In fact, as a web developer it’s somewhat daunting. You can have a thought like “what if I made a tool to keep track of when my next oil change comes due?” and a few seconds later realize that dozens of apps have beat you to the punch.

Sure, you could maybe improve the interface, make it prettier, promote it better, integrate it with Twitter, etc. But it seems like there’s nothing left in big chunks that isn’t a minute improvement on a small facet of something else.

Let’s skip to another subject for a second.

In 1997 NASA, in conjunction with the European and Italian Space Agencies, launched the Cassini-Huygens space probe. It had a far-reaching set of goals, most of which seemed more optimistic than legitimate. It’s track was outward from Earth- taking a layman’s tour of our solar system as it became accessible by coincidentally calculated orbit.

After near-space tours of Earth’s moon, Venus, and Jupiter, Cassini was en-route to one of Saturn’s moons named Enceladus. By this time it was 2005, and Cassini had already discovered three new moons of Saturn, tested General Relativity and made countless other minor discoveries leading to better understandings of our close corner of the universe.

As Cassini neared Enceladus for it’s second trip, nearby a faint glow was picked up around the moon. Just 310 miles in diameter, this moon is barely a chunk of rock in cosmic terms, but Enceladus clearly had an atmosphere. What’s more, it’s irregular halo clearly showed something more exciting. Something called cryovolcanism, which is essentially ice-spewing volcanoes. Amazing.

By analyzing the light given off by the halo around the moon, its effect on nearby Saturn’s rings, and it’s pockmarked surface, scientists were able to say with near certainty that the tiny moon had a salty sea beneath all that ice and rock.

It’s a seemingly minor finding, but in terrestrial terms, literally every time we find liquid water on the Earth there is some sort of living eco-system thriving within. Always.

So here we have a hopeful expedition, a collaboration of many minds, and many goals. Countless thousands of things could go wrong; many did. Despite the odds, the cost, and the time elapsed, real discovery happened that moved humanity forward.

I don’t believe you can calculate its worth in dollars. At least not today. But I don’t believe anyone rational would discount the worth of the eye-widening endeavor.

Sometimes we don’t know where a journey is going to lead. Often times (every time?) we need to set aside our ego, and turn our focus toward curiosity and wonder. What if? It may seem grandiose to compare an oil change web app to astrophysics and rocket science.

I suspect the analogy is more accurate than we realize. Somewhere in NASA, someone is designing a piece of a latch that goes on an instrument that goes on a satellite that fits in a rocket that hundreds of people have slaved over for years. Some day that latch needs to do its job, making sure that snap happens at the right time so the little lens can see that brilliant corona that lets us understand the tiny moon floating in the dusty ring around the huge planet that just might contain a few living microbes that are the very first discovered outside of our home planet Earth.

I think the problem with discovery is that it’s nearly purposeless in its beginning. But I don’t think you can discount it because of that. That tiny web app may never make you rich, it may never improve more than a few people’s lives, but it was your job to follow your curiosity and make it happen. There are many greater things than monetary reward in this short life, on this tiny planet. We all owe it to ourselves, and each other to put aside our egos, and do our small part to make the big picture move forward.

If you want more on science and inspiration, follow this article up with this video.

My husband snorts at me every time we’re in the car and I turn my purse inside out looking for my notebook. I’m usually in a panic to jot down the idea I just had- but that’s me; if I don’t get it down in a hurry, who knows if I’ll remember it later. (I quite possibly have memory issues…)

My ideas aren’t always directly tied to work- in fact, most of the time, they’re not. (I’m one of those who has to really step away from the monitor a few hours a day.) But if I try, I can steer them in that direction eventually. Last night, for example, I thought of a way to load our bikes in my truck for our upcoming trip to Colorado. It was perfect: didn’t require a rack, and still left room for all our luggage. But the thought came to me so quickly (mid-stride of my run, actually) and I was afraid it would leave just as fast. Like that damn roadrunner. One second he’s there, and the next second all you have is a trail of dust. Beep Beep. So I hopped off the treadmill and zoomed right on over to (you guessed it) my purse, which held my notebook. Took less than a minute. Back to my run, which was blissfully thoughtless.

So then later, as I was going through my notes, I came across my bike idea. I secretly marveled at how efficient it was. The way I was going to pack my truck left the most important items near either the front or the back- easily accessible, within arms reach. The voices (or words, rather, since the conversation happened online) of my co-workers rang in my head. We have a new feature to add to Jumpchart soon, but fitting it on the interface wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be. We didn’t want to just stuff this new feature anywhere. It was like packing my truck- it had to be accessible. Someone had mentioned a dropdown menu for this new thing, and as I realized I had found the most efficient way of packing, so had we found the most efficient way of adding this new feature.

While my “idea” wasn’t exactly a work revelation, or earth shattering by any means, it landed my opinion firmly on the dropdown as a solid option. Now I had something to add to the conversation.

When you think about it in terms of “when ideas hit,” nine to five is just a formality. We’re working all the time- whether we know it or not. Even as we’re going about living our personal lives, we’re scooping up experience, having conversations, meeting people, packing for trips, and learning new things that just might be relevant to something at work. The key is finding a cool way to put it all together.

Here’s the gist: You set aside a time slot- could be hours, could be days- and you do nothing but write. You write about ideas you’ve had, you write about ideas other people have had, you write about anything your heart desires. Like Jonathan Fields says, nobody will see your pages unless you choose to share them, so don’t hold back. This is a great time to celebrate your lack of plan, too.

Sitting down for an entire month might be a little extreme, but the idea is something we long for in this industry- being able to put yourself in a place with absolutely zero distraction, where inhibitions must be checked at the door, and judgements aren’t allowed. Just you and your ideas. Implementing them is step #2, and no less demanding of your time and energy- but respect the order of numbers and dig yourself out of the hole first.

You can pick your poison for taking notes on what goes on in your noggin, but if you’re normal, picking up a pen probably isn’t your best bet. You type faster than you write. Penning flat out takes too long. Plus, there’s a chance you won’t be able to decipher your own handwriting later…

Consider an online tool. I couldn’t help but think how each of these can be integrated with Paprika- especially now that you can attach files to your projects.

A peek into my workflow: My latest freewrite is about two and a half pages. It pertains to a todo I have in Paprika, but the todo is part of a larger project, and the freewrite is in Text Edit. So I saved the doc and attached it to the Paprika todo.

Ideas are only ideas until they’re organized and thought out- getting them down is the first step.

These are things that bug the ever-living crap out of me. Up until about a year ago, I just let them bug me- and shook them off. I thought that by not letting them get to me, I was being the better (bigger) person.

Then I came across a phrase that I’d seen a million times, but for whatever reason struck me differently this time.

If you don’t like it, change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.”

So really, here is this pile of problems that I’m pretty sure bug other people beside myself. It’s a pile of issues to be fixed- a pile of ideas to be made into reality… except for the oyster thing. I think I just have to stay as far away from them as possible.

So what makes you cringe every time you see it? What do you think there has to be a solution for? Don’t just sit back and be bugged. (Our industry hates bugs, after all…) but use your personal problems to create solutions for other people. The phrase “There’s an app for that” doesn’t apply to everything by chance! Don’t be afraid to make your projects personal. I mean, Eve Blossom got emotionally involved, and being an aggressive/disruptive entrepreneur worked out really well for her.