Years ago, the poet Paul Valéry asked Albert Einstein if he carried around a notebook with him to jot down his ideas. Bewildered by the question, he responded with a rather unexpected answer…

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Oh, that’s not necessary. It’s so seldom I have one.

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I can’t pretend to know the precise meaning behind Einstein’s words. But, if I were to infer, I would say the world-renowned physicist was suggesting that the ideas worth pursuing aren’t ones you have to write down.

What do you do with an idea? by Kobi Yamada is the greatest field guide I’ve ever read on the topic of ideation. In it, the children’s book author writes of a child who is suddenly struck with an idea…

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At first, I didn’t think much of it. It seemed kind of strange and fragile. I didn’t know what to do with it. So I just walked away from it. I acted like it didn’t belong to me. But it followed me. I worried what others would think. What would people say about my idea? I kept it to myself. I hid it away and didn’t talk about it. I tried to act like everything was the same as it was before my idea showed up. But there was something magical about my idea. I had to admit, I felt better and happier when it was around.

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If you’re creative, you will be overwhelmed with ideas. And, naturally, you will feel the urge to write these ideas down, terrified that you might forget them.

While some would advise you to write your ideas down, I would advise against it. I think the only way to truly know for certain that you have an idea worth pursuing, is if the idea is also pursuing you.

When I find myself with an idea for a poem or a song or a short-story or an essay, I will ignore it at first. I will try my damndest to put it out of my mind entirely. The vast majority of my ideas will fade into the oblivion of my mind like a stone tossed into the ocean.

However, a select few will float. I try to look closer at the ideas that float, the ideas that refuse to sink, the ideas that burst from the waters of my subconscious with sprouted wings and demand me to pay them attention.

What do you do with an idea? You do nothing. You do absolutely nothing, until it’s impossible to do nothing.

By Cole Schafer.

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