{"id":548075,"date":"2023-02-05T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-05T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/you-need-an-idea-bucket\/"},"modified":"2023-02-05T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-05T13:00:00","slug":"you-need-an-idea-bucket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/you-need-an-idea-bucket\/","title":{"rendered":"#You Need an \u201cIdea Bucket\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_88 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6ace693499d60\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6ace693499d60\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/you-need-an-idea-bucket\/#%E2%80%9CYou_Need_an_%E2%80%9CIdea_Bucket%E2%80%9D%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;You Need an \u201cIdea Bucket\u201d&#8221;<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/you-need-an-idea-bucket\/#Ubiquitous_Capture_Is_a_Superpower\" >Ubiquitous Capture Is a Superpower<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/you-need-an-idea-bucket\/#What_Does_an_%E2%80%9CIdea_Bucket%E2%80%9D_Look_Like_In_Practice\" >What Does an \u201cIdea Bucket\u201d Look Like In Practice?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/you-need-an-idea-bucket\/#Dont_Forget_to_Empty_Your_Bucket\" >Don\u2019t Forget to Empty Your Bucket<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CYou_Need_an_%E2%80%9CIdea_Bucket%E2%80%9D%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;You Need an \u201cIdea Bucket\u201d&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width: 1920px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"type:primaryImage size-full wp-image-867583\" data-pagespeed-no-defer=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/52561610379_7c40cd099e_o.jpg?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Laptop and notebook on the Harber London Leather Desk Mat\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"type:primaryImage imagecredit\">Hannah Stryker \/ How-To Geek<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The 2000s ushered in a period of intense interest in productivity methods and strategies. Not all of them stood the test of time, but one certainly did\u2014and if you\u2019re not using it, you\u2019re missing out.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Ubiquitous_Capture_Is_a_Superpower\"><\/span>Ubiquitous Capture Is a Superpower<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Way back in 2001, David Allen published a personal productivity book called <em>Getting Things Done<\/em>. To say it had an enormous influence on the burgeoning \u201clife hacker\u201d movement would be an understatement. You can check out the book if you\u2019d like, but there are plenty of good summaries online these days (like <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theprocesshacker.com\/blog\/getting-things-done-book-summary\/\">this summary from The Process Hacker<\/a> or <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/todoist.com\/productivity-methods\/getting-things-done\">this run-down from the folks at Todoist<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>It might not get as much press time these days, but back then and well into the 2010s, it was A Very Big Deal in productivity circles, and it influenced a whole generation of life hackers and optimizers.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Getting Things Done<\/em> system is all about time management, optimizing what you do when, and ensuring that the small day-to-day actions you take are moving forward bigger life projects that align with your goals and ambitions. The system has been criticized for being overly biased towards information workers and people with white-collar jobs and, in fairness, that\u2019s a legitimate criticism. Not everyone finds the system meshes well with their job, their lifestyle, or their way of thinking.<\/p>\n<p>But there is one element of <em>Getting Things Done<\/em> that I think literally every single person should adopt as part of their daily lives. The \u201cUbiquitous Capture Tool.\u201d In the GTD system, it has a very fancy name, but what it ultimately functions as is an \u201cidea bucket.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And what is an Ubiquitous Capture Tool or idea bucket? It\u2019s simply a tool, be it a dedicated productivity <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a> on your phone like <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/todoist.com\/\">Todoist<\/a> or a small notebook you keep with you at all times, that you use to capture every idea or new input that comes your way.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re effectively turning the tool into a digital or physical version of your short-term memory. I call ubiquitous capture a superpower because committing the contents of your short-term memory to a long-term storage system means you never forget anything, and you can make the most of all the great ideas and information that comes your way.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_Does_an_%E2%80%9CIdea_Bucket%E2%80%9D_Look_Like_In_Practice\"><\/span>What Does an \u201cIdea Bucket\u201d Look Like In Practice?