Too many ideas? How to catch them and choose the good ones
- Catch every idea quickly, in one place, ideally by saying it.
- Give each idea thirty seconds more: who it's for, what problem, why now.
- Test before you commit, notice the ideas that keep coming back, and park the rest.
Having too many ideas is a good problem, and the fix is a system rather than fewer ideas: catch each one quickly in one place, say a little more than the idea itself, and give it a short test before you put any real time into it.
If you're the sort of person who has ideas in the shower, on walks and halfway through other people's sentences, you probably also have them spread across a notes app, a few voice memos, the back of a receipt and a document called "ideas FINAL". The number of ideas isn't the issue. The spread is. When they live in five places, none of them ever gets compared with the others.
Catch them fast, in one place
Ideas arrive at inconvenient moments, so catching them has to be quicker than they fade. For most people that means saying it rather than typing it. The tool matters less than having only one. One pile you trust beats five you don't.
Say a little more than the idea
"App for dog walkers" feels exciting at the time and means nothing a week later. Give it thirty seconds more: who it's for, what problem it solves for them, and why it might work now. That half-minute is what lets you judge the idea once the excitement has worn off.
A quick test
Before you put real time into an idea, ask it a few blunt questions. Who exactly is it for, and would they care? What's the smallest version you could try this month? Does it connect to anything you're already doing? Do you still like it a week later? That last one does a lot of the work on its own.
It's also worth noticing which ideas keep coming back. If you've had roughly the same idea three times in a month, that's telling you something.
Pick one or two
Develop one or two and park the rest. Parked isn't dead. Plenty of good projects start when an old idea runs into a new one.
Parked isn't dead. Plenty of good projects start when an old idea runs into a new one.
Catch, test and choose ideas with TalkGraph
TalkGraph is one place for every idea, and capturing one is as quick as saying it: open it in your phone's browser and talk. Say the thirty seconds more (who it's for, what problem, why now) and it lands as connected cards rather than a voice memo you'll never replay.
Ideas you mention in different sessions connect in your Brain and strengthen each time they come up, so the recurring ones stand out on their own. Ask your Brain what you've said about an idea and the answer points to where you said it. When one is worth pursuing, an agent can turn your map into a pitch outline or a business plan, written only from what you said.
TalkGraph maps what you say as you speak and asks you the next question. Free to try, no sign-up.
Klevis is the founder of TalkGraph, which he built and shipped solo. He has a First Class MSc in Computing and Information Systems, and writes about thinking, learning and tools that help people think rather than think for them.
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