I’ve been wanting to write more. Not just blog more often but write essays, how-tos, and just write out ideas that have come to mind. Problem is, as soon as an idea comes, it goes. Writing has become a major personal project and one that I’ve been procrastinating about for awhile.

I’ve been motivated by Jason Kottke’s How I Blog article. Its a commentary on Seth Godin’s What Makes An Idea Viral? where it’s explained how simple ideas can move so fast and complex ones take some time to digest and move from person to person. There’s a price to be paid for putting an idea into writing. One must (1) understand the idea, (2) must want it to spread, and (3) believe that spreading the idea is worth the time to write about it. (Actually, Seth has four points - I’ve condensed the last two into one because “enhancing one’s power or one’s peace of mind” is the benefit for taking the time to spread the idea.) Simple ideas are easy to write down and share. Hence, they proliferate on the web. Complex ideas take time to understand and their benefits don’t always outweigh what it takes to explain them.

One way that I’ve found to organize my ideas is through mind maps. I’ve been working through The Mind Map Book and getting acquainted with FreeMind. According to Wikipedia, “A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. It is used to generate, visualize, structure and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, and decision making.” They’ve been tremendous at allowing me to follow an idea to a conclusion or alternative idea that wouldn’t have normally come to me and they’ve made it possible to retain a thought that was originally arrived at via some process that’s hard to record with just plain notes.

Another productivity rule that I’ve learned over the years is to decide - first thing in the morning - what is your most important action item of the day. If it can be done (you’re not waiting for anything else in order to do it), then DO IT. Don’t check email, don’t clear your desk (it should be cleared from the day before), don’t call your boss. Do that most-important-action-item right at the beginning. The rest of the day will flow much better.

So, I’ve decided that, for the rest of the week, my most important action item every day is to publish a written entry to the blog. I’ve got my ideas organized now. Instead of trying to figure out why I can’t put thought to written word, I’m going to just do it. Everyday. No matter what the cost. No matter how inconsequential the idea.