A.K.A. Mr.OneBox.

So following his instructions, I set up filters to automatically archive my gmails and apply labels. Now I can instantly see if I have any new gmails in any of my labeled categories. And my inbox is always empty. No sorting through a bunch to see if there is anything important. Important gmails automatically go where I want them.

Maybe you already have your email or gmail accounts all organized. If you don't, I would highly recommend it. It will save you a lot of time that could be spent on much more important or fun things. So spend a little time organizing. Then when your inbox is empty, take time to have some fun.