A couple of weeks ago I began trying to incorporate task management into what my daily processes. I’ve been down this road before with any.do, asana, wunderlist and a couple of others. None ever caught on with me. This time I’m trying Google Keep to see if something more integrated with my existing tools helps. We’ll see if it works better this time and I will keep you updated (if it works).
The reason I’m trying again is because I was at a multi-day offsite meeting that spurred so many ideas, discussions and opportunities that I couldn’t wrap my head around how to keep up with them. It was everything from immediate actions, strategic initiatives, ideas for topics to write about, projects that needed to be scoped and just general actions. There were probably 8 pages of notes in my paper notebook that I keep with me. Way more than I could hope to keep up with manually.
I work best without too much structure. If I’m simply following a rote process my interest quickly drifts and I lose focus until a deadline forces me to update things again. However, give me an open ended problem with potential for creative solutions and I can work until it is solved to my satisfaction. What I like about Google Keep so far is that it is unstructured and built around ideas (or cards if you prefer). You can keep it free floating or you can add some definition to it.
Ideas fascinate me because any given idea exists in an infinite number of forms. Give the same 10 people the same idea and it will suddenly evolve, morph and adapt given different circumstances and experiences of the people thinking on them. Provide a time for contemplation and they will change even more – often splitting into new and unique additional ideas as they go.
Ideas are the foundation of creativity. Creativity is the foundation of innovation. Innovation is the foundation of the future. Therefore all the simple little ideas we have floating around in the back of our subconscious are the basis of a new future if we can learn to harness them. Keeping them for a rainy day can be an amazing investment.