Crumpled Post It Notes

I have learned to not compile ideas too close together.

I learned this with t-shirt designs. I would have an idea for a t-shirt design and write it in a notebook. Then another idea on a post-it note. Then some ideas in a Google keep note. More ideas in an email to myself. Eventually, ideas everywhere.

(These are barely t-shirt designs. I have no artistic ability. They’re all text based.)

I think naturally, out of fear of losing any of those ideas, I told myself I need a central repository of t-shirt ideas. I now have an Airtable database with about 1000 rows on it.

It’s totally backfired. I haven't done in a t-shirt design on Canva in probably over a year now.

That spreadsheet takes all the wind out of my sails. I should probably just delete it.

Seeing idea after idea in a column doesn’t leave room for any of them to breathe. If I try to pick one, none of them jump out, and that’s depressing in a way.

I’m not a robot. I can’t just pick the next idea on the list. That statement almost feels misleading though. I’m not totally sure if I even pick the ideas. Maybe the ideas pick me? But with that big list, nothing happens.

The irony here is I compiled this big list to prevent losing any and now I don’t do anything with them.

I’m being more careful with writing now. I already have my rule against unpublished drafts. Now I’m recording writing ideas everywhere and leaving them everywhere. If I lose one and can’t find it again, well then hopefully it comes back to me later. It’s much better than the alternative. A list full of writing ideas but you can’t write about any of them.

And there is a hidden bonus by doing it this way. Rummaging through notebooks and post-it notes usually leads to a new idea being found. Or it finding me.