Creative Ideas

We continued this month’s discussion on the Ideation Process during or February Story Coaching session.

Stacy shared some information and questions she had gathered on the creative process and how our brain comes up with the ideas💡that can become our stories and connections.

She shared:

“Ideas come from the brain, the mind. They’re the product of synapses firing and connecting creative dots between thoughts and images and physical responses. The unconscious mind, where great ideas are thought to reside, also houses the bulk of our creative insights.”

Photos are clearly "creative dots." What else for you is a connecting point?

• smells

• patterns/paper

• handwriting

• memorabilia

These were just some that were shared. For those watching the replay we’d love for you to share your “creative dots” on Facebook!

“Good ideas do not, for the most part, come from inside someone's head. Instead, they come from outside, specifically from social interaction. A study conducted in leading research laboratories found that scientists rarely, if ever, had a flash of inspiration or eureka moment alone in the lab.”

Is this true for you? Do you work better in groups or alone?

“Ideas and creativity are the result of your brain associating concepts in your “down time.” The one drawback to this cognitive behavior is that your brain can only forge new ideas from things that exist within your mind already.”

Share what kind of "down time" generates ideas for you! A few of you shared that ideas flow while you are cleaning the house, driving, or even in the shower — opportunities where your mind is free to receive this inspiration. ♥️

Organizing Ideas

Stacy shared her ideation folder categories that she has used for Twelve along with the digital photo markers she uses to organize the pictures and stories she wants to use in her layouts and story telling. She currently does most of her ideation organization directly in Apple Photos.

Carla shared that she uses a folder on her phone and as well as Trello.

Debbie shared that she has used a travelers notebook to gather words and pictures from family members during her family reunions. This has been a great way to collect stories in the moment that also spark memories and stories she would like to tell in the future. Debbie has created physical ideation folders to help her gather elements she hopes to use in her story telling and these are ideal as she prepares to attend events such as classes, crops, and retreats.

Shannon and Tanya have found success using the Notes app on their phones. By creating folders and subfolders you can keep lists of stories, add photos, references to memorabilia and even layout ideas

Heather keeps a Google Doc with a table for themes, titles, photos, memorabilia and journaling ideas. She also keeps and annual Moment Recap and has shared her document here for those interested in adopting a similar approach.

Lynsee shared that she has also started using Trello and has found it very helpful. She has found her own personal way to use the free app/software and shared how it’s helped her as she began using it for Stacy’s Twelve categories that she is working on this year

Janelle is still using the Scrivener software that she shared in Live Your Story back in 2022. She uses the Notes app in her phone to keep things in one place as they come to her on the go. Then she routinely organizes everything in Scrivener. She shared her blog post which details her process and you can also revisit her presentation from the LYS August playdate in 2022.  

Stacy wanted to be sure to add that completely understands that there are so many options and that decision fatigue is REAL — so whatever process you decide to use she hopes that you will simply choose one and stick with it for 6 months (or throughout the rest of Project24 this year).

Don’t get caught up in trying too many different things and becoming overwhelmed. There is not one single way to go about your ideation organization and these ideas shared are to help you in your personal organization process and not to become another daunting task to wrangle.

You can watch a replay of this Story Coaching session HERE!

🧡 Up NEXT!

Project Play Date: TOMORROW Thursday, February 22nd 4PM PT Register HERE

A Note from Stacy

FYI: You or may not know that Nichole has been working behind-the-scenes to update stacyjulian.com and bring its back end up to speed with the latest programing available with Squarespace 7.1—let’s give Nichole 3 cheers 🎉🎉🎉 Hip. Hip. Hooray!

This newer version of Squarespace no longer supports a sidebar, which is where we have been posting upcoming dates. We are now (perhaps even better) adding these dates to the very bottom of each monthly page. Make sure to look for the Mark Your Calendar section next time you log in!