Been there done that. There are two good possibilities to resolve it (in order of preference – and I get nothing for either):

First, one I’ve been using for about 20 years now, is called InfoSelect from MicroLogic . This is sometimes billed as a free-form note program, but I use it for everything – notes, contacts, articles, calendar, invoices, bills to be paid – everything. It’s based on your PC or PDA, allows you to go free-form or use templates (yours or theirs) and is just incredibly versatile.

The other is Idea Bucket, which is available free from just about every giveaway site on the Web (or, if you don’t have it, just e-mail me and I’ll send you a copy). You have to install it on your website and it’s really nothing more than notes with the date you made them. Still, you won’t lose the idea.

Cheers,
J.R.

I like the idea of a mini recorder, especially for times when a notepad or computer is not close at hand. The idea about making a post on your WordPress, as ‘private’ is also a good one (if you have a blog!).

Another idea is that if you are at your computer when the idea hits, why not just send an email to yourself. Then later when you check the emails you can decide if it really is a ‘wow’ idea worth saving in your Idea File, or if it should just be deleted!

Elaine

Another advantage of writing your ideas down is the ability to group them with similar concepts. One idea might be great by itself but when combined with two or more you’ve had while working on your current projects you might end up with one awesome product line or a course that builds upon itself.

You can also sit and review your ideas at a later date to see if they still feel really great or if they are going to be trashed.

Written ideas are the first step in creating an outline of the whole concept so why would anyone want to overlook something that’s so quick, easy and potentially the first step towards another income stream?

Daryl McCoy

it’s too true, you have to write your ideas down, because they are gone in a heartbeat, but for me personally, it does something else, it gets the ideas out of my head, so I can focus on what I am actually doing.

All too often, I end up getting a lot of new ideas, or one really strong one hits me, in all it’s many different ways it could work out, running the whole gameplan in my head right away, that I totally forget what I was working on and often enough, the original project which may have been close to complete, is dropped for the new idea.
Jim Edwards calls it Entrepreneurial ADD and when I first heard that, I had to admit to having it.
So, to help me stay focused, I write all my ideas down, just a quick outline and then put my notebook away for later on.

Xavier

The notebook is a great idea. A mini-recorder might even be better. I have found myself in your situation more than once, but no more.