Why Write Down Your Ideas?



Learn Management Articles on management-info.biz. Why Write Down Your Ideas? article will help answer your questions on Management Articles.We at management-info.biz specialize in Management Articles. Management Articles at management-info.biz provides the most up to date news and articles. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Whether you're a manager, professional, or entrepreneur you need to think ahead. When you do it in a formal sense, it's called it planning, when you do it informally it's something like speculating.

Whether you're planning or speculating, the exercise represents just the tip of the iceberg. For the plans or scenarios to amount to something, they have to be implemented. In turn, that usually involves other people.

Which takes us to the subject of communication: How do you convert those ideas in your head into instructions or position papers or even real plans?

I recommend writing, as in the sense of spending at least a few minutes to put the ideas to paper. Several benefits come out of the writing process:

First, you'll force yourself to clarify what you're doing and what you want others to do. As long as an idea remains in our heads, it's not made accountable, so to speak. We don't subject our ideas to rigorous scrutiny when they're just thoughts.

But, when we write out an idea, the strengths and weaknesses show up rather quickly; we force ourselves to look at the idea more critically. When I wrote the publishing plan for Abbott's Communication Letter, for example, the writing process uncovered many key issues.

But, writing it down assumes even greater importance when we need to communicate with others. Since most thoughts for the future are inherently complex or uncertain, a written version of your plan enables you to explain much more.

As you've probably noticed, you can't really deal with much complexity verbally, unless you're making a speech or presentation. In face-to-face communication, for example, a train of thought often gets derailed by questions or interjections by the other person.

A written plan also communicates to others a broader scope than a verbal plan. After all, when you're writing, you can bring in the past, cover the present, and look into the future. Or, you can illustrate your points with more detail than you can in a verbal report.

So, let's subject this article to the writing test, to see if hangs together.

First, the article opened with the idea of looking or thinking ahead, and I assumed -- note, I assumed -- that this thinking implied future action.

Second, you'll see the idea that to take action, or to get others to take action on our behalf, we need to be clear about the 'what' and the 'why' before we start. Of course, not every action needs this kind of launch; perhaps I should have said 'For important projects....'

Third, I suggested the way to get this clarity is to write it out, but in retrospect, perhaps that simply reflects my bias toward writing. Perhaps you manage well simply by thinking, and don't need to write.

Fourth, I next listed a couple of benefits that flow from writing, and looking back I see a that I had bigger projects in mind when I wrote it.

So, all in all, subjecting this article (at least the first part of it) to the writing process did have the desired effect, and I discovered a couple of assumptions that I wasn't conscious of while writing. And, if I was writing a plan, especially a plan for a big project, those would be worthwhile discoveries.

In summary, the act and process of writing down an idea will help you implement the idea, because it will help uncover some of the assumptions and expectations underlying your idea.


Stand-Up Comedy Secrets! - Next Generation System For Quickly Developing Funny Stand-up Comedy Material. Eliminate Writers Block & Get The Big Laughs!
Practical Report Writing. - Write greats reports with this report writing kit.


Article Index: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81


More Articles:


1. Projects and Operations: An Amicable Separation
IntroductionProjects and Operations are quite distinct sets of activities that, when mixed, can cause unnecessary havoc with the management of each. They have different resourcing requirements, require different management styles and have different objectives. Projects are time-constrained and initiate change. Operations are ongoing and suffer change, sometimes unwillingly...This short paper is a brief overview of the definitions, descriptions and characteristics of each set of activities. And c…

2. Identifying Candidates for Leadership By Michael Beitler
A critical task in the succession planning process of any organization is identifying candidates. Traditionally, candidates have been identified based on past performance. While this seems logical, it is problematic in practice.Past performance always measures success in a lower-level position. What is needed in succession planning is a system to identify potential for success in a future higher-level position. The best predictive model I have found is the Leadership Pipeline Model by Charan, …

3. Create a Positive, Upbeat, "Can-Do" Workforce and Dazzle the Customer with Your Caring!
Given the choice of dealing with a positive, upbeat employee with a 'can-do' attitude or dealing with a disgruntled, distracted, uninterested one, which would you choose? No contest. Customers always want the best experience possible; they want it to be easy and pleasant to do business with your company. Enter the real challenge of 'Relationship Management,' the relationships. Until all of our business is done electronically, and much of it might be, managers, in addition to making sure the work…

4. The Value of Values By Eric Garner
One of the toughest jobs a leader has to perform is to act as guardian of an organisation’s values.An organisation’s values are the things that are really important to it.In the early days of an enterprise, the values are sometimes the only thing that keeps the business going. When other factors make the chances of survival doubtful, such as funds, markets, and technology, it is the set of beliefs held by the original founders which pull the business through. The beliefs of the organization ar…