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1 • Make Notes

Note-making can be a big help in idea producing if the right kinds of notes are made and the right uses are made of them. The use of notebooks, "Think Books," or "Idea Traps," as they are sometimes called, is almost universal. Nearly every businessman carries at least one pocket notebook or some sub­stitute such as 3x5 index cards, pads of scratch paper, etc. Unfortunately, carrying it is often as far as he gets. Or, if used at all, it is merely a recording device for statistics like names, addresses, or what to remember to tell the serviceman about the car the next time it goes in.

But the habit of making notes is a good one, and it can work for you in several ways. One of the most obvious is that it can keep you from forgetting something. But more actively, it can help you out on your actual thinking.

For example, often a "first-impression" idea seems to block any further thinking on a problem. But by giving it the token embodiment of a written note, you may be able to help your mind move on past the obstacle and into the search for new possibilities.

Another way that writing things down can help you is by encouraging your powers of association. This is the mental function first pointed out by Aristotle over 2,300 years ago. He laid down the three laws still considered basic today: Similarity, Contiguity, and Contrast.

Similarity is when your mind asks, "What is this like?''''—or when it jumps right to the answer, "This is like the time Brown Brothers had that overstock on shovels ..."

Contiguity is when your mind asks, "What is this related to?" —or suggests the answer, "Well, this operation is much closer to a design than a production function, therefore the responsibility should probably be assigned to engineering."

Contrast is the opposite of similarity in that your mind will ask, "Now how is this different?"—or answer, "Brown certainly acts a lot like Smith, but he doesn't have the sense of responsibility and the broad knowledge of the business."

It's obvious that once you can start your mind asking such basic questions, you can then move ahead on your problem merely by thinking through answers. The way to "trigger" such as­sociations as you take off on a problem is to sit down with a pencil and paper and begin to put your thoughts down just as they come to you. Try to list the thoughts separately—on separate lines or separate sheets of paper. Then, when your ideas have finally stopped, start reading back over what you have done. Ask the three associative questions about each of your notes— What is it like?—What is it related to?—How is it different? Continue writing down your answers or ideas. Chances are that, if you can get five or six ideas on paper in this manner, just by reading them over you will get numbers seven and eight. One thought will spark another. One idea will lead to another. The important step is to get your mind rolling in the direction you want it to go. Making notes—writing things down—is a good "primer" for the mental pump.

In the more permanent class of notes, the most useful type is certainly the note that will capture a stray idea. You have probably had the experience of "going to sleep on a problem" and waking in the middle of the night with a good idea. It was so obviously good that you knew you would remember it in the morning. But came the dawn—and disappointment. The problem was still there, but the idea was gone! "Idea men" who really mean it keep pencils and pads all over the house and capture those stray ideas immediately before they can get away.

In your permanent notes you can record your observations of circumstances: plant operations, personnel conflicts, office procedures, production problems. Later, when you find your­self with even a few minutes' time, you can use such at-the-moment notes as a base for giving the circumstance some thinking time.

Learn to record your conclusions or opinions on problems you have been thinking about. Frequently a person spends hours, or even days, working on a problem. After reaching some good conclusion (an idea or a decision) and taking action, he firmly puts the problem out of his mind to work on the next one. Later, the first problem may recur in the same or a different form. The man may recall that he thought that problem through once; but without a record of why he did what he did, chances are he will have to do all that thinking again (when there are other problems he hasn't gotten around to yet) or else take the risk that all conditions are still the same and the same action is still appropriate. Or, if the action was not successful the first time, he will find himself without a base to use in analyzing the cause of failure.

The statistical note does, of course, have a place. You should certainly form the habit of noting anything down that may have possibilities for future use to you, however remote those possibilities seem at the moment. Psychological (Gestalt) tests have established that on information of "average" interest (i.e., neither slight nor vital) the rate of forgetting is 25 per cent within the first twenty-four hours and 85 per cent within a week. In the face of this, pure memory-substitute notes do make sense. In this class of notes, you should also include clippings from news­papers and magazines, letters, book references, etc.

Along with your note-making system, however, you will also have to develop a note-wing system to which you transfer your spur-of-the-moment notations at the earliest opportunity. This can be as simple or as elaborate as the problems you are making notes on. Actual systems used by successful and creative ex­ecutives range from a simple cigar box (which never fills up because the owner constantly pulls out and uses his ideas) to an elaborately indexed and cross-indexed library of loose-leaf note­books, a system used by a leading physicist. (He does the riling and indexing himself—claims he gets the same pleasure and relaxa­tion out of it that other men get out of arranging stamp cata­logues! )

One highly creative plant manager is the bane of his secretary because his personal "file" consists of a shelf behind his desk on which is heaped several years' accumulation of records, notes, papers, clippings, and pertinent letters. "Best filing system there is," he states; "nothing ever gets lost!"

Whatever system you devise, remember that the objective is to enable you to quickly gather everything you have seen, read, heard, or experienced on a problem or problem area when you need it. Then, when you have the problem, be sure to use the notes! Frequently, the hardest part of solving a problem is just getting started on it. Your notes can provide a "take off" or starting point to get you off dead-center in your search for ideas.

Related terms include ascential datastage and business benchmarking.