you don’t need more ideas… you need a system
You Don’t Need More Ideas
I used to think my problem was ideas.
Like if I just had better ones—or more of them—everything would click.
But that’s not actually the issue.
Most of us have too many ideas
They’re everywhere:
screenshots
notes
half-started sketches
random Illustrator files
You think:
“I’ll come back to that later.”
But later turns into… never.
What actually happens over time
You end up with:
a bunch of partial collections
designs that don’t go anywhere
no clear sense of what’s finished and what’s not
And it starts to feel overwhelming.
Not because you’re doing too little…
but because everything is unfinished.
This hit me hard while building my app
I kept thinking:
“Once I add this one thing, it’ll feel complete.”
But then I’d add it…
and immediately think of something else.
There was always:
another feature
another improvement
another idea
At some point I realized:
I don’t need more ideas. I need to decide what’s enough for version one.
Same thing applies to collections
You don’t need:
10 new themes
a totally different direction
a complete restart
You need:
a way to finish what you’ve already started
a way to keep track of it
a way to move it forward
What actually helps (in a very unglamorous way)
Knowing:
what collection you’re working on
what’s done
what still needs to be created
That’s it.
Not exciting, but it’s what makes everything feel a little less chaotic.
A small thing that’s helped me (especially with ideas)
One thing I didn’t realize for a long time is that ideas aren’t the problem…
losing them is.
Or not knowing what to do with them once you have them.
So I ended up setting up a really simple kanban for this:
Haven’t Started
Currently Working
Finished
Nothing fancy, but it makes a huge difference.
I can drop an idea in as soon as it pops up (even if I’m on my phone), and more importantly, I can tag where it came from:
an open art call
something I thought of randomly
a specific client or market
That part has been surprisingly helpful, because it gives the idea context—not just a name sitting in a list somewhere.
Why this matters more than I expected
When everything lives in one place:
I stop forgetting ideas
I stop starting from scratch every time
and I can actually choose what to work on next
Instead of just reacting to whatever feels exciting in the moment.
Where I’ve landed with this
Ideas are easy.
Finishing is the skill.
And finishing usually comes down to having some kind of structure—even if it’s simple.