Page 152 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

Taking Notes 143

ate on many different planes, and I can assure you that the sparking-
of-ideas mode is very different from the rational, linear, let’s-prove-it-
out, let’s-think-it-through, let’s-use-logic modes that we use when
we’re executing or just thinking through a problem. Jotting becomes
an aid to creativeness because jotting allows you to observe and write
down the gist of whatever ideas that come into your mind while
remaining in ideation mode. All of which brings us to another aid to
creativity.

TAKING NOTES

Many of the greatest thinkers of all time were great note takers
because they recorded almost anything that came into their minds.
Leonardo da Vinci was a great note taker, and to this day some of his
manuscripts have survived. A number of years ago, I went to the
Museum of Natural History in New York City when the codex of da
Vinci notes owned by Bill Gates was touring the world. I don’t know if
you’ve seen any of da Vinci’s notes, but he wrote his ideas down back-
ward so people wouldn’t steal them. And he could read them in a mir-
ror. Talk about a brilliant thinker.

7

YOU JUST BLEW $1 BILLION

I know a lot of people think, “I don’t need to take notes. If it’s a bril-
liant idea I’ll remember it.” Well, I ask you, “How do you know? How
do you know if you’ve forgotten it?” Did you have a billion-dollar idea
last week that could have changed your life and changed the industry
you work in and maybe earned you or your company a fortune?
Maybe you’ve since forgotten it. How do you know? The good news is
that we don’t know what idiots we are when we don’t write things down
and lose brilliant ideas.
I know people think, “I’ll never forget something really important.”
Oh, really? Tell me where you put your insurance documents at home.
It’s going to take you two hours to find those things, those really
important things you put in just the perfect spot so you’ll never forget
where they are.

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