Any creative worth their checkered flannel shirt has a back pocket. Not the denim kind… the idea kind. Their very own stash of half-seasoned thoughts, scribbled lines, shower epiphanies, and “probably too weird” seeds that never grew taller than a napkin first draft.
I won’t pretend to be an industry veteran. That said, in my time, I’ve noticed how powerful such a habit can be. Some ideas aren’t ready when you are. They need time to breathe, like dough left to rise. Whereas, others just need to sit quietly in the corner until they heat up. Your brain science types call it ‘incubation,’ whereby your subconscious solves problems while you’re busy making toast or walking the dog.
It’s even backed by research. With studies suggesting that stepping away from a brief and doing something completely unrelated can actually sharpen your ideas when you come back. ‘Idea stockpiling’ — creatives holding onto unused ideas instead of binning them — is often a great measure for evolving those thoughts into complete, unique, and original concepts down the track.
My notes app eats well — never going more than a couple hours without a new line or idea to snack on. For me, it can act as therapy. But over and over, wearing another cape as creative life support. Always there with a spark handy, should my brain feel like mashed potato and the coffee just isn’t working. Offering solutions for today’s brief, and quietly arming me for whatever’s on the horizon.
Taking a step back, I’d still like to stress that there’s no ‘one size fits all’ for this approach. Personally, mine tends to be a nice mix of intent and accident. With much of it coming from your typical corners of adland — a morning scroll through Campaign Brief, Ad Age, and the like, become a great excuse for passing time while my coffee cools.
Even so, I’m also trying to go further. Taking influence from elsewhere, and letting all forms of creativity I see out and about lead me places that no algorithm could. My favourite? The mundane. The overheard bus chats, supermarket small talk, and the real-life, real-people moments that reflect life as it is actually lived — not how an ad tells us it should be. That’s where the good stuff hides, and where most of my back-pocket scribbles are born.
I work with epic people. The kind who actively avoid sitting around, waiting for lightning to strike. They’re always out collecting sparks — jotting, stashing, remixing. And as a junior, that environment reassures me that I’m learning something right. Yes, creativity is about chasing brilliance. But capturing it? For me, it takes shape in those almost-good ideas close enough to craft into something better.
So… go. Fill your back pocket.
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