Short video (Optimize +1) by Brian Johnson reflecting on capturing good ideas. He tells a personal story about switching between an old Prius and a Tesla after nearby fires, uses that to introduce his practice of carrying pen-and-paper to capture ideas inspired by Leonardo da Vinci and Scott Adams, and urges viewers to capture their ideas when they arise.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. Today we're going to talk about what to do with some of your best ideas. But first let's talk about cars. Quick story. I used to pride myself on driving an old Prius with a hundred thousand plus miles. I simply didn't care about what kind of car I drove and frankly, I actually kind of loved the fact that I didn't care if and embodied that detachment by driving a nondescript 10 plus year old silver Prius. Then the fires nearly burned down our house and town here in Southern California and we found ourselves driving into the fires to get out of the fires in that old car with two little kids in their car seats in the backseat with a maintenance required message on the dashboard. Because I was a little late getting the scheduled oil change, oops and eek. I decided it was time to get a safer car. Enter a Tesla. Now, as per my little joke in abundance 101 my superego and ID, not my healthy ego. By the way, we've got a link to a longer chat on that require me to share that we got a Model X. Laughing at myself as I share that. Anyway, I've driven that car for the last year and a half, but recently got to a point where I was kind of over it and ready to go back to a less check me out kind of pretentious car. So I went back to driving the Prius, which gets us one mile closer to the point of today's plus one. The first day I started driving our old Prius again, I literally laughed out loud. I was so used to simply getting into the Tesla and stepping on the brake pedal to have the door automagically swing shut and the car auto magically turn on that I had to actually remember to shut the door and and turn on the car. So I quickly relearned how to shut the door and drive to the trail. That's like me. And as always, while I'm on the trail, I have some really good ideas bubble up in my relaxed, energized, forest bathing brain. Now, I don't carry any technology with me. No iPhone, no ipod, not even a pen these days. So I usually play with the idea in my head as I run or hike and and figure that if it's good enough, I'll remember it when I get back to the car to write it down or trust that it will pop up later in the day if it's truly awesome. Now note if it's a really good idea, I'll really Ingrain it in my head by bouncing it around from various perspectives, then creating a little mnemonic device to remember it. Anyway, I get back to the Prius, which again, I haven't driven in forever. I look for something to ride on. Lots of disposable forks and wipes in the glove compartment, but no pen or paper. I continued digging until I found a little pad of post it notes and a micro pen. Ah, idea is captured. Note to self. Put the thick three by five note cards and the nice backup Waterman pen in the Prius as well. And all that leads us to today's plus one. It's super simple and equally powerful. Got good ideas. Capture them. After reading Michael Gelb's how to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci and learning that Leonardo always had a journal and was constantly capturing his thoughts on paper, I started carrying a journal or something to write on with me. Basically everywhere I went. For Curious Souls, I used a journal we linked to in this plus one for years. Now I use another little thing. I link to a little wallet thing with a pen and paper. And if I used a smartphone, I suppose that would be handy. But you know me, if I can do it analog, I do. So there we go. And by the way, my commitment to that practice was deepened after I interviewed Scott Adams. Scott has created 10,000 of his daily Dilbert comic strips, one of his key practices. He has a notepad and pen within seconds of every spot in his house. His livelihood depends on capturing those ideas and and he knows that if he doesn't do so immediately, the odds of remembering them will vanish. Typing that and sharing that makes me want to start carrying a pen and paper with me on the trail. Although I really, really, really do love the time to air out my brain. So we'll figure that one out another time. Back to you and your ideas. You got good ones? Of course you do. Are you capturing them?
