I’ve found that the best way to record your ideas whenever one passes your mind is to write them in their entirety. Catch the entire gist. Make it easier for future you.

Because distilling an entire thought into one sentence leaves out so much of the original context. Context that ceases to exist once you drench it with the passage of time.

So many entries on my ‘writing ideas’ list felt like great topics at the time, only to sound like a four-year-old’s thoughts later. Some examples being:

• Sometimes you have shitty morning routines too and that’s okay
• About alter ego
• FREE. I know this word seems like spam, but…
• Even if you have typos you are still going to be accepted
• Someday you will hate me

The thing about these hundreds of ideas I collect every month is that I can’t, for the life of me, expand on them anymore. I would’ve, at the time of the mental spark, but not anymore. It’s as if an elf snuck into my text file and left inside jokes that only other elves would understand.

I’ve lost all context of the accompanying feelings during the thought-catching phase. And it’s those feelings that make the story, not the words. The failure to capture them in their entirety leaves me with exactly that. Random words.

Again, I gave future me too much credit. “He’ll figure it out,” I thought. “He’s smart.”

Well, who’s feeling stupid now?

At least I’ve learned my lesson. I started this piece with the sentence ‘how to record better ideas’. I closed the file, gave it a second thought, then added a second sentence for the benefit of future me.

One thing led to another, and here we are. Guess I’m not gonna forget this idea now.