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On the best days, I walk into the shower and I have the best ideas: a possible code types itself in my head or a great award-winning story is told…in my head. Once I walk out of the shower, 72 messages are waiting and a new hashtag calls for my attention, my codes and stories are long gone. I am certainly not the only one who has had the best ideas come and go, never to return.

Some of these thoughtsare usually Nobel prize worthy. You get these flashes of inspiration and innovation but you don’t do anything about them. It is not because you are lazy, or because you are not an innovator, it is a result of the mind gap.

“The mind gap is the void in the time-space continuum that joins intangible thoughts with tangible reality.” (This definition is from the author) In simple terms, it is the missing bridge between your ideas and an actual innovation.

It is common knowledge that our thought patterns result in our actions. However, some of our thought patterns are out of our control and we actbased on the society’s demands.

In the case of the mind gap, the thinker is in charge. These thoughts are unique to you and beneficial to yourself and all of mankind. You can call them your own update assistants.

So then, how do we fill this mind gap?

There is just one answer:  Writing thoughts down.

This seems so basic, but it is pure gold.

A while ago, I asked my very knowledgeable uncle why it seems like the African (more specifically Yoruba) philosophy is somewhat lost. He told me that the main reason for this mind gap is the fact that we didn’t have a written form of our knowledge. What we had were oral traditions, which were diluted, known by few and not seen to be credible. In a book, Socrates and Orunmilaby Sophie Oluwole a Yoruba scholar;the similarities of the philosophy of Orunmila (an ancient Yoruba sage) and Socrates ( the famous Greek philosopher) were examined. Socrates laid the foundation for modern education and continues to be relevant.The difference between these philosophies is that one was written down and the other was not.

There can only be development when there is something to build upon. We can only build on ideas that are laid down. We plan and act with recorded materials.

This doesn’t mean you have to get a fancy pen and journal so you can feel good. It also has nothing to do particularly with making a diary or writing everyday to Jupiter. It is simply writing down thoughts that are worthy of note. You have your phones and laptops for typing if you don’t like the idea of the traditional ink and paper. It’s all about recording these ideas.

You can always just sit down, think about your aspirations and write them down. Don’t just love the idea of a mobile fan, write it or sketch it.

It is much easier to conceptualize and pave the pathway to achieving these goals when you can read them.As you look at what you wrote, new ideas connect the dots and you get to that Eureka moment when you get to change the world.

This is not such an easy habit to cultivate – writing down ideas and solutions – but you will see in the future that it would help a lot. Just start with the next great idea.

Like my father always says, “The paper does not forget.”

Till then, fellow world changers,

Wear your masks and keep filling those mind gaps.

Yours,

Elushade Oluwatumininu

Contact me

tumsielushade@gmail.com