Create Idea Margins (By Meggin McIntosh)

As a professional, you need as many ideas as you can possibly generate (or capture). Don't let the good ones get away. This article gives you specific means for generating and then capturing all the great ideas you come up with--no matter where you are. This will ensure that you have "margins" of ideas when you need them. Richard Swenson defines margins as the "space that once existed between ourselves and our limits. It's something held in reserve for contingencies or unanticipated situations."

To create your idea margins, you must be ready to snag any and all ideas as they occur, because sometimes when you need a good idea, it doesn't come then. (Darn it!) At any given moment (some of which are more convenient than others), ideas will come to you. Some of these ideas are major, some are minor, but when you don't capture the ideas, they whirl around in your head. This not only diverts your attention away from the other work or pleasure on which you need to be focusing but it's also risky to ignore them because they might not come back!

Try one or more of these ideas for capturing your ideas as they're occurring, so you have them for later processing (and don't miss the two ideas that are especially meant to help you generate loads of ideas!)

1. When you're at your desk, write down ideas on pieces of paper and drop them into your inbox for later processing.
2. Have an "idea" tab in your planner (or your PDA). Write down incoming ideas in a designated spot.
3. Call and leave yourself voicemail messages. I do it all the time when I'm driving (a prime time for ideas to arrive, unbidden!)
4. Record ideas on a voice or digital recorder. There are tiny ones available and many cell phones also have this feature.
5. Send yourself email. If the idea pops into your head when you are working on email, just send one to yourself with the idea.
6. Keep a pad nearby that you love to write on and delight in jotting down thoughts and ideas as they come to you.
7. Snag one of the omnipresent post-it notes that are around--or keep a small packet of them in a pocket or pouch. Later, you can flesh out the idea but for now, you just need to get it written down.
8. Invest in the perfect pen so you'll have a positive feeling about the idea as you write it down.

Now what if you need to generate an abundance of ideas? Here are two keys for doing so--and expanding your idea margins:

1. Get out a fresh pad or open up a new document on your computer. Write a question at the top of the page and then number from 1 - 30. Start writing possible solutions or ideas that will address the question you started with. Don't edit, don't censor, don't worry about plausibility. Just write. The first 15 are likely to be fairly run-of-the-mill ideas. But you have to clear those out first. On about idea #15 or 16 or so, new and different ideas will emerge--and you couldn't have gotten to those until you cleared out the old ideas. Feel free to blast right past #30, but at least get to 30. You will surprise yourself.
2. Mind map by putting an issue, question, or word prompt in the middle of a large (at least 11 x 17") piece of paper. Then just draw spokes out from the center node and start writing (or drawing) what comes to you. Keep going. You will surprise yourself, I promise.

Whew! You are chock-full of ideas. And you've captured them so they are ready for you when you need them. You have margins of ideas! Hooray!

Margins are "the difference between calm and crazed." To receive weekly tips about margins, just go to http://pumpernickelpublishing.com where you can sign up to receive one tip per week in one or more of the following series:

**Tips: Creating Margins in Your Personal Life

**Tips: Creating Margins in Your Professional Life

**Tips: Creating Time, Energy, & Life Margins: Tips for Teachers

Tip: If you are interested in more than one, it's better to sign up for one at a time...or at least only sign up for one today and then a different one tomorrow. That way, you really will only get one tip on a given day and you'll have a chance to implement that before you get the next one.

Find other helpful ideas check out

**From the Desk of Meggin McIntosh (http://FromtheDeskofMegginMcIntosh.com)

(c) 2008 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., "The Productivity Professor"(tm)

Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do via seminars, workshops, writing, coaching, & consulting. Visit her site: http://meggin.com