Idea notebooks

A few weeks back, I went to the San Jose Tech Museum to check out a visiting exhibit on Leonardo De Vinci.  One part the exhibit that really hit home was his passion for documenting his ideas and insights in an extensive set of notebooks.

Leonard filled dozens on notebooks, large and small with notes and drawings that record a half-century of projects, and experiments in the areas of art, technology, and science.  Leonardo’s notebooks are rarely neat and organized.  Seldom do they offer a coherent discussion of a single topic over sequential pages.

Less than half of Leonardo’s notebooks has survived.  The ones that did survive offer incredible insight into his areas of interest and ability to document the smallest details of his experiments and ideas.

Keeping a notebook to collect your ideas is key to growing your ability innovate.  Notebooks give you a way to look back and see your progress along with building your own personal idea pipeline.

In my case, my collection of notebooks (+20 years of ideas) is one of my most valuable possessions.

Are you keeping a notebook?