The idea of using Evernote as an idea repository is a worthy one. It’s like an idea notebook on steroids. But this mental picture of Evernote has always felt incomplete to me.
Imagine a 240 mph Ferrari – without any fuel in it. Capable of incredible speed and handling, but sitting still, because a crucial part is missing.
What’s missing from Evernote? A simple, well-organized framework to consistently bring your best ideas to reality.
Is this a criticism of Evernote? Far from it. In fact, its agnostic approach to capturing ideas and insights, in whatever form you want, is absolutely brilliant. But unless you’re incredibly organized or ambitious, most of your ideas will never again see the light of day once they’re captured within this powerful tool.
As a colleague of mine loves to point out, “An idea that’s not implemented is merely a hallucination.”
Imagining what’s possible with Evernote
As an entrepreneur who has written about and studied creativity and innovation for over 20 years, this obsession with using Evernote only to capture ideas always bothered me. So in an attempt to visualize some bigger possibilities for it, I started to ask, “What if?”
- WHAT IF there was some way within Evernote to ask smarter questions, to identify the right problems to solve, and not just pick away at symptoms?
- WHAT IF Evernote could give you instant access to proven brainstorming techniques – any time, anywhere – to empower you to think divergently and develop amazingly valuable solutions?
- WHAT IF you could use Evernote to identify your best ideas, so you could focus on developing them into truly valuable creations?
What creative process should Evernote support?
I realized I couldn’t just come up with my own proprietary process. It would be most meaningful if I could leverage one that is widely accepted and used worldwide. So I looked at this simple formula to see if it could be incorporated into Evernote:
- Investigate: Do research and thinking to develop an accurate problem definition.
- Ideate: This is the fun part of creativity that everyone focuses on – developing new ideas.
- Incubate and improve: Walk away from your ideas for a few hours or a few days. When you return, you’ll be in a different frame of mine, and will be able to improve upon your ideas, make intuitive leaps from those you’ve captured, and combine ideas to make ones that are even more valuable.
- Evaluate: You need a consistent way to rate or measure your ideas, so you know which ones have the greatest potential value – the ones you should implement first.
- Activate: Once you’ve selected your best ideas, you need to take action on them.
To paraphrase celebrity chef Emeril LeGasse, having a process to capture, manage, evaluate and take action on your ideas enables you to take Evernote “to levels previously unknown!”
As I pondered this process and then played around with Evernote, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the two fit together. So I decided to create a book to share what I learned: Eureka! How to Use Evernote to Generate, Accelerate, Evaluate & Activate Your Best Ideas.
Who is Eureka for?
- If you’ve ever gotten frustrated that you’ve captured your ideas in Evernote but don’t really have a system to profit from them, read on!
- If you’re convinced that you need to be more creative but you need a simple system to create and manage your ideas, read on!
- If you’re a current user of Evernote who believes that you should be getting more value out of this powerful personal information tool, read on!
- If accelerating your career and differentiating yourself from your peers is critically important to you, read on!
What you’ll learn
Here’s a peek at the comprehensive insights that are contained in this new creative resource:
- Why Evernote is the IDEAL tool for enabling the entire creative PROCESS – p. 6
- Why is your smart phone the perfect creative companion? – p. 9
- Why it’s crucial that you accurately define your challenge – BEFORE you brainstorm – p. 12
- Adapt existing ideas in 7 highly creative directions using this proven ideation technique – p. 15
- What is morphological analysis – and how you can use it to kick-start your muse with amazing possibilities – p. 7
- How a creative technique designed by the CIA can help you solve your creative challenges – p. 21
- How to structure Evernote so your ideas are easily retrievable – p. 25
- The visual application that can transform your Evernote ideas into an inspiring “vision board” – p. 28
- How to use Evernote as a powerful “swipe file” (and how to leverage others’ ideas – legally) – p. 30
- The important step most people skip after brainstorming new ideas (and why you MUST do this) – p. 34
- How to assure you actually GET value out of the ideas you’ve generated and captured – p. 37
- How to leverage Evernote to take ACTION on your best ideas – p. 43
- How to integrate Evernote with a wildly popular physical tool for capturing ideas – p. 46
- How to capture ideas in Evernote – even faster – with these streamlined apps – p. 49
- A remarkably simple app you can customize to make your own creative “daily pages” – p. 54
- How to generate and capture ideas on your Apple Watch (this is SERIOUSLY COOL!) – p. 60
- 10 creative thinking TEMPLATES you can use with Evernote to supercharge your ideation – p. 66
10 templates help you be more creative – immediately
Eureka! contains 10 brainstorming, idea capture and evaluation templates that will help you get started FAST with what you’ve learned. They will also help you stay organized and maximize the value of your ideas going forward. Each template includes instructions on how to use it, so you can start brainstorming with Evernote right away!
Here’s a preview of one of the ten templates, the Phoenix Checklist for accurate problem definition:
Picture this: You, creative genius
Imagine that you’re consistently using the simple process and templates of Eureka! to evaluate your ideas, select the best ones and then execute them.
Your momentum is accelerating.
Your career is looking up.
You feel amazing.
You’re facing multiple opportunities, because some people with authority saw your ideas, what you’ve done with them – and they want you to do the same for them.
Your boss and clients are looking at you differently – admiring your creative instincts and your fresh insights into their challenges and opportunities.
And your peers are wondering, “Where did YOU come from?”
All this – and more – is possible if you simply adopt the 5-step Eureka! idea development process.
- You’ll have a repeatable process for bringing more of your ideas to life – imagine what that could be worth to you!
- You’ll be armed with a set of templates and tools that enable you to be creative – on demand
- You’ll have a powerful way to differentiate yourself from your peers and impress your boss or clients
- You’ll have the ability to see possibilities and opportunities that are invisible to your peers – making you the savviest person in the room
- You’ll be poised to take on bigger goals and challenges than you ever dreamed possible!