I have a lot of ideas.
Cough! Understatement!
I don’t want to say “too many ideas”, because what’s that?
But definitely more than I or anyone else can comfortably handle.
They pile up. And you know how I feel about piles. So I’ve been trying to figure this thing out.
The first thing I’ve learned.
I’m not going to stop having ideas.
I’m an unlikely business savant and — related! — I do a lot of ridiculously hard Shiva Nata, so I pretty much always have new ideas. They’re mostly good.
Actually, even the crappy ones are pretty intriguing. Or at least entertaining.
So let’s say I have eight to ten good ideas each day and then maybe another dozen decent ones. And they have nowhere to go since even on my best day I might only be able to act on one of them.
And a lot of them aren’t for now. They’re for when I’m ready.
The second thing I’ve learned.
A designated space isn’t enough. It’s the kind of place that matters.
So I’ve tried out a variety of ways to place/sort/process these ideas.
Like the idea binder. The idea binder that I completely ignore by a) never putting things in there and b) never looking at what already is in there.
Or the Secret Idea Cave that lives in the cloud. It’s a lovely concept but I don’t really go there either.
Somehow it turned out that my relationship with this Place Where Ideas Might Live Until I’m Ready For Them was filled with pain. Clearly I need to do more experimenting to figure out how to build a new one.
The third thing I’ve learned.
Ideas are always in transit. And yet they — like everything else — want attention and acknowledgment at every stage in their process.
Huh.
At the last Rally (Rally!), I saw Jillian doing this cool thing with little cars. And colorful post-it notes. On the door of the magical elevator.
There was a sign that said it was the parking lot. Which, apparently, is where she parks ideas that aren’t relevant to her project.
The fourth thing I’ve learned.
Ahahahaha. I always have ideas that aren’t relevant to my project.
And then I end up either resenting them for being so shiny, or resenting my project for being my project. Commitment issues, I have some.
But what I don’t have is a car to park.
That’s because living in a city with terrific public transportation is at the very top of my these are the choices I’m making, dammit list.
So instead of a parking lot, I’m going with bike racks. Imaginary ones.
The bike rack experiment, and how it works.
I created a list in the Ship’s Log (the section of Basecamp where I communicate with my pirate ship crew). It’s called the bike rack.
Yes, I know this doesn’t work with the ship metaphor. Take it up with metaphor mouse.
When I have an idea, I put it in there. If I’m at the Playground or otherwise not-connected-to-the-internet, ideas go in my pink notebook.
The list goes directly below our list of things to discuss at the weekly Drunk Pirate Council.
The link to Basecamp is a partner-program link. What that means: they give me a tiny amount of symbolic Appreciation Monies if you sign up for their stuff based on me telling you how great they are. Obviously I would never recommend them if I weren’t fully in love with them.
We might not do anything with any of these ideas.
But at least we can make notes on them, categorize them, learn about them.
I’m hoping to come up with an entire taxonomy of ideas.
Actually it might end up more like a cosmology, since some of these are pretty weird ideas.
Anyway, I plan to investigate how they work and what they’re like and what categories they might fall into. And then I will ask them where they want to live.
This might be a hilarious disaster, of course.
But it will be interesting.
I like bike racks. I like invisible things. I like interacting with information, and trying to figure out how things fit together.
And as much as I avoid my ideas and hide from them because of what they might mean for my life, they are my tiny sweet things and I love them.
And if bike racks turn out to not be helpful, I’ll invent something else. The experiment continues!
Some of what’s currently parked in the bike rack.
Because how could I not share?
The shivanautical cheerleading team.
The roller derby team I sponsor needs a cheering squad. Of Shivanauts!
Did you know I used to work as assistant choreographer for a children’s dance troupe? I could do this. Maybe.
What if I hired X to draw what happens when I talk to Y about Z?
That would be the coolest thing ever.
The steampunk box of shivanauttery.
It’s like this giant box with see-through walls, and maybe it’s on wheels?
There is a Shivanaut inside! It is me! Where are we? A yoga festival? A crazy fair of weird and wonderful things?
And there are slider button things. You can select:
Any level between one and seven. Any speed between steady and insanely fast. With music or without. With numbers (1-4 or 1-8). With words.
And then you press the giant button and I dance what you programmed. Maybe the numbers or words could flash at the same time. Wouldn’t it be AWESOME?
The giant dragon that needs to live in the Playground.
I actually have someone who can make this happen, so we’re making this happen. The Playground is going to be soooo happy.
As am I. As will be everyone who comes to the Playground, with the exception of people who are afraid of dragons. But he won’t be that kind of dragon. You’ll like him.
And that’s my imaginary bike rack.
Is it… just one guy? Sorry, sorry. No, still funny!
Anyway, I’m liking this practice. I like how it seems to say:
Hey, idea! I like you. We should get to know each other better. You know, sometime. Why don’t you stay here for the time being until we can get you your own fabulous place to live?
Except it’s more casual than that. Like bike racks.
Play? Comment zen for today…
You can also share ideas if you like. You can throw them in the pot!
Or ideas for things to do with ideas. Or ideas about why ideas are so particular about their homes.
