Few things compare to the excitement you feel when you have a great new idea for your business. Something clicks into the right place and you’re all of a sudden flooded with inspiration, motivation, and the drive to make things happen. It’s an amazing energizing feeling, but it can easily turn overwhelming.
That is exactly where I found myself once I’d gotten my momentum back and found the purpose for my business. All my energy and excitement quickly turned into frustration. My ideas kept bumping into each other inside my head, all competing for my complete attention. It made it impossible to translate all the big-picture stuff into smaller actionable steps. Even though I finally had a clear direction for my business, I had no idea where to start.
Things started to get better when I finally tried writing my thoughts down.I made a ton of big to-do lists, jotted down all the thoughts that were distracting me, and made notes of ideas that might be useful down the line.And the energy I had felt for my business came back! Here’s what putting things on paper can do for you and your business:
1. You’ll be less stressed.
Ever stayed up late because the to-do list in your head wouldn’t let you sleep? You toss and turn trying to make sure you don’t miss anything, hoping that you won’t forget an important piece overnight. Getting up and writing that to-do list down always helps me get right to bed. That’s because trying to keep everything in your head is stressful and overwhelming. It makes you worry and feel uneasy.
By writing things down, you can stop worrying about missing or forgetting something. Your brain won’t be desperately trying to make sure important things don’t get pushed out and you’ll be able to relax. There’s already more than enough to stress about as a small business owner, especially during the Holiday season! You can take your stress levels down a notch by just dumping your ideas out on paper.
2. You’ll have more focus.
Ideas can be so distracting! You’re trying to ship out orders but keep thinking about the blog post you want to write instead. You’re forming the outline in your head, thinking of the featured image you’ll set up, imagining your readers’ comments, and next thing you know you’ve labeled half your packages incorrectly.
Stop getting distracted! Write that blog post idea down. Include enough details to be able to put it out of your head completely, but not so many that you end up getting completely side tracked into marketing. Writing your ideas down means saving them for a better time and freeing your brain to focus on what you’re supposed to be doing right now. You’ll be more productive and get more done because your ideas won’t be pestering you for attention.
3. You’ll be able to process your ideas better.
Epiphanies happen in the shower for a reason. Our brains are working in a different state. When you’re not actively thinking about something, your brain has the chance to process it in a different way. And the best solutions often come out of this type of processing. This is why we sleep on big decisions – to give our brains the time to process.
By writing your ideas down, you’re freeing your brain from the burden of trying to remember and giving it the clarity it needs to process, instead.Then, when you’re able to return to your idea, you can come at it with the energy and creativity it needs. You can bring it to life and do it justice because your brain has had the chance to work up the right kind of energy.
4. You’ll have a collection of ideas to turn to.
Your blog queue is getting close to empty and you know you need to write a few posts so you don’t fall behind. You make some time, pour yourself some tea, and sit down to write… but nothing happens. An hour later, you’ve started several different posts but deleted them all and you still don’t even know what you should write about.
When you write your ideas down, you can say good-bye to writer’s block and staring blankly at the empty page. You won’t have to waste time trying to come up with things from thin air. Instead, you’ll have a good list of options when you need to write, create, or plan something. You’ll be able to jump right in and get things done. Nothing’s better than having a fully stocked storeroom of ideas!
Stop using your brain as storage! Write your ideas down. You’ll feel better and be able to work more efficiently. That’s good for you, good for your business, and good for the people you serve.