Category / Idea

Only-Do List

I’m starting an experiment with a different kind of to-do list – the Only Do List. It’s a list of the things I’m restricting myself to doing. A constraint list. I’m telling myself I can do anything I want as long as it’s on the list.

My hope is that it will force me to do things I’ve been avoiding.

There’s a challenge in the list of course. It must be written in such a way to include everything I might reasonably do but also puts restrictions on what I can do. The list must keep procrastination at bay. So it can’t simply be a to-do list with the item(s) I must get done. It must be a list that keeps my interest rather than fuels my disappointment. If working on something is not going well for me the list needs to be able to provide an alternative that also somehow helps me make progress in some way.

I’m only at the list-making stage so have yet to decide what to allow or not allow. No doubt as the experiment evolves some things will be added and some dropped or restricted. I think the Only Do List needs to include things like watching television where under normal conditions there’s no explicit restriction on. Including watching television for x hours per week restricts it and prevents unstructured watching. Including it also allows me to know that I can watch something if I want.

Success and failure are equally likely. Let’s find out which it is.

by Colin Brosnan

Spark

Books, even bad books, can provide a spark that set ideas aflame.

I read a lot of books and try to read a good mix of fiction and non-fiction. Generally, the ideas come from the non-fiction books, though not always. Business and creativity books work best for me. Often I’ll read these in the hope that something sparks and lights a fire.

The same can be said for other types of reading material. Read articles, essays, research, blogs, whatever it is that works for you.

It’s not about how good the book is. It’s about finding that suggestion or piece of information that triggers a tangential thought. That’s the spark.

by Colin Brosnan

Write Through It

If you’re trying to think something through write it down. Writing is thinking.

Trying to crack an idea open. Start writing.

Trying to understand a concept better. Start writing.

Trying to figure out what you should be doing. Start writing.

Put your thoughts down. They don’t have to be organised. As you write you’ll figure things out. If needs be you can write a more organised draft when you’re done.

If you have a problem, write through it.

by Colin Brosnan

Make the Note

Last night I came up with an idea for a post.

Laying in bed, the lights off, my eyes closed, my mind was still working, putting thoughts together. I had the title and two examples to write about to make the point I wanted to make. I thought the idea was good and I was happy with what I’d come up with. You’re not reading it today because I didn’t write it down and can’t remember it now.

After waking up this morning I remembered that I’d had an idea but not the idea. The shape of it eludes me. When I reach out to grasp it my hands just pass through the ghost of what could have been.

The thing is I could have made the note. I could have taken a minute, just a minute, to reach for my phone to make a note. I told myself I’d remember the idea. The idea is gone. The memory of the excuse lingers.

It’s a good lesson, a good reminder. Don’t assume the idea will wait. Capture the idea before it escapes. Make the note.

by Colin Brosnan

Well of Ideas

Our ideas spring up from the depths of our mind and pool together in a well. We can dip into that well when we need an idea.

Sometimes though we fear the well will dry up so we hoard what we have. We ration it. We save it for another time.

We believe a time will come when we need that idea more. We tell ourselves we’ll use the idea then. We dare not use it before then. That time never comes. Or it did and we didn’t recognise it so caught up are we in saving it for our day of need.

The idea goes unused.

Instead of running dry from overuse the well stagnates from lack of use. The ideas we hoard go stale. Thick weeds grow up around the well, hiding it, making it difficult to get to, impossible to dip into.

Don’t let this happen to you. Keep the well fresh, use it.

by Colin Brosnan

Ideas Are Easy

Ideas are easy. They are. No, really they are.

It seems like a boast but it’s not. Ideas ARE easy. Pick up a pen and paper and write down ten articles you could write. Or ten ways you could improve the world.

Ideas are easy but they have no value. None.

I have a list of ideas for projects. I’ve been adding to the list for years. There’s a lot of good stuff on the list. Not one of those ideas has any value.

What good is any idea on that list to anyone unless it is made real? It is only when an idea is executed that it has value.

The ten articles you could write have no value unless you write them. And even then, how well you executed the act of writing those articles will increase or decrease their value. The more well executed the higher the value. Better executed is more difficult to achieve.

