HOW DO YOU STORE ALL OF YOUR CREATIVE IDEAS?

LIBBA OSBORNE, ADD LIB 

Why is this important? A system protects your creative time and organizes your ideas so they don’t get lost

How do we do it? A good plan for busy people needs to be: 

• realistic
• easy
• actionable

Libba’s solution:

Step 1: Schedule a weekly download to lighten your load

• Schedule a one-hour time per week to download and compile all of your ideas — this might be from sticky notes, napkins, notebooks, e notes, scraps of paper, screenshots, ig saves/folders, pinterest saves
• Create a digital “whiteboard” to consolidate all of these ideas: whether this is a google doc, canva whiteboard, milanote, miro, etc. 
• Use custom headers/boards that make sense for your business and then create a dropbox for each (example: each client, vendors, events, media, books and podcasts)

Step 2: schedule a weekly time for deep creative thinking

• Schedule a one-hour deep-dive, either weekly or twice a month, to dig into the ideas that you’ve put into your whiteboard. What do you want to further and what needs to be cut?
• Although this should be a regular activity, be flexible with yourself. Sometimes creativity calls when you didn’t schedule it, so shift your calendar as your mood shifts. Just make sure you get it done each week.

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHICH IDEAS TO MOVE FORWARD WITH?

HAILE MCCOLLUM, FONTAINE MAURY

Why is this important? We don’t have the energy and resources to execute all of our ideas at once (some even ever!), so how do we figure out which of our ideas we should move forward with? Remember: sometimes the most important decision is knowing what to say “no” to.

How do we do it? Determine the overall importance of each idea, focusing on impact, not emotion/desire.

Haile’s solution:
Utilize a decision matrix that assigns values (on a scale of 0-5) to each idea according to the following. The totals for each idea allow you to determine its relative priority. 

• Impact: How much of an impact will this project make on the business and customer?
  
  • 1 = little impact…
  • 5 = big impact
• Effort: Relative to other projects, how much time and work will the project take?
  
  • 1 = lots of work…
  • 5 = easy to execute
• Profit: How much potential net profit (not revenue!) will the project bring in?
  
  • 1 = a little profit…
  • 5 = a lot of profit
• Vision: How good a fit is this project with your overall mission and vision?
  
  • 1 = not a tight fit…
  • 5 = right where i want to head

How often should we do this? Whenever you need to feel unstuck!