Comments on: Do You Have an Idea Garden?

By: Patterns of Incomplete | CalebMonroe.com

Patterns of Incomplete | CalebMonroe.com — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:11:14 +0000

[...] we are (à la King), yet also consciously shapable (à la method of loci). The back yard becomes an idea garden, and we can choose exactly how large or small, how elaborate or how public or private it will be. [...]

By: Apakah Anda Memiliki Kebun Ide? | ExploreYourSelf - personal blog by Muhammad Noer

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:03:27 +0000

[...] tidak sengaja saya menemukan sebuah tulisan yang bagus dari blog Productive Flourishing. Tulisan tersebut berjudul Idea [...]

By: Restricted Growth: The Butterfly in a Kevlar Cocoon

Restricted Growth: The Butterfly in a Kevlar Cocoon — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:35:43 +0000

[...] individuals. There are techniques for mind mapping, for creating an Exocortex, and for growing an idea garden. David Allen’s book “Getting Thing Done” talks about a complete system of inboxes, [...]

By: The Different Seasons of Creativity: Finding and Following Your Patterns

The Different Seasons of Creativity: Finding and Following Your Patterns — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:06:04 +0000

[...] capturing those ideas and tending them until they’re ready to come out. – Charlie Gilkey, Do You Have an Idea Garden? on Productive [...]

By: Chelsea

Chelsea — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:48:29 +0000

I use a mind map software to record new ideas and to link them together, It works and can't see how i would work without it now. Great article, thank you:-) X Chelsea .-= Chelsea´s last blog ..Icebreaker: Congratulations =-.

By: Chris Atherton

Chris Atherton — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:05:18 +0000

Another vote here for MarsEdit. I like to keep all the unsprouted stuff in the same text file (loosely grouped by theme) — I worry that if I keep it all separated out, I won't form connections between related ideas. I do also usually have several separate draft articles, ones where I've put down most of the words and nearly gotten to the point but haven't quite written it all into a coherent plot yet (yes, I need to write to think!) .-= Chris Atherton´s last blog ..Let’s diss incentives: why potential rewards are killing your creativity =-.

By: Michelle Russell

Michelle Russell — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:45:59 +0000

Charlie–Love the garden metaphor. Because creative thinking is organic and messy–even though my Inner control Freak *hates* hearing me say that. She’s the part of me who is obsessed with the care and feeding of systems and planners . . . but she thinks that EVERYTHING must conform to them, and I’m getting more and more frustrated with that.

A garden? That’s a nice balance. It’s partly planned out, and partly dependent upon on variables we can’t control.

Especially when you write, “At least once a week, I’ll go through the garden, open up every seedling, and see what needs to be tended.” To me that sounds like the GTD weekly review, as applied to whatever specific area your “garden” encompasses (in your example above, blog post ideas), only much more intuitive. Therefore, at least for me, less rigid and paralyzing.

Now I just need to keep experimenting until I find the “gardening” method that works for me. I’m a low-tech, analog-method person, so it’ll be somewhere between a Franklin Covey Planner and a bunch of Post-It notes strewn all over the place. Realistically? Probably closer to the Post-It notes. )

By: Chad

Chad — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:37:22 +0000

Charlie, you’ve given us a universally applicable method for all of us creative types to get the head-junk out so we can focus, no matter what our endeavors may be. As a serial entrepreneur with ideas coming at all different times and places, I’ve found a simple notebook the best place to coalesce 1-line ideas.

Using your Idea Garden framework, I can now see that if I want to take the ideas further I can move them onto an indexed page further in the notebook where I can then do some brainstorming and mind-mapping. Then this page will serve as the starting point for figuring out what the next action is and hopefully getting the idea from the page to reality. I realize that most ideas won’t come full circle, but now I can be sure that I at least try to get as many out there as possible.

Thanks for making my ideas workflow even better. Keep the fantastic content coming.

By: steve

steve — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 05:22:50 +0000

Hi Charlie

I totally agree that you need to collect your ideas, if fact I’d go a little further and suggest you collect other people’s ideas too !!!
http://thinkinghow.com/collecting-ideas/

I like your Idea Garden metaphor too. That’s exactly how we need to treat them. I wrote a short parable that tells a story about it.
http://thinkinghow.com/a-parable-for-modern-times/

steves last blog post..10 Actions for better design

By: Gedankenstrich & links und rechts! - 01. November 2008: Eines nach dem anderen

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 10:19:45 +0000

[...] nebenher über Produktivität bloggt – hat einen schönen Artikel über Ideen geschrieben: “Do You Have an Idea Garden?“. Der Artikel gab mir sehr gute Anregungen, wie ich am besten Ideen säe, pflege und wachsen [...]