Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 192 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Productivity – Hiking the Ink It Trail

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 192 of our Trek, and yesterday we climbed and conquered Alibi Mountain as we bypassed all of the “If Only” rabbit trails. Today we are going to hike the Ink It Trail where we will learn how to “Ink it when we think it.” If you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. What a great time to be alive! Just to think that through our computers, we can communicate with anyone all over the world nearly instantaneously is amazing. The adoption of the internet worldwide, and especially mobile technology, is growing so rapidly. We must not overlook the opportunities that will allow us to impact others.

One area that I will be pursuing going into 2016 is to establish a community of podcasters that are Christ followers to provide them with a platform for services and support. This will be called The Christian Podcasting Network, and if you are interested in receiving additional information about it when we roll it out, email me at guthrie@venturecg.com. The impact that we can have in the faith community has a tremendous potential worldwide.

One word of caution though, with so much information online we can become easily overloaded with more information than we can effectively process if we are not careful. That is why we must put into place a system to capture those great ideas so that we can implement them when the time is right. We can’t possibly act on all of our ideas, so capturing them is essential.

On today’s Trek, we want to dig up some nuggets of wisdom that I discovered from Laura Stack, who refers to herself as “The Productivity Pro.” Playing off her terminology, our hike today will be along the “Ink It” trail. On our hike for today we will learn one of the best ways of…

Increasing Productivity: If You Think It, Ink It!

John Steinbeck said:

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.

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Laura Stack’s father had a saying he used to repeat often. He always carried around one of those little Mead spiral notebooks, which he liked to call “his brain,” and whenever an idea would strike him he’d write it down and say, “If you think it, ink it!”

Laura’s dad was correct. You can’t depend on your brain to remember everything, especially when you’re in the middle of another task. Nor is it a good idea to drop the task you’re working on and go wandering off after the new idea. Oh, you can do that…But if you make a habit of it, you’ll never finish anything, and you will waste hours in your day. No wonder so many people feel they are ADHD. With sensory overload today, it so easy to get distracted.

So, when you have a random thought that sounds good, get it down on paper (or electronics) ASAP. You can use a little notebook, a handheld device like a smartphone, a compact voice recorder, 3 x 5 index card, or a standardized planner—whatever works for you.

I personally use Evernote which is loaded on my phone, tablet, and all computers because it syncs the exact information everywhere. For about a year before I started the Wisdom-Trek podcast, I started compiling a list of topics for daily episodes. My list contains nearly 300 topics, with more being added as I check off the ones that I have already completed.  This is all handled within Evernote. No matter what I am doing or where I am, I can record an idea or clip an article and put it in Evernote. This allows me to “Ink it when I think it.”  Then my brain is available to continue working on the task at hand, and I don’t have to be concerned if I will remember it later.

Fishing for Ideas

It’s been said that ideas are like slippery little fish that you have to capture with a pencil, or else they’ll get away. And as the saying goes, “The dullest pencil (pixel on an electronic device) is keener than the sharpest mind.” So capture your great idea however you may, and get right back to your original task.

Another great thing about recording your ideas is that when you do so, your brain will think you’ve done something about it and stop bugging you, so you can focus. Even if your idea is of the non-bugging kind, if you write it down, you don’t have to waste any energy trying to remember it later. It’s recorded right there in black and white. By “inking” it, you’ve made it real.

And oddly enough, writing down your ideas often seems to make you have more of them. That may simply be a function of the fact that you’re just not remembering them all when you don’t record them, but it could also be attributed to God’s divine guidance in our lives allowing our creativity to blossom.  Think about how Jesus took the few loaves and fish and when he broke them down, they became much.  Matthew 15:36-37 says, “Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd. They all ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food.”

By the time you review your notes, you may have forgotten the idea altogether, so you may just be pleasantly surprised by what you find. And what do you end up with when you’re done? Why, you have a little list of things to do…Now, why does that sound familiar? Yep, you got it. Your ideas (or at least, the best of them) end up on your to-do list so that you can focus your attention on them properly. And if you come up with another brilliant idea while you’re working on your new tasks, well, if you think it, ink it!

From Fish to Seeds

Now, I’ve compared ideas to slippery fish, which you have to capture, but once you’ve done that, they turn into something else. (And I’m not talking about fish sticks here). These ideas you’re struck with—whether while working on something else, completing your daily commute, or sleeping in the middle of the night—become seeds once you gather them in. They may never germinate, of course, and even if they’re viable, you may never use them. You can’t do everything you imagine because there’s just not enough time!

But if you carry those little idea seeds around with you like Johnny Appleseed, you may very well come across fertile soil in which they can sprout. That’s when you plant them in the ground and stand back so you can see what they’ll become. This reminds me of the principle of planting and harvesting that is found in 2 Corinthians 9:6, “Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.”

Ideas are important for everyone. Even the most daring and ambitious of undertakings, from the Great Wall of China to the International Space Station, started as nothing more than an idea that someone eventually recorded. Once they did that, it went from meditation to action and changed the world.

So in our Trek of the Ink It trail, make it a habit when you think it, then ink all of your ideas. Don’t judge them, just record them. Then later, when you have time, you can keep the good and take action on them and set aside the ones that may not be feasible, at least in this season of life.  Each day think of ways to impact your world. One way is to share Wisdom-Trek with your friends and family and encourage them to join us and come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy as we explore how to collect and then connect the dots.

That will finish our podcast for today. Remember to listen to your daily dose of wisdom each day. Please share Wisdom-Trek with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person so they can come along with us each day.

If you would like to be added to our weekly email update and special publications from Wisdom-Trek, just text the word “Wisdom” to 44222 on your phone, and you will receive a message asking for your email address. It is very quick and easy to do.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.

As we take this Trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!