Writing it down makes it easier to have ideas: Writing enables different kinds of thought. It’s not just captured thought. (MacGregor)

Writing it down makes it easier to keep ideas: Ideas need to be written down. Human brains are good at having ideas, not holding onto them. (Abdaal)

Writing it down makes it easier to act on ideas: Things live in documents. Make that document. (Kalil)

Writing it down, getting it down in some way, is the work of creativity. It’s where you get far enough down the ladder of abstraction to make all the little decisions that are art.

References

Abdaal, Ali. (2020, August 19). Building A Second Brain—Deep Dive with Tiago Forte . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–x10rQ4FvI

Cameron, Julia. The Artist’s Way . Penguin USA, Inc., 2010.

Art is not about the thinking of an idea, coming up with something. Art is the art of getting it down.

Kalil, Thomas. “Policy Entrepreneurship at the White House: Getting Things Done in Large Organizations.” Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization, vol. 11, no. 3–4, July 2017, pp. 4–21. https://doi.org/10.1162/inov_a_00253.

1. Write it down, make it happen.
   • Figure out what documents need to be created for your thing to happen. Is it a memo? A spec? Documentation? A policy?
   • (Always write down your strategy, you’ll forget it)

MacGregor, N. (2010). Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. Retrieved February 14, 2024, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qg5mc