Okay, so this one isn’t technically free, but given you probably already own one without knowing it or ever using it, the marginal cost to you is likely to be zero. The voice recorder I am talking about is the one that is almost certainly in your mobile phone.
I’ve found that my best ideas, business or otherwise, almost never hit me while I’m sitting at my computer. They come to me while I’m walking, driving, sitting on a tram, watching TV, lying in bed, listening to a podcast, etc. I’m guessing you’re not too different? So what is your normal action when of these ideas hits? It’s probably like mine used to be when I’d say to myself “great idea Marc, remember to write that down later and do something with it”. The really big ideas will stick with you (although even those are almost always forgotten if they came to you in bed just before you fell asleep) but most will not. So that’s where your mobile phone and it’s voice recorder comes in.
Firstly, find out where it is in your phone – maybe in the media player, or possibly under applications or organiser? If possible, create a one-touch shortcut to it so its easy to get to, particularly if get ideas while driving (which is probably my most productive time). Now whenever you have an idea just record it. Don’t worry about making the recording sound nice, or waste time planning what you’ll say, as no one else has to hear it. Just hit record and start talking. If you have to pause to think then do that. In fact, I’ve found that pausing like this is a good idea anyway, as later on when you’re copying the note onto your PC you will appreciate a pause unless you’re a brilliant touch typist.
As an example of how valuable this can be, about two weeks ago I was driving to a function when I had an idea. I recorded it. I then had a follow-up idea, and recorded that. I kept doing this, all the way to the function and all the way home. As I was approaching home I thought to myself I should write a post about this, so I recorded that idea too. I then wondered how many of the ideas from that night I could recall quickly before I pulled into the garage. I got to about four and couldn’t remember much at all from the trip to the function…. yet I’d recorded 30 voice recordings! Some were ideas built upon ideas, or modifications of earlier ideas, but there were still numerous ideas I wanted to keep and had already forgotten. But thanks to the voice recorder I knew they were not lost, nor was I going to have to rely on dumb luck for those ideas to return later.
The final step came a couple of days later when I took 15 minutes to put all the ideas from that night, and from the next day or two, into Evernote (the software I discussed in my previous blog post) tagging each idea for later reference. Over time I’ve built up lots of short ideas, some which I’ve already executed (including this post) and others which may be more appropriate for a later date.
So now you have no excuse for forgetting that brilliant idea that will change the world. Grab your phone, record your idea, listen back to it later when you have a moment, store it somewhere, and then email me when you launch that new business that would have been forgotten about if it wasn’t for you reading this post and spending a few quality minutes getting to know your mobile phone!
