Write down your ideas as they come

Since I began writing for this blog, I have found ideas for posts or further research constantly pop into my head. Ideas come when I first wake up, when I am in the shower, when I am exercising, on the bus to and from work, and when I am writing posts on related or entirely unrelated material. I’m sure this is the same for anyone who is passionately working on a personal project.

At present, I have the target of 1 post per day on my blog. A habit I have found to be extremely useful is writing down ideas as soon as they come to me. Unless I do this, there is no guarantee that at 6am (when I do most of my writing) that I will be able to recall the great idea I had yesterday for a new post. So a simple trick I do is carry a pen and notepad with me throughout the day, and when a great idea comes along I write it down straight away.

Another useful tip is to have several posts on the go at once. When I began blogging, I would always be focused on one post at a time. To me, the “Save As Draft” button did not exist. At the moment though I have about 3 or 4 half written posts saved as drafts which I work on when the inspiration comes.

These are simple tips, I know, but they’ve had a big impact on me. Give them a try if you haven’t already.

Photo by Thomas Leuthard