Comments on: Idea Dumps: Letting It All Hang Out

By: Essential Prose | Zoë Westhof | How to Focus Your Ideas: Series Introduction

Fri, 15 May 2009 04:51:40 +0000

[...] to Focus Your Ideas series: 1. Series Introduction 2. Idea Dumps: Letting It All Hang Out 3. Navigating the Idea Dump 4. A Hefty Dose of Moxie We creative types just love ideas. We want to [...]

By: Essential Prose | Zoë Westhof | Never Underestimate the Power of Questions

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:05:39 +0000

[...] On one page (or one section of the big page), do an idea dump of all the things you’d like to do in the next few years. ALL of [...]

By: Zoë

Zoë — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:59:01 +0000

@ Ken – My turn to play catchup now after my two weeks. I love splinters! They can transform the direction and take you to somewhere you didn’t even know you wanted to go. I love that gruesome image of splinters lodged in your brain…finding a way to pry them out and preserve them .

By: ChangeForge | Ken Stewart

ChangeForge | Ken Stewart — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 23:22:15 +0000

Zoe, still playing catchup from being away for about 2 weeks… I found your post quite intriguing. I had not found the total program of GTD useful to overlay my habits. However, there were parts of the book that I found thoroughly useful. Perhaps one of them was the art of list making – lists for everything.

This helps me keep topics for my blog handy, but I have also found I am an emotional writer. I have to feel what I am writing for it to really stand up and talk to me. Sure, I can write when needed, and can force some form of creativity – but ultimately I found my voice finds its way out in loosely structured outlines of 4- 10 lines…

What is perhaps most useful in your post is a notion I have been seeing over the past several months – that of “splinters”.

What I find is that my writing often has several tangents that I do not explore – and might like to. I am working on ways to catalog these and circle back on them for later posts. Thus they are proverbial splinters broken off of the main board and lodged in my brain.

I know this is a rather gruesome image, but nonetheless, one I have begun to really grapple with lately. I think I might find a better listing system to catalog these, and possibly might even employ something like a mind map.

ChangeForge | Ken Stewart´s last blog post..Information Traction: Find It, Consume It, Apply It (Part 2 of 4)

By: How to Focus Your Ideas « The Sky’s the Limit

How to Focus Your Ideas « The Sky’s the Limit — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 19:16:51 +0000

[...] 2. Idea Dumps: Letting It All Hang Out [...]

By: Essential Prose | Zoë Westhof | A Hefty Dose of Moxie

Essential Prose | Zoë Westhof | A Hefty Dose of Moxie — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:06:37 +0000

[...] 14, 2008 Table of contents for How to Focus Your IdeasHow to Focus Your Ideas: Series IntroductionIdea Dumps: Letting It All Hang OutNavigating the Idea DumpA Hefty Dose of [...]

By: Zoë

Zoë — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:22:39 +0000

@ cuileann — Oops, I see your confusion — three steps, then three sub-headings. That wasn’t intentional, the sub-headings aren’t supposed to correspond to those first three points. Thanks for pointing that out — I’ll have to be more aware in the future!

By: cuileann

cuileann — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:47:53 +0000

All right, so I thought of a "constructive criticism" for this post. I don't follow the structure very well. Are parts of the post supposed to correspond to the first three points (1. step away, 2. write, 3. let it all hang out) that you mention? cuileann´s last blog post..Seer wanted

By: Essential Prose | Zoë Westhof | Navigating the Idea Dump

Essential Prose | Zoë Westhof | Navigating the Idea Dump — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:56:09 +0000

[...] 12, 2008 Table of contents for How to Focus Your IdeasHow to Focus Your Ideas: Series IntroductionIdea Dumps: Letting It All Hang OutNavigating the Idea [...]

By: Zoë

Zoë — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:10:52 +0000

@ Lisa – I think the idea of “drawing” a brainstorm is also less intimidating (for kids or adults!). Some people hate lists, cause they feel like everything on it has to be “important.”

@ Kate – Thanks for coming by. Even though organization can sound so bo-ring, it can be just what you need to strike that balance.

@ Anya – I’m so happy to read your lovely words : ). I must say, I think the bathroom is the only room in the house I haven’t yet graced with one of my notebooks. But now that you mention it, it does make sense…!

@ Daisy – I just downloaded a trial copy of Inspiration, so I’m curious to see if I can actually feel comfortable mind-mapping on the screen.

@ JenX67 – Being called a handwritten letter has never sounded like such a wonderful compliment. I love the posts I write here, but it does make it really special when I can share them with people who will truly read and dissect them!

@ Paradise – I seem to have a really hard time sticking to the under-500 blog rule. Lucky me, it seems to be flexible

I don’t think your mind-map-bullet-point-thingies method is weird…when you find a method that feels natural, definitely stick with it!