Good ideas sometimes come in flashes of thought and must be captured, or they are lost forever in the fabric of a thousand thoughts. It is difficult to trust the mind to keep important things for later use.
That is why, “the dullest pencil is sharper than the brightest mind”, because a dull pencil will still be able to keep stuff on paper for you and free you from carrying a mental and ephemeral record of thought burden. When you write it down somewhere, you free your thoughts and mind to do other things. Why burden yourself?
Our lives involve moving from one place to the other and or doing activities to make money, put food on the table, socialize, and “live” as usual. While we are doing all these life activities, we get flashes of thought and ideas that must be quickly captured before it vanishes into thin air.
In this post, I want to show you “how to capture your thoughts as a content creator”. This is the same way that I capture my thoughts, too. I practice what I preach, and I write from experience and not from research from other blogs. That is why you will never get this same kind of content on another website.
How I capture my thoughts on the go
This post is written from personal experience only. This is how I capture my thoughts and ideas in my life as a content creator and marketer.
Audio recorders and Dictaphones
One of the best ways to capture your thoughts and ideas is to use a sound audio recorder or Dictaphone. These devices may have functions that will help you make idea capturing easy such as sound activation, playback functions, speech-to-text software, and auto-off to save battery power.
I personally use a Sony ICD-PX333 and Philips VoiceTracer DVT1200 that I bought on eBay. They both take 2 x AAA batteries to operate and last about a month in my case. They are both easy to connect to your PC and audio files can be converted to text with provided software or any third party online software.
You can purchase these devices from Amazon, Ebay or Aliexpress. Just check for the features that you want in a particular device.
Your smartphone phone (or some candy bar phones)
Smartphones have inbuilt sound or voice recorders that can be used to capture your thoughts or ideas while you are on the go. You can also install sound recorders from the Play Store or App Store on your smartphone. Some candy bar phones have a sound recorder as well.
Smartphone apps like WhatsApp can be used to capture thoughts and send them to yourself for storage. You can send a WhatsApp voice message to yourself with your ideas.
You can use the voice-to-text feature of WhatsApp or any note-taking app on your phone, to keep textual ideas. Not only that, but you will find it easier to copy and edit the text later when you get to it, without any need to convert audio to text. The Google Keep app is one example of such application.
Pen and paper (oldest device)
You can practically see your thoughts when you use a pen and a piece of paper to write them down. This is the oldest and most reliable system we use in schools, but not very safe.
Your piece of paper can be wet, lost, or torn. In the past, I have been known to put them in my pocket and wash my clothes. Later, when I see them, they are beyond repair to recollect the information I wrote on them.
Typewriter (super solid but requires a high learning curve)
Typewriters are reliable note-takers. However, you need to have access to one before you can use it. Even with having access, you still need to know how to use it. If you can use it, you still need the appropriate paper for it. Otherwise, it becomes a white elephant in your possession.
Using a typewriter to capture your thoughts and ideas makes them feel like it has been etched in your head. It makes the things you have written look official and complete, sometimes.
Charcoal and any surface (fence-wall or building)
Do not laugh at this natural device for note-takers. It is a commonly used device in some parts of the world. You may have access to modern electronic systems to record your thoughts.
In some parts of the world, this is the easiest thought-recording device available. In addition, it works well. Take a piece of charcoal and scribble your thoughts on any available wall you can find, such as a fence wall, building or sign post.
The only caveat is that you ensure the recording surface belongs to you and not someone else. You must also ensure you are fine sharing your recorded thoughts with others who might read it when passing by. This is also hard to clear by hand unless the rain clears it. It is also not for taking lots of notes or ideas. May be used for taking phone numbers or a few lists of ideas.
Any handy object and the ground you stand on
Okay, this might also sound absurd to you as well. Nevertheless, it is still a useful way to take notes. You may have some flashes of ideas and may not have anything around you to capture it. Or, you may be in an environment without your electronic gadgets such as the forest or beach.
When you have flashes of thought that you desperately need to keep, you have to find any handy object like a stick, pipe, or stone, or even use your hand. After choosing your writing medium, you can find or create a bare floor to write on. You can also write on the bark of a tree. With your fingers, you can write on the shores of the sea or beach.
Conclusion to capturing your thoughts on the go
These are some creative ways to capture your thoughts or ideas so that they don’t vanish into thin air. The mind can be weak in keeping things due to the stresses of life. But, these methods can help you record and keep your ideas.
Some of the devices and methods are only possible in certain environments and under applicable laws. Some of the devices such as typewriter may be hard to get in some countries and are also not portable to be carried around when you are on the go.
Use the devices and methods that suite you best, as we all have our preferences in life. And, no one device or method is the best of all. You are the greatest device in all the universe.