My Genius Ideas Notebook

Last year I started a notebook specifically to collect ideas that I feel are particularly innovative or interesting. I keep it on my desk – one of the few things.

While I believe that ideas are usually worthless without taking the action to implement them, or at least further investigate their feasibility. Collecting ideas into one place has some value. It becomes a source of inspiration to draw from when feeling bored.

Good ideas take time to form and a notebook is a good place to mix words and sketches and build the idea over time until they become more fully developed. I tried iPad notebooks, which with the pencil has good support for sketching, but digital things tend to get lost below the fold in a way that physical books on a desk do not.

What are some of my ‘genius ideas’? I’ve got a space launch system that doesn’t need rockets which I’m trying to solve for a lower scale system that would still have a viable market. I collected ideas for a unique proof of work algorithm, and AI system for learning languages, an inline electric bike pedal assist motor, the vision for a Canadian moon mission, inflatable furniture, and more.

When inspiration strikes I try to write it down. Sometimes those ideas are fleeting and it’s good to catch them before they are forgotten.