Ideas
The Ideas workspace is where creative thoughts go to grow. Capture ideas at any stage — from a fleeting spark to a fully formed concept — and track their maturity with a built-in status progression.
Ideas are fragile. If you don’t write them down, they disappear. The Ideas workspace gives every thought a safe place to land, no matter how rough or unfinished.
Purpose
The Ideas workspace is designed for creative and strategic thinking:
- Brainstorming — Raw, unfiltered ideas captured in the moment
- Project concepts — Potential projects, products, or initiatives
- Problem solving — Approaches to challenges you are working through
- Creative writing — Story ideas, essay topics, content plans
- Process improvements — Better ways to do things at work or in life
Metadata
Ideas have one unique metadata field beyond the shared fields (title, content, tags, people, date):
Status Progression
Track how developed an idea is using four stages:
| Status | Meaning | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
| Contemplating | Initial spark, barely formed | You just had the thought and want to capture it before it fades |
| Seed | Planted and taking shape | You have written some details and see potential |
| Reflecting | Actively thinking it through | You are developing the idea, considering angles, doing research |
| Draft | Well-formed and ready to act on | The idea is fleshed out enough to execute or share |
Set the status from the metadata dropdown on the Write page. You can change it at any time as the idea matures.
The status progression is not a rigid workflow. Skip stages, go backward, or leave status unset entirely. It exists to help you filter, not to constrain your thinking.
Creating an Idea
Open the Write Page
Navigate to /write or press Ctrl/Cmd + W.
Select “Idea” Type
Use the entry type dropdown and choose Idea.
You can also go directly to /write?type=idea.
Set Status (Optional)
Choose a status from the dropdown. New ideas usually start as Contemplating or Seed.
Write Your Idea
Capture the thought. Don’t worry about polish — get it down first.
# Automated weekly review email
What if Reflecto sent a weekly digest email every Sunday
with stats from the past week? Include:
- Number of entries written
- Most used tags
- People mentioned
- Streak status
- A random past entry as a "memory"
This would help users who forget to check Insights.
Could be a premium feature.
@Alice mentioned wanting something like this.
#product #feature-idea #email #automationAuto-Save
Your idea saves automatically. Come back to develop it further anytime.
The Ideas Workspace Page
Navigate to Ideas in the sidebar or go to /ideas to view all your idea entries.
What You See
- Entry cards sorted by date, newest first
- Status badge displayed on each card (Contemplating, Seed, Reflecting, Draft)
- Content preview showing the opening lines
- Tags and people visible at a glance
- Star indicator on starred entries
Filtering by Status
Use the status filter to focus on ideas at a specific stage. This is especially useful when you want to:
- Review Contemplating ideas to decide which deserve more thought
- Develop Seed ideas into something more concrete
- Refine Reflecting ideas into actionable plans
- Act on Draft ideas that are ready to go
Using the Status Progression
The four-stage progression helps you manage a growing collection of ideas without losing track of what needs attention.
Recommended Workflow
Capture Everything as Contemplating
When an idea strikes, write it down immediately. Set status to Contemplating. Don’t judge quality — just capture.
Weekly Review: Promote or Archive
Once a week, browse your Contemplating ideas. Promote promising ones to Seed by adding more detail. Leave others as they are or delete the ones that no longer resonate.
Develop Seeds into Reflections
When you have time for deeper thinking, pick a Seed idea and expand it. Add research, pros and cons, implementation details. Move it to Reflecting.
Finalize as Draft
When an idea is clear enough to act on or share with someone, set it to Draft. This is your signal that the thinking phase is done.
You don’t need to move every idea through all four stages. Some ideas jump from Contemplating straight to Draft. Others stay as Seeds forever, and that is fine.
Use Cases
Product Ideas
Product and Feature Ideas
# Dark mode scheduling
Let users schedule dark/light mode by time of day.
Auto-switch at sunset/sunrise based on location.
Technical considerations:
- Need geolocation permission or manual timezone
- CSS variables already support theming
- Could tie into system preference detection
Priority: Low (nice-to-have)
Status: Seed
#product #ui #dark-modeTips for Idea Management
1. Capture Without Judgment
The moment you think “is this worth writing down?” — write it down. You can evaluate later. The cost of losing a good idea is higher than the cost of recording a mediocre one.
2. One Idea Per Entry
Keep each idea in its own entry. This makes status tracking meaningful and prevents good ideas from getting buried inside long brainstorm documents.
3. Tag by Domain
Use tags like #work, #creative, #home, #product so you can filter ideas by area of your life.
4. Star Your Favorites
When browsing ideas, star the ones that excite you most. Starred ideas become your shortlist for what to pursue next.
5. Review Regularly
Set a weekly or monthly habit of browsing your ideas. Fresh eyes often see new connections or realize an old idea’s time has come.
6. Connect to People
Tag people who might be interested in or helpful for an idea. When you next talk to @Alice, you can check if any of your ideas involve her.
The best ideas often come from combining two older ideas. Reviewing your Ideas workspace regularly increases the chance of these creative collisions.
What’s Next?
- Highlights — Record meaningful moments and achievements
- Dreams — Capture long-term aspirations and goals
- Wisdom — Collect quotes, facts, and lessons learned
- Notes — Quick captures and color-coded reminders