Whether you’re a writer, product creator, coder, freelancer or techy, this can work wonders for your creativity, and therefore your bottom line.

Create an odds and ends box/folder/book/hard drive/cloud/drawer/journal

When you’re working on a project you’ll come across valuable information that you won’t be able to use on that particular job. And human nature being what it is, if you dont store it somewhere you’ll forget about it.

So create a file on your PC or have a physical journal or box (depending on how you work) to store these snippets in.

Because I guarantee when you hit a lean period and you’re staring out of the window on a wet afternoon, desperate for am idea or something to start from…

…if you have an ideas file you can go there for an hour with a hot cup of coffee (or glass of wine if it’s been a bugger of a day) and you’ll find a spark of inspiration to get things moving again.

I’ve created work that has paid out multiple times from just a couple of lines of an idea I jotted down months before, and I’ve done this time and time again.

If you can’t use something there and then but recognise it as being valuable (or even if you don’t recognise it in the moment) jot it down and return to it when you need it.

Think it’s just a pretty idea?

I worked with a coder who made over £100,000 from a snippet in his ideas folder. Just a simple idea for an app that made things easier for Amazon sellers.

Make that folder.

•