How I Organize My Never-Ending List of Ideas

As a graphic designer, media and marketing specialist, and creative in general, my brain doesn't really have an off-switch. A lot of my thoughts throughout the day are ideas for new projects, ways I could improve past work, or cool long-term projects I'd love to take on.

With all of these ideas floating around, I obviously don't want to forget them. I need somewhere to put them, but I also need a system that will actually make sense when I come back to an idea weeks or even months later.

Over the last year or so, I've developed a specific organization system that has worked really well for me.

If I need to get an idea out as quickly as possible, whether I'm short on time or on the verge of falling asleep, I'll record a voice memo, brain-dump the idea, or jot down a quick note explaining what I'm thinking.

When I have more time, I'll go back through those brain dumps and organize them in my project ideas spreadsheet.

My spreadsheet is divided into six columns:

Packaging and Branding
Stationery Posts
Reel Posts
Zine and Blog Topics
Stamp Carving Ideas
Other

If an idea fits neatly into one of those categories, it goes into its respective column. If it doesn't, it gets a home in the "Other" column.

For example, if I have an idea for a branding project, I'd put it in the branding and packaging column and label it something like:

 (product) brand, "name of brand", Deliverables I hope to include. 

This gives me enough information to understand the idea later without having to remember exactly what I was thinking when I originally wrote it down. 

But what if some of the projects in my spreadsheet are already started? What if I've started some and could easily finish them? What if I've started others but need to step away and come back to them with a new direction later?

This is where my spreadsheet gets even more organized.

I use different highlight colours to keep track of where each project is at. Projects that I've started and am actively working on are highlighted in blue. If I've started a project but am looking for a different direction and have decided to take a break from it, I highlight it in teal. And if I'm in the absolute final stretch of a project and could finish it relatively quickly the next time I return to my list, I highlight it in orange.

This way, I can look at my spreadsheet and immediately see which projects are actively moving, which ones need some more thought, and which ones are practically ready to cross off my list.

Just for my own sanity, I try my best to limit each column to around 20 entries. This helps keep me from overwhelming myself with too many ideas at once. Even 20 ideas in one category is already a lot.

I also go through my spreadsheet frequently to keep everything updated. I'll remove projects that I've finished, delete ideas that I'm no longer interested in, and update project descriptions if my thoughts or plans have changed.

The spreadsheet isn't meant to be a permanent record of every idea I've ever had. It's meant to be a living list of projects that I'm actually interested in working on. 

I hope this was helpful for anyone else whose brain tends to overflow with creativity. I come up with ideas faster than I can complete them, and having a place to organize them means I don't have to choose between acting on an idea right away or forgetting about it. I can write it down, come back to it later, and keep creating in the meantime. 

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