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>On any given day, you likely think, hear, or read many things that would be useful to remember. Every day, however, we all experience these things and inevitably forget almost all of them.`<\/p>\n<p>You hear a friend talking about something you realize would make a great gift for their upcoming birthday, but you forget it. You\u2019re away from your computer, and you remember an important change you need to make to your retirement account\u2014but you forget, and another quarter goes by without you making any adjustments.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re reading an article that mentions an interesting book, but a few days later, you can\u2019t remember what the book was. Your boss mentions a distant but important deadline, and you think to yourself, \u201cit would look really good if I got a head start on that project,\u201d but you forget, and the project comes and goes without you standing out.<\/p>\n<p>The inevitable \u201cand then you forget\u201d problem could be solved in all of those examples using any ubiquitous capture tool. By simply making a quick note when the thought is fresh in your mind, like \u201c<em>The Body Keeps Score<\/em> by Bessel van der Kolk,\u201d \u201corder replacement filters for furnace,\u201d or \u201cbuy watt meter to test TV,\u201d you capture those thoughts.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been using Todoist as a ubiquitous capture tool (as well as a to-do list and personal project management tool) for years, so that\u2019s the tool I lean on. From articles to ideas to reminders, everything I come across that I want to save for later ends up in my Todoist account\u2019s \u201cInbox.\u201d Your inbox might be a physical notebook, the basic Notes app on your phone, a stack of index cards, or any other capture tool.<\/p>\n<p>The important part is that by capturing all those ideas, you ensure that they don\u2019t float away into the ether, never to be thought of again. And you avoid a situation where if you do think of them again, it\u2019s after they are useful. It\u2019s not very helpful to remember to call a plumber to deal with a slow drain after the drain has finally flooded your basement, after all.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Dont_Forget_to_Empty_Your_Bucket\"><\/span>Don\u2019t Forget to Empty Your Bucket<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s a crucial second half to the process of ubiquitous capture. Emptying the bucket. If you don\u2019t take the time to process everything you captured, then it\u2019s no better than meticulously putting everything on a calendar, only never to check the calendar to see what\u2019s on it.<\/p>\n<p>Depending on how prolific you are in putting things in your ubiquitous capture tool (and how fast deadlines in your life approach) you might process your capture inbox once a day, a few times a week, or once a week.<\/p>\n<p>But to make the capturing process worthwhile, you need to process every captured inbox item into something else. If it\u2019s an article to read later, it needs to go on a read-later list. If it\u2019s the start of a project, like updating your home office, you need to create a separate list or project entry to think of everything a home office update requires and what order you\u2019ll do it in.<\/p>\n<p>If it\u2019s a one-off task like ordering a replacement part or sending a quick message to somebody, then just do it and cross it off your list (or transfer that one-off task to a list of one-off tasks you can rip through when you have free time).<\/p>\n<p>However you choose to manage what happens to all the ideas and inputs you\u2019ve captured with your idea bucket, the best part is that they are there to process in the first place\u2014and lost, leaving you without the good idea or the reminder to do something important.<\/p>\n<p>And if you need a little nudge to try it, here\u2019s my supreme seal of approval. Over twenty years of life hacking, productivity book reading, and otherwise being a human guinea pig for every optimization under the sun, the only thing I\u2019ve consistently used across all methods and eras of my life has been ubiquitous capture. It\u2019s the life hack on which all other improvements are built.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n setTimeout(function(){\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) } (window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n   fbq('init', '335401813750447');\n   fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  },3000);\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/865495\/you-need-an-idea-bucket\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;You Need an \u201cIdea Bucket\u201d&#8221; Hannah Stryker \/ How-To Geek The 2000s ushered in a period of intense interest in productivity methods and strategies. Not all of them stood the test of time, but one certainly did\u2014and if you\u2019re not using it, you\u2019re missing out. Ubiquitous Capture Is a Superpower Way back in 2001, David&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":548076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/52561610379_7c40cd099e_o.jpg?height=200p&trim=2,2,2,2","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-548075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}