Great ideas often occur while you’re waiting for your entree.

At one point, everything was a far-fetched idea. When the Wright Brothers were trying to fly, people thought that their idea was crazy. The thought that someone could have 10,000 songs in their pocket seemed impossible in the days of 8-tracks. The fact that Amazon might start delivering packages via drone seems SciFi.

All of these things once seemed crazy, and all of them started as an idea.

We need big ideas.

And to develop them, we need to understand our process.

In my process, the first step is eating food and writing down ideas on napkins around a dinner table. It’s in conversation, collaborating and envisioning what’s possible with others, where the idea moves from words in the air to thoughts on a page.

These thoughts are visual. I collect images, whether they’re mine or photos from others, in a continued process of collaboration. These images continue to inspire and invigorate the original idea.

Some of the tools I’ve found helpful in capturing and developing these dreams are listed below:

Pen and Paper: If it worked for Benjamin Franklin, it will work for us.

Pinterest: It’s a great tool for seeking inspiration and sourcing ideas from the crowd.

Mural.ly: It’s a great platform for gathering your thoughts visually in one place. You can post sticky notes, links to website, photos, as well as use their wide range of diagrams and shapes. It also allows you to work real time with collaborators.

Google Docs: It’s simple, good for the planning phase, and mapping out execution.

As you work to turn your ideas into the next big thing, I hope that these tools will help you along the way.