Journals can serve as effective tools for keeping track of bright ideas and containing these inspirations until we’re ready to act on them. In addition to being an idea-catcher, an inspiration journal acts as an incubator, a place to hatch new concepts and plans. Seeing ideas in black and white also provides a new perspective on them, making the process of setting goals and priorities easier.
Journals that support creative risk taking, tend to be messy. To avoid self-censorship, start yours in a spiral or looseleaf notebook, rather than an expensive, bound journal. You might want to devote a separate page to each promising idea, adding notes as new insights come to mind. When your inspiration evolves into a project, you can always tear out the relevant page and use it to start a new notebook.
Let the flow of the creative process be your guide as you develop ideas in your journal:
Preparation: Write down titles of books you want to read and websites that are relevant to your idea. Make lists of people you can contact as part of your research, including their phone numbers or email addresses. Staple or clip relevant magazine articles to your journal pages. Add photos and drawings to your journal. Take notes on what your research yields.
Incubation: Review your initial idea and the research you’ve done. Do a page or two of free writing in order to see how your idea has evolved. If you need to do more research, backtrack. If not, let your idea marinate. Because you’ve written it down, you’ll find the pressure to force it into being prematurely isn’t as strong as it would be if you’d held the idea in the front of your mind.
Illumination: When they arrive, write down any gut feelings, hunches and dreams that have to do with your project. If illumination is slow in coming, use the pages of your inspiration journal to free write, mind map or doodle about the potential project.
Implementation: Take a look at what you’ve come up with so far in order to evaluate whether or not the idea is one you want to pursue. If you have trouble with this, try making a list of pros and cons. Should you need more information before you can make a decision, write down the type of information you need. Then gather it. Once you’ve said yes to a project, use your inspiration journal as a place to set goals for yourself and to break them down into doable action steps. Figure out a timeline for these steps and write it in your journal.
Even if you decide not to take action on an idea, be sure to keep your notes. Left alone, ideas have a habit transforming themselves into new ideas. Try reviewing your inspiration journals every six months, gleaning ideas for new things to write.