Edison on Innovation: 102 Lessons in Creativity for Business and Beyond

3.2. Lesson 14: Lose No Idea

As a young telegrapher beginning to dabble in invention, Thomas Edison made it a habit to carry a pocket notebook in which he jotted or drew up ideas as they occurred to him. He was determined to capture the stream of notions that passed through his mind—and to capture them the very moment they passed. Edison had a prodigious memory, and he believed that a well-developed memory was the most important asset any creative person could possess. Nevertheless, he was clearly unwilling to rely on memory alone. He made notes wherever he went and whenever an idea came to light for him. In his middle age, after he set up a laboratory-workshop in New Jersey and then, later, in Fort Myers, Florida, he placed notebooks on almost ...