5 Tools I Use For Innovation and Creativity

The Importance of Utilizing Tools

I really enjoy reading as well as listening to podcasts and audible books. With all the information I come across, I have to be able to capture, organize, and recall it to properly utilize it. I’m currently working on a new book as well as some disruptive innovation courses and workshops. The real challenge for me is finding a single tool that solves the issues stated. Over the last six months, I challenged myself to find the right tools and combine them in a way that I can capture the input, organize it, and make it easy to retrieve. The criteria I emphasized was usability on a mobile phone and desktop. I typically carry an Android, iPhone, and laptop on me, as well as an iPad Pro. I need tools that can collect from books, podcasts, websites, magazines, and emails with minimal manual steps. The tools also need to adapt as the content focus shifts. As of late, I have been focused on ethical innovation, but sometimes shift to discussing the digital divide and other things. I also need to be able to find information easily without remembering exact wording. Lastly, I need tools that create the serendipity effect.

 

The Tools I Use for Innovation

The first tool I have used for innovation is the Moleskine notebook, which I have thousands of. Recently I have shifted to the reMarkable 2 tablet. Using the tablet is just like writing on paper but better. There is a pen for writing and erasing, and it stores and exports all my information to my mobile phone and desktop. I actually wrote out the entire script for today’s show on my tablet. On top of my writing, I read a lot of information from RSS news feeds. I am a big user of Feedly, primarily for access to its AI engine. It is very trainable and interprets sentences to see what concepts are being talked about. I scan through 500-600 articles a day and save different feeds that I like to the Pocket app. The Pocket app is a collection of things that you save to read at a later time. Another tool I obtain information from is through my Kindle Oasis. In the Kindle, I can highlight things I like, and they are automatically fed into my workflow for future inspiration. Podcasts are also things that I capture content from. I use an app called Airr, which allows you to capture a podcast snippet that interests you with one touch of the screen. Otter.ai is another tool I am experimenting with to help me capture ideation sessions.

 

Organization/Combination, and Serendipity Tools

One tool that I found recently was Readwise, which collects everything from my Pocket, podcasts, Kindle, hardcover books, articles, and combines it. Readwise also points out things in your collection that you might not have picked up, triggering serendipity. While Readwise is great, it only prepares information for what I am ultimately looking for. I found an impressive tool called Roam Research, which takes everything from Readwise and organizes it, connecting words and concepts for you. Roam Research runs very well on mobile phones, and I use it for show content, books, articles, etc. I also use the software for my project work and documenting upcoming content for the show.