As always, we all have our stuff and we’re all working on our stuff. It’s a process.
We make room for people to have their own experience, which is why we don’t tell each other what to do or how to feel. Kisses.
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I have a gazillion ideas too! Vastly more than I have time to play with.
And I have a bike rack, of sorts – but in my case, it’s a folder in My Documents called ‘Dream Pot’. Every time I have a new idea that I love but don’t have time for right now, I make the idea a folder in the dream pot, and then whenever I have more thoughts about it I can jot them down there. And then if the time ever comes that I want to develop it more, all the thoughts will be there waiting for me.
I also make piles. 🙁 Haven’t figured out a better method yet. But I am working on deguiltifying the piles.
I reckon you can have bike racks on a pirate ship! There are barges at a mooring near me that have a big shared bike rack on one of the central barges (they also have trees growing on the barges. it’s pretty awesome all round). If barges can have bikes, so can pirate ships. Useful for when you’re in port!
I love the concept of having an idea-parking place. Hm! Am wondering where that might look like for me. Something in Evernote?
The steampunk box sounds like the sort of thing that would be right at home at Glastonbury.
A marina? Little boats get parked up at a marina. I used to go past one on the way to my grandparents’ house, they had barges, cruisers and sailboats and a big shed with little rowing boats. Some people lived on their boats, others only visited for weekends. Lots of flexibility since there was a canal, a river and a huge lake all accessible.
Not sure how they got around when they went somewhere else though.
The steampunk box provoked a very intense reaction in me, which I will investigate further. I wanted to say, firmly “No one puts Havi in a box!” and now I really, really want to go watch Dirty Dancing. Shiva Nata to “(I’ve had) the Time of My Life”? Or “Overload” because that would be funny.
I am IN LOVE with the idea of a cosmology of ideas!
Oooh! This sounds fun.
Though, I apologize, because I don’t think I’m as green as you. A bike rack sounds fun, but I’m thinking of a car garage. Maybe Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark’s car garage(my inner nerd emerges). There’s sporty roadsters of every color, utilitarian monsters, motorcycles, all sorts of rides. Damn. I do kind of want the Batmobile though. *Sigh* Oh, the hard decisions we make in life.
I think my biggest problem is that when I get an idea, I have to work on it NOW. If I don’t, the idea will sit there. Then I’ll have time to look at it. Judge it. Then I point an accusatory finger at it and go, “You’re stupid!”, which makes the idea sort of limp away and cry softly to itself.
Now I feel like a bastard. I guess I am Tony Stark.
@Kate – a dream pot sounds lovely!
@Juliet – bike barge bike barge! I love it.
@Caroline – dirty dancing shiva nata sounds like just the thing.
@Shanna – me too! It sounds so exciting. I kind of wanted to scrap the post and just go write about that for the next ten years. 🙂
@Kaleena – Tony Stark! And, of course, since I was thinking about Metaphor Mouse, I was already singing I am Iron Man, so the whole thing is kind of perfect. Also, the batmobile works with “to the Idea Cave, batman!”
@Shanna Mann – I love that concept, too!
I also have lots of ideas. The thing that struck me about this post was when you so confidently stated that you’d never run out of ideas. I used to be (and sometimes still am) afraid that there’s only a limited amount of them. But when I get into that kind of mindset then I hold on too tight to them and they strangle. But if I trust that more will come and am generous with them by giving them away or letting them just kind of do their thing even if I can’t work on them right then, MORE ideas come. So I think my ideas come from and go back to a well or a fishing pond or maybe one of those take-a-penny-leave-a-penny dishes.
So in that spirit, I just had an idea yesterday that i’ll put out there: A a class and mini instructional ebook on making, and idea gallery of, home altars (whether as a religious devotional practice or an artistic practice). I don’t know why I came up with this, as I don’t have that much experience in making altars for myself. But it sounded like such a fun class to take, that it must be fun to teach too. I hope someone can run with it.
@Sarah – talk to Joy (http://adventuresofjoy.com)! I know she’s working on a class that seems very related to your idea. She also teaches people to make these wonderful traveling mini-altars that come in a book form, I’ve been trying to get her to come do it with us at a Rally!
Ooh, my piles and piles of ideas are excited to get a new home!
It seems they want a cocktail lounge. It’s darkly lit, and full of an infinite number of comfortable plush seating arrangements plus lots of standing room around the bar. They actually want me to leave, so they can enjoy mingling with each other and finding out what other ideas get them excited.
Not sure exactly whether this lives in a binder, in a document, in a shoebox next to the wine rack …
I love this!!!!!
The Daybook idea I got from Barbara Sher works as my bike rack, although I have to remember to allow myself to use it. I used to resent and feel ashamed of all my ideas (you’re supposed to be focusing on this thing! What are you doing having ideas about something else! You’re such a flake!). Now I honor and cherish them, while not expecting myself to do all of them.
I’ve started dumping small ones into Evernote, but I’m not sure how to access them. More exploration of Evernote is called for.
I want to make a cosmology!
@Caroline: anything about Dirty Dancing gets my enthusiasm!!
Now remembering that I’m allowed to have ideas even when I’m intensely busy with things-that-need-to-get-done.
