--- title: "Turning Ideas Into Completed Projects" description: "My process for getting inspired thoughts out of my head and created into actual completed projects - even amidst life responsibilities." published: 2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z tags: ["productivity"] url: "https://davidvkimball.com/posts/turning-ideas-into-completed-projects" --- During 2025, I helped run my own [marketing agency](https://davidvkimball.com/posts/ai-is-here-to-stay-now-what#what-im-doing-about-it), raised a newborn to a full-fledged 1-year old with my wife, got more involved in my church, made weekly content on [LinkedIn](https://linkedin.com/in/davidvkimball), maintained a [YouTube channel](https://youtube.com/davidvkimball), ran a [Discord server](https://discord.gg/gyrNHAwHK8) / community, and built over a dozen plugins for Obsidian on [GitHub](https://github.com/davidvkimball). That's a lot to manage! So I wanted to share my process for taking the ideas I have and producing them into something tangible. ## Capture and Execute I used to think there had to be just one tool to rule them all for productivity. However, the more I think about it, the less sense it makes. Ideas are messy. They can come at you during inconvenient moments. You need a zero-friction, flexible way to capture what you're thinking and store it somewhere later and forge it into something more useful. Once you have it fleshed out a bit more, you can construct a plan or set of tasks. *Then* the real building begins. ## Frictionless Idea Capture Not only does it make a great [shared to-do tracking app](https://davidvkimball.com/posts/top-5-productivity-apps-for-couples#best-todo-list-app-for-couples-todoist), but [Todoist](https://todoist.com/) is incredible for just getting ideas out of your head and sorted quickly. Particularly with its new [Ramble](https://www.todoist.com/help/articles/dictate-to-add-tasks-with-ramble-P1Raq7vVF) feature. Simply speak your thought aloud, and it will automatically create tasks with descriptions for you to sort. I put all of my ideas into the inbox, and can just leave it if I need to for sorting later. ## Basic Initial Sorting I can return to the Todoist app and sort my ideas into projects, categories, or tags. I use projects around things I'm actively thinking about or working on, but you can handle this any way you'd like to. ## Fleshing Out and Planning When I'm ready to work on my ideas and fully flesh them out, I migrate them to [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md). I'll create a note for each item, and a set of tasks underneath it, and include any other details, links, screenshots, or whatever else I might need. I'll also link it to other relevant notes also. ## Time Blocking and Execution The last step is to use my Google Calendar to block time to do the things I planned to do. I talk a bit more about that in my [Digital Productivity blog post](https://davidvkimball.com/posts/digital-productivity-just-requires-discipline). This works because it's easy to view and manage on both desktop and mobile, and it's something I look at every day. The calendar is also where our social lives, family activities, and other non-project plans live, so I can always see how my projects can fit in around the priorities in my life (family, church, community). ## Daily Practices and One-Off Tasks Aside from these projects are daily tasks which typically don't change from day to day. I keep these in a Daily Note in my Obsidian vault. I review it each night and make sure I did the things I need to do. Time-bound, one-off tasks that aren't daily tasks or things that don't roll up into larger efforts I add as Google Tasks. This way my phone bugs me if I don't do them, but they're also not something I really need to store in any permanent location (things like take the trash out, reminder to check the mail, etc.). ## Send Off This is the method I've used to build, maintain, and expand all kinds of various different projects, and manage my time effectively in order to juggle them all. I hope this helps you out, too! ## Linked mentions - [How to Create an AI Native Company in 2026](https://davidvkimball.com/posts/how-to-create-an-ai-native-company-in-2026) - [Focus](https://davidvkimball.com/posts/focus)