Fleeting ideas and how to combat them

I admit, I’m a victim when it comes to fleeting ideas.

Fleeting ideas (def): A teeny tiny idea that you pick up while you browse social media, as a reflection of someone else’s glow. It can be inspiring to begin a project. An example is watching steve jobs’ presentations, reading about his love for calligraphy, and buying a calligraphy set to start it. The problem is, that “light” doesn’t come with a battery. Soon, the project stalls. You will be a great starter, but a poor finisher. Hence it is important to evaluate a fleeting idea, if it is worth investing time.

More practical examples :

Github: The number of repositories you fork — but never find that motivation to continue.

Resolution to getting healthy looking at celebrities, instagram posts and gym subscriptions.

That Coursera course you started that weekend because you read a blog post on it. Never gotten back to it.

Fleeting ideas are a source of distraction. They are all reflections without a real source of energy — i.e you. You have to work on them if you commit. Your time and energy are what animates them. It is likely you might not like it after dipping toes and trying it out.

Yet, some individuals feel an influx of these ideas and would like to manage them. I have a solution and it has 3 steps and might take few days.

Step 1: Journal

Transfer the idea into a digital notebook — like Evernote. Describe it much as possible. Let it out , appreciate it , imagine, praise it deeply. Don’t worry about sentences, how they will sound to another person. Just write to your heart’s content. Sleep on that idea.

Step 2: Delete

Play with a situation on what happens if you delete that idea from that page. Read what you wrote in the journal and “DELETE” all the text. Don’t save anything. Come back the next day.

Step 3: Rewrite it

Re-write the idea in your own words. Make it yours. If the idea was a reflection not motivated intrinsically, it would have gone away. If it was yours, it will stay. Your rewrite will have your own contribution builtin.

Congratulations!

PS: My fleeting idea is to gamify the above process. Should I do it?

PPS: Step 1 :)