Write Down All of Your Ideas.

I subscribe to @EmilyLevenson‘s weekly newsletter. You should too. This blogger and health coach sends a weekly newsletter chock full of wisdom. When I open my inbox and see an email from Emily Levenson, I prepare to be inspired.

In her quest to make an #epic2012, she suggests to make mistakes. [See original post here.] What stuck with me the most:

What great advice, right? How often do we dismiss our ideas because we don’t think they are good enough. I don’t have enough experience to apply for that job. And I’m not even gonna try that [insert fun activity] because I wouldn’t be good at it. Please suppress those negative thoughts and try something new. Who cares if you are good it at? Who knows what good can come out of it?

I say let’s take it one step further. Write down every idea that you think of — including the ideas you don’t think are great. Write down a dream you had last night, a slogan or invention you envisioned on your commute to work. Write down  a song or poem you wrote in the shower, a new food concoction or new sport. Try it for a week. Create a journal dedicated simply to these ideas. Make the shift with Alice in Wonderland.

At the end of the week, you will discover that you are much more creative than you give yourself credit for. There will be great ideas mixed in with some nonsense, yes. Regardless of whether they are great, you will have some unexpected outcomes. It doesn’t need to be profound or massively engaging the world. But it could change your life, or your lifestyle or your outlook. It could be wisdom that  you always knew but forgot you knew it. It could be a new way to show love and accept it from others. Whatever your idea is, write it down. (Try the impossible task of keeping these lists together!)

Remember, a photographer takes hundreds of photographs for one breathtaking snapshot. An author doesn’t publish every word that he writes.

Embrace your ideas. But remember to capture them too.

And don’t forget the wisdom from Emily.

Take these ideas. Some ideas that form from mistakes: learn from them. Some ideas that turn into success: learn from them. Make it an #epic2012

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