If you've been following me for a while, you know I've been on a creative binge lately. I've been creating some journals for y'all to use (specifically my freelancing followers.) I've been taking a course on creating journals and publishing them on Amazon, which has been such an awesome, but intensely creative endeavor. While taking this course, my creative senses have been on overdrive, so I've had to find ways to organize my creative thoughts and use all this creative energy for good. Today, I wanted to share how I've been doing that with the help of Quartet, a fantastic brand you need to know if you struggle with organizing and tackling creative thoughts strategically.
Note: This post was sponsored by Quartet, and it features affiliate links throughout. Thanks for supporting the brands that make The Happy Arkansan possible.
Get Excited That You Have All These Creative Thoughts In Your Head
First and foremost, it's important to get excited that you have all these creative thoughts in your head. Creativity can feel like a blessing and a curse if you aren't sure how to organize the mess so you can get stuff done. Hopefully, by the end of today's article, you will better be able to manage all the creative thoughts happening in your head. Before that happens, though, you need to be grateful that this is a “problem.”
When I first started the process of creating journals, the course helped me generate so many journal ideas. I could get down on myself that I had too many to chase, or I could be thankful that I had a brain capable of coming up with so many fantastic ideas. I chose to be grateful that I could generate so many ideas. What will you choose?
Understand That Creativity Doesn't Mean Shiny Object Syndrome
One of my biggest lessons had to be this one. I was so used to not seeing through my creative thoughts, and I had to stop this. Creativity isn't just idea generation; it's also followthrough. If you don't see your creative thoughts to the finish line, I encourage you to start making this a priority in your life. It doesn't even have to be something big to start seeing momentum in your life. Go through your list of creative ideas and pick the easiest one to see to the end. Once you've done that, tackle the next easiest one. Before you know it, you'll become the creative who finishes what you started instead of the creative who jumps from project to project.
Creativity Also Doesn't Mean You Are Forced To Take On A Project As Soon As You Generate An Idea
I've read some books that tell you that to be one with creativity, you've got to take on projects as they pop into your head. This is not my way of doing creativity. Yes, I acknowledge ideas as they come, but I can't pounce on every random thought that comes my way. I have ideas right now for planners, Facebook groups, and more, but I don't want to act on them right away. It's okay to let ideas breathe before you decide that they are for you.
Write Things Down
I am a huge believer in the importance of writing things down. No one remembers everything. Our brains are notoriously bad at remembering things, even though many of us think this is what our brains are for. Our brains try their best to store things in our short-term memory until they can be transferred into our long-term memory. Many things we see every day won't make the cut, so we won't remember them. If you have a creative thought and you want to remember it, the best thing you can do is write it down. Writing your thoughts down gets them out of your brain and into a safe place.
Do A Brain Dump
One of my favorite ways to organize information in my head is a brain dump. A brain dump is a great way to sit with your thoughts and get them all down on paper. One of the most important parts of brain dumps is that you don't try to organize while it happens. Your goal is to get down all the thoughts running through your brain without trying to make sense of them. After a while, you'll notice your mind feels somewhat empty, and then you know it's time to stop.
Write Things Down On The Go Using The Notes App
Whether I am on the go or in my bed, the Notes app on my iPhone is never far from me. When I get a strike of inspiration at night, I usually grab my phone and type out what I am thinking. If I don't feel like typing, I also use the voice memo app on my phone, or I use text to speech in my notes app (depending on how sleepy I am, because text-to-speech doesn't work as well if I'm tired.)
I have a ton of notes in my phone featuring random creative thoughts, blog post ideas, and dreams I have. When I am looking for inspiration, I'll usually dig through my old notes to see if I can find any new ideas to work on.
Use A Quartet Dry-Erase Desktop Computer Pad To Organize Your Creative Thoughts At Your Desk
I have a confession; I was addicted to sticky notes. My desk was covered in them with to-dos, affirmations, and more adorning my desk or computer monitor. I recently learned about Quartet's dry-erase desktop computer pad, and I knew it was everything I needed to stop my sticky notes addiction in its tracks.
Quartet's desktop computer pad is an amazing product to add to your desk. I use it to write out shopping lists, to-dos, affirmations/quotes, and reminders. It's the perfect amount of space to write out things as they come to you during the day.
Another way I've been using my Quartet computer pad is by writing down random stuff to help me format my journal. For example, sometimes, I need to write down dimensions, or I get ideas for pages to write in my journals. I love sketching things out before I create them on my computer. My desktop pad helps me understand how I can potentially bring ideas to life.
One thing I love about the desktop pad is the variety of colors it comes in. The Quartet team was gracious enough to send me my favorite one, marble. The desktop computer pad also comes in white and black. And yes, the glass top is black, not the hardware.
Another cool thing about the Quartet desktop pad is the side drawer. You can put all sorts of supplies in there and store it away. Depending on the size of your desk, the desktop pad may take up room, but the added storage helps you make the most of the space you have.
Don't Be Afraid To Mix Up Your Environment
I spend a lot of time at my desk, but sometimes I need to mix up my environment a little. While the dry-erase computer desktop pad is meant for your desk, it's pretty lightweight, and you could carry it new places if you wanted to. Whether you take your desktop pad or not, a change in your environment can lead to new inspiration and lots of creative thoughts.
The Perks Of Working Outside
I love working outside when I want a change of pace. Going to the park or even sitting outside my home can give me renewed energy to work on my current business projects. Since it's fall, it's the perfect time to work outside. It's beautiful and cool most days, the leaves are changing colors, and you can feel one with nature without sweating up a storm. Do you ever work outside?
Give Your Ideas Time To Breathe Before You Organize Them
One of the best tips I can give you for organizing creative ideas once you have them is to give your tasks some time to breathe. Instead of writing out ideas and jumping right in, give them a few hours or days to mellow out before you start working on them. When you jump on an idea directly after you write it down, it can be hard not to get excited about them. This means you come up with a million and one ideas, but you don't necessarily have the followthrough. Some ideas sound great when you have them, but not so great when you think about them for a few days. Take your time to understand the ramifications for each creative idea you have before you jump on them.
Break Ideas Into Urgent Vs. Non-Urgent Tasks
Not every idea needs to be worked on immediately. As you are organizing your creative ideas, be sure to assign tasks an urgency score, and work on those ideas based on that. It's okay to have a bank full of creative ideas that you don't intend to work on for a while. In fact, it's best if you have that bank of ideas.
For those urgent tasks, create a section on your Quartet desktop computer pad dedicated to those creative ideas you want to tackle right now. Use a spreadsheet or an online document to store all those ideas you wish to address in the future.
Prioritize Creativity And Frequent Idea Generation
Now that you know that creativity is a blessing that you can hone, prioritize it. You don't have to shy away from creativity or frequent idea generation. You could even host weekly or monthly brainstorming sessions with your business or side hustle because you know that you don't have to drop everything to work on new ideas. Creativity is like a muscle; the more you stretch it, the better at it you'll become. There is no sense in avoiding it because you can't do everything you hoped you could.
Conclusion
If you want to organize your creative thoughts, first, you need to dig deep and create thoughts to organize. Having creative thoughts can feel like a curse if you aren't sure how to properly go from idea to finished product. I promise that you can organize the mess of ideas in your head and create something functional. I hope that this blog post gave you some food for thought as you generate ideas for your life, blog, business, or anything in between.
Thanks again to Quartet for sponsoring this blog post and helping me organize my creative thoughts with their Quartet desktop computer pad. It's such a fantastic product that I use in my daily business. I hope that you all check out the product to see if this is something you will find useful in your office.
