Start the habit of honoring all ideas - you never know where they may lead. I found an idea that I scribbled in an old notebook: people wearing medical boots never seem embarrassed enough. It’s ridiculous, I know! However, I’m glad I gathered it. Create a system for dealing with new ideas. Get them safely captured - and then you can determine later if they’re worth anything. While we’re at it - I think movie theaters should have a huge mattress with pillows and blankets strewn about. Oh, and we should have a split screen so couples could choose: Arnold Schwarzenegger blowing stuff up or romantic comedy.
Try to have a system where you don’t replicate your work. I believe in having lots of different notebooks. In fact, I color code them and keep them in the car. I used to have a large notebook called a scratch pad and I’d joy down anything that came to mind in that book. But then I’d have to copy it over again in the right notebook. Trim all inefficiencies by asking if any steps in your system seem ponderous to you.
Here’s an example: I realized I was in a negative state coming out of the grocery store. Each time I exited the store, there was a half a dozen empty carriages nearly blocking the exit. Folks grab their bags and leave their carriages where they stand. This made me mad. I wanted to write a ranting blog post - then it hit me. Society is becoming more personalized - the carriage fiasco is just more evidence. Also, every time I enter the store, there is at least one car parked in the entrance. Most of the time, they’re not to drop off an older adult or someone with challenges. It’s just someone who doesn’t want to walk all the way to the parking spaces. They’re usually in their 20s or 30s! When I asked how I could make this annoying trend more productive, I realized that customers want products that are completely customized. Many folks believe they are VIP’s - all the time. I brainstormed how I could serve my customers in a much more personalized way - and it changed how I designed my book, blog posts, and advertisements. I transformed my original idea into something useful and it benefitted my customers and business.