Capturing Your Thoughts

Everyday great thoughts come and go – they escape, and we lose them.

Like a “traffic speed trap” set by police, we need to be on the alert for speeders (great thoughts) and stop and detain them, then arrest them and take them captive. These speeders are the thoughts and ideas that have great potential to help us and others, but they come and go at a time when we think we just don’t have time to do anything else but note they occurred and hope we can remember them later.

From now on, stop them! Step one is KNOW that they WILL be coming and probably at the most inopportune time to capture them.

Next develop a quick way to arrest them and “handcuff” them – meaning take them captive in a temporary fashion. Maybe it is carrying a small 2”x3” notepad in your pocket or purse. Merely jot down a quick note of the general idea, but enough to jog your memory later (temporary captivity). Maybe you have a memo section on your phone, or a small digital recorder, and you quickly make a small memory-jogging verbal notation. 95% of the people will not do this critical step for success, I have found.

Now probably 75% of the people who did take temporary custody of that wonderful idea don’t do step two – move the note from “temporary captivity” to “permanent incarceration.” Daily have a quick method of moving the note from the notepad or verbal message, to a computerized add-to list of GREAT THOUGHTS!

Once you have this computerized master list, you have made it to the elite few in life. From this list great ideas will come for, books, income generating, relational growth, child rearing, business development and so on. Now categorize and prioritize the list as to both importance and timetable for further development.

Last make an appointment with yourself to regularly review this list, asking yourself when is the time to commit to development of that idea – from concept to completion. Do this, and succeed in any avenue of your life!

Start With What You Know

I have found that if I want to transition out of something and move into something new, many times I feel stuck and immobilized as to where to start. Have you been there? I want to move, but am just not sure how to begin.

So what I have discovered is that a great place to start is to take an inventory of what I already know to be true. During times when I evidence a little intelligence, I write down that list of things I “know” to be true related to the issue at hand.

I did that this morning. I woke at 5:30 with something on my mind pertaining to our printing and publishing business. I started a list of single sentence thoughts surrounding the area in which I wanted to bring some transition. Each line on the paper represented something I have found to be true surrounding the core issue.

As each line was listed and built, clarity of understanding began to unfold. Beginning points and even general solutions started to become evident. Proverbs 17:24 notes: “A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.” I need to regularly “keep in my view” or the forefront of my thoughts, those things I know to be true. Also, I must not always be looking for the “newest” thing to focus on all around me, without being somehow still tethered to the wisdom and truth I already have obtained on the subject.

Deuteronomy 30:11-14 says it in a different way: “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” In short, God is saying that He has already made certain things readily available for us to grasp.

So when considering a transition in your life, start with making a full list of what you know surrounding the subject at hand. God has already revealed many things to you that you “know” to be true. From that vantage point, new thoughts can spring to life as a great starting point from which to launch.