I once heard the story of when a young George Lucas was in a recording studio working with a sound mixer. The man said he needed Reel 2, Dialogue track 2, but he shortened all of that information to simply, “R2D2.” For some reason, this sparked something in the burgeoning writer/direction, and he decided to write it down.

Maybe it would come in handy one day.

An Admirable Quality

That wouldn’t be the only time that Lucas would do that. For example, he named another famous droid after a post office’s grid location in his hometown of Modesto, Calif.: C3PO. He had a wonderful habit of writing down every idea that came to him – every interesting word, phrase, and philosophy that popped into his mind.

Now that is an admirable quality! Instead of thinking of “R2D2” as an irrelevant, funny-sounding combination of letters and numbers, he wrote them in a place that he would find later when he was hunting for the perfect name for a brave little MacGuffin in a story about Jedi-Bendu Knights like Mace Windu and Luke Starkiller looking for the Kyber crystal.

By simply recording all his ideas, no matter how trivial, he was able to preserve them for an unknown future. I’m pretty sure that’s how he came to formulate his magnum opus: Star Wars.

Of course, every film is a collaborative effort, so we shouldn’t credit Lucas with everything that led to that film’s success. But it sprang from his mind, and he was involved in every element of its creation, so it’s definitely not easy to overstate his importance in its creation.

Keeping a Diary

An idea that is left unwritten can easily be lost. There’s a reason why scriptures were first passed down orally and later written on scrolls and then mass-produced using printing presses. They were important enough to be etched in stone to avoid being lost because of faulty memory.

Do you know who else wrote everything down? Indiana Jones’ father! He made numerous notes in his diary so that he wouldn’t forget them. Remember the scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when Indy and his father are reunited after years of estrangement from each other? Indy Sr. wants to risk his life to recover his diary because it contains crucial information, but his son disagrees.

However, they have no choice but to enter the lion’s den and go to Berlin in order to obtain Indy Sr.’s written words because he can’t remember them after so many years.

Writing Down Ideas

A big reason why this website even exists is because I write every idea that comes into my head. For years, I scribbled onto Post-It Notes random jokes and bits of inspiration that came to me suddenly. I had no clue how I would use them at the time, but that wasn’t important. What is important was my willingness to keep them for a time when I would need them.

As a result of that willingness, I started to have more and more ideas that I also