Love love love
one word stuck out for me…Basecamp. I love basecamp and have tried to get various groups i’m involved in to use it. But, what I hear you saying, is that you use it to organize….YOURSELF….BRRRRILIANT!!! wow. thanks!
Oooh bike racks!! LOVE IT!
All of my ‘brilliant’ ideas end up on whatever piece of loose leaf paper is nearest when I wake up in the middle of the night. I love the idea of using basecamp to actually organize those and not let them go!
Passing along this comment…
My 16-year-old son thinks that the Steampunk Box of Shivanauttery would be The! Best! Thing! Ever! for the Xbox Kinect. Makes me wish I were a better programmer. =)
i’m gwishing to rally at the playground. it will be like a honeymoon with my ideas and project — dedicated time and space to explore and discover, relax and snuggle.
in the meantime, we’re flirting like mad.
That steampunk box idea is awesome!
I just started an idea book – because mine are all over the map, in various notebooks and in my head – but now I am kind of liking the idea of using something online like Evernote. (Evernote? Well, something that people have recommended and I’ve written down. I think it’s Evernote.)
I have a glimmer of an idea about using the ideas behind usability and user-centered design to help become the expert on themselves and their own life, but that’s all I’ve got so far. I also want to do group (distant) reiki sessions maybe once a month so that the cost could be an easy in for people who are intrigued. Come to think of it, I could do this now. (Possibly also true of many of my ideas, even though I like to think that they are all “ideas for someday”.)
This is great! I find that if I put things away in dark places I lose them or forget them.
I LOVE BIKE RACKS! They are so friendly and thoughtful and open to everyone 🙂
This metaphor appeals so much – I am going to try it out this week, thanks 🙂
Oh yes please on the steampunk box! I have been craving this very thing. Especially if there was some internetical telescope to let me twiddle the knobs from afar.
I’m frequently beset with ideas I can’t quite use yet, and shiva nata’s bringing me even more. I have a stack of project books to stash em in, but I sometimes forget them during the scramble to find the RIGHT book. Colorful post-its are one of my favorite solutions to this! Then they are down on paper, and can be moved around later. Also, I’ve turned Tuesdays into Bookkeeping Days, where I sort the post-its and review (revue?) the books. And little bits get added to them over time. Still evolving, but so far so good!
This reminds me of how I’ve been approaching meditation. Not “vanishing” the thoughts, just parking them somewhere else until I can deal with them. They are mostly useful, after all!
Is it coincidence that last night I dreamed I found a beautiful handcrafted rich deep brown leather binder for the Book of Me it’s time to begin creating?
Good grief.
Thank god you talk to us about ideas floating around.
And worries of losing them.
I get so clutch-ey.
But they aren’t meant for that.
More thinking on a happy place for them to be.
Huge gratitudes for ideas about ideas and not feeling alone in the idea abundance inundation.
Oh, ideas! Lovely. Here are a few that have been hanging around with me for a good while now:
–I live in a seaside cottage, with a living room and kitchen that are ideal for hosting workshops and retreats, while allowing me plenty of peace and privacy in my own bedroom and bath.
–I make teddy bears, rag dolls, and similar huggable creations. Some I give away, some I sell, some I keep.
–I travel across the country with my family in an RV.
–Shiva Nata on the beach. Or is that a drink?
–I take a solitary hike along the C&O Canal towpath, arriving in DC in good time to view the cherry blossoms.
It’s good to remember these things. Some feel more likely to someday happen than others, but they’re probably all much more possible than I sometimes think.
@havi- Thanks for the link! Traveling book altars = yay!
Ideas, ideas spilling over, linking with other ideas. Sometimes I actually like the floating aspect.
How about if they hang on stars? As how perfect for celestial navigation . . . guidance in the dark.
May our ideas fill the Milky Way . . .
Love the idea of a bike rack for ideas. Mine mostly live in my journals and only come out once a year when I go through and play with all of them (make long lists of them and pet them). I’m sure they would be happier if I set aside time to play with them every week. Maybe that could be a weekly blog post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86x-u-tz0MA&feature=related there is a great bit in this talk by ELizabeth Gilbert ** thanks Flipstar Wilson for this** where she speaks about talking to the magnificent Tom Waites about ideas coming to him when he is driving and unable to capture them immeadiately.
I’m going for “pantry” all the ingredients are there, on shelves. Some are even “put up’ as in pickled or canned, just waiting for a chance to be used in some unusual combination later.
It seems that every house I’ve ever lived in has had an awesome closet space in the kitchen especially designed with great shelves, and secret doors revealing more shelves, for all manner of pantry-type items.
It’s been here all along….
Thanks for inspiring me to think of this Havi.
Thanks to the people who mentioned evernote – have just gone and downloaded it and already my to-do lists and ideas are feeling happier. No more squishing into margins and tiny spaces.
My ideas want a playroom with a ball-pit and massive slides. I can go there and play with them when I’m able. They no longer look quite so neglected and sad face. Whee!
And I feel a bit more relaxed knowing that if I can’t pay attention to them right now it’s ok.
oh my, can I play with your steampunk box of shivanauttery? lol