Carrying a small memo pad with you at all times will provide protection that your best ideas won't slip away.
Most of us don't remember many of our most creative thoughts, because we neglect this simple step - write it down.
Insights, creativity, and "flashes of brilliance" can be fleeting thoughts, which, unprotected, will escape us.
All of us have thousands of thoughts, daily.
Most of these thoughts are of minimal consequence, or even "noise," -- unimportant "chatter.
" However, every so often we come up with a particularly good idea which can even be "life-changing.
" Typically, we neglect to record these important thoughts, and rely on our faulty faculties of recollection.
Some people realize how important their ideas can be and jot them down on scraps of paper, business cards, the palm of their hand, etc.
This is obviously better than failing to write them down, but paper scraps get misplaced, end up in the washing machine, or cannot be found.
All the more reason to keep a memo pad/ notebook.
The Idea Book in Practice I teach a course called "Small Business Management," and the content concentrates on entrepreneurship.
Of course, in order to have a small business to manage you first have to create one.
And, every business begins with an idea.
So, I purchase a spiral-bound memo pad for each student.
I'm sure you're familiar with the type.
It's a 3x5 inch notebook that can easily be carried in a shirt pocket or purse.
The students are encouraged to write down ideas that occur to them relating to improvements in existing businesses, or thoughts concerning new products, services, and business opportunities.
Unfortunately many students do not take the practice seriously, and fail to regularly record their business ideas.
They view it as yet another school assignment and task, not appreciating the power of the technique.
In class we share our ideas and sometimes recognize a new perspective or insightful thought.
However, many students  "pass," saying that they did not have any noteworthy ideas during the past week.
This paucity of ideas does not generally indicate a lack of ideas or creativity, but rather a failure to observe, or negligence in developing or recording insights.
The discipline required to have a readily available notepad, although minimal, seems to be beyond the motivation of many even though simple, spontaneous ideas have resulted in the creation of great business empires.
Creative "Types" Creativity needs nurturing.
Not that it is, necessarily, a learned habit, but it is synergistic.
You know the concept; ideas create more ideas, additional linkages and inter-relationships.
There are some outstanding examples of this.
People like Thomas Edison, Leonardo daVinci, Issac Newton, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, etc.
Most of these inventors and innovators kept extensive journals, recording their concepts in detail.
Modern innovators like Ron Popeil, Steve Jobs, and Tyler Perry, may make less extensive written, or computer notes, but recording ideas is important.
Get Started Hopefully you're convinced, or at least recognize the potential value in carrying a small notebook to record your ideas.
Some people may prefer to record their thoughts on a pocket recorder, "Palm Pilot," or Blackberry.
Whatever approach you may use is preferable to trying to remember these ideas.
Most notes may prove to be of little consequence, although there may occasionally be that flash of brilliance which may start a business or create a product.
Why trust your admittedly untrustworthy memory with your precious ideas?