There is a matter of scale between the execution of writing ten articles and improving the world in ten ways. The scale of difficulty in execution increases too.

Ideas are easy. It’s execution that’s hard.

by Colin Brosnan

Conversations Lost with the Death of the Home Landline

Your mobile phone rings. Who answers it?

The home phone is dying. That’s not the same thing as the landline dying. Business still have as many landlines as ever. Homes do not. In 2004 almost 100% of homes in the US had landlines. By 2014 that figure was down to just over 50%.

With the loss of the home landline we have lost something else. When the home phone rang anyone could answer.

The phone rang. It was your aunt wanting to speak to your mother. But you answered the phone so you got to speak to her for a bit. Then you passed the phone to your mother.

The phone rang. It was your mother-in-law calling for your wife. You answered so you got to say hello. Then you passed the phone to your wife.

With the house phone when it rang and you answered you got to speak to people unexpectedly. Now…

Your mobile phone rings. Who answers it?

You do. You answer your phone. Your phone is normally close to you. In your pocket. On the desk beside you. If someone else has your phone when it rings they’ll hand it back to you. They won’t answer it. You can call them back if you can’t answer just then.

They won’t answer it because answering someone else’s mobile phone is a breach of an invisible barrier. Privacy has something to do with it. But it is more that a person’s mobile phone is part of their personal space. There’s an invisible barrier of space around a person and we instinctively know not to break it. And yes, sometimes a person will answer your mobile and breach that invisible barrier just as sometimes a person will breach your personal space. In both cases it’s uncomfortable.

So we lose those conversations. Conversations that help us to better know the people close to those close to ourselves.

We don’t have to allow those conversations to be lost. We can do something about it. We can create tools.

Tools such as software that would link phone numbers. So that for particular callers the phones of two or more designated mobiles would ring at the same time. Or tools to allow call sharing so that when someone calls that the recipient can decide to add others in the household to the call. This way others can join the conversation.

Sometimes we lose things with technological development. If we care enough about those things we can build them back in.

by Colin Brosnan

Ideas

A thought flares into existence in your mind. It is not yet an idea. It is small and fragile. Unless you give it immediate attention it will gutter and die.

Thoughts are important but we do not treat them so. They need space. Space to breathe and grow. Space to protect them. They need light. Shine the light of your attention on a thought and it will grow into an idea.

More often than not we don’t do this.

Instead of giving a thought space and light we crowd it. Depriving it of oxygen. Strangling it. Keeping it in the dark. Allowing it to wither and die before it has had a chance.

It’s not a surprise. Our modern lives are lives of information. There’s more of it every day. And we flood ourselves with it. How many times a day do we check Facebook? Or Twitter? Or Reddit? or Instagram? Or Pinterest? Or Snapchat? Or… Or…

Our brains are flooded with this information. It crashes in from all directions. Drowning our thoughts. Carrying them away in the never ending deluge.

No, I am not suggesting that all information is bad. After all, from information comes the seeds of our ideas.

To give our thoughts the space and light they need to grow we need to stop trying to drink the flood of information. A healthy flow will nourish them. The flood will wash them away.

We need to give ourselves time without content. Take time away from information. Time to allow our own thoughts to flourish and grow into ideas.

by Colin Brosnan

Record from Advert

I don’t know how much live tv you watch but if you’re like me it’s not as much as you used to.  As a result we come across less tv adverts. If we watch on Netflix we don’t have any. If we are watching from a recording we forward past them.

For the most part that’s great. The less adverts I have to see the better. But the one thing I can’t fault advertising for is the discovery factor. By which I mean it allows me to come across a movie or tv show I might like to watch.

The problem is that I often can’t do anything about it. The show is weeks away and doesn’t even have an air date. As I don’t watch live tv much I’m not going to be keeping an eye out for it. It’ll pass me by.

Would it not be possible to allow viewers to hit record when viewing the ad? That way I don’t miss the show and the tv companies get more viewers. If the show doesn’t have an air date your device keeps your record command until the show appears on the schedule.

I’ve assumed the solution would be to allow viewers to press a button on their remote to record but there are other possibilities. They could use their tv provider’s app. They could use a Shazam-like service – it recognises the advert playing and provides some options.

by Colin Brosnan