Furtive!

Ideas are furtive, evasive and volatile. The more exciting they are, the more they show up to tease you and then they hide. Here the simplest tip: in order to work creatively with your ideas, have a stack of letter size sheets close to your workspace to draft, note and sketch your ideas; and have another stack of 3 x 5 card for when you are on the go.

There are great tools like Evernote that allow you to capture your ideas (works great for taking a picture of something inspiring, on the fly for example), but I find that it's still hard to beat writing down your ideas and mental insights on a piece of paper. It's a simple idea that many have talked about before, but when I work with client, I am surprised to see that idea collection is still a relatively new concept, even in the most creative circles.

It's not that easy

I see friends and colleagues around me being overwhelmed by their will to create something meaningful in their professional and personal life while keeping a sense of control and pleasure. It's not something easy to do, but while reading this post by Mark McGuinness on 99percent, I decided to outline what would be for me the simplest way to draw the foundation for an authentic and creative modern life. Here it is:

• Understand the nature of workflow: In other words, explore to understand how anything in the world gets done and created. There are many perspective, but most often, it comes downs to something very similar. Observe how work evolves and unravels in your world and lear from people who pushed the observation further.
  
• Know what's on your plate: Do what you can to get the full picture of what you are committing yourself to, whether in your professional or your intimate life. My favorite example comes from David Allen's GTD approach.
• Review often: What is relevant for you today, might lose its relevance in a few weeks. It's obvious, but many of us continue to clog our inner creative space worrying about projects and goals that are obsolete.
  
• Don't wait, do!: It does not matter if you make mistakes. There is no better procrastination technics than to wait for the perfect iteration.
• Step back often too: As a way to balance our ability to jump and create, it is as valuable to be able to go to the balcony as Ronald Abadian Heifetz and Marty Linsky would encourage and creative leader to do. Whether you step back by regularly playing bowling or by contemplating in your backyard, insist on creating an environment and conditions that encourages you to develop your reflective mindset and your ability to transcend action. It's just another way to underline how much perspective is important and how intentional it is to develop that habit.