IDEA TRAP

April 7th, 2020

This episode is dedicated to $Stun

It’s a funny fact of the human mind that we can remember having a good idea but completely fail to remember what that good idea actually is. 

If the priority our own mind applies to memories can be so out of whack, is it any wonder that our priorities are often out of order?

The individual who inspired this episode described a hack for this situation that has proved to be remarkably useful.

Whenever you have a good idea: text it to yourself.

Cell phones have become as ubiquitous and necessary as our own right hand.  It’s almost certain that we have it with us.

One might argue that a good idea can just be logged into an app for notes, but texting yourself is superior for a couple of reasons.

A text comes complete with a notification, and we get a preview of the text without opening it.  This allows us to keep the notification while simultaneously checking what we texted ourselves about.  Keeping the notification can be important if your day hasn’t unwound to the point where you can properly process that idea.

It’s also quicker.  There’s no need to create a new note, or scroll to the bottom of an existing note, or any of that.  And chances are, our use of texting is well – oiled in comparison to a notes app.  Our fingers, our hands, and our mind can most likely get the task done via a text which we are constantly doing all day, much faster as opposed to using a different app that is only seldom opened.  Plus, notes don’t have notifications and it’s easy to forget about the good idea logged.  Whereas a text with a pending alert somewhat ensures that it won’t be forgotten.

The best part of this is you don’t even need service for it to work.  Any hanging unsent texts to yourself are… still logged, as unsent messages.

Give it a try and see if it allows you to trap more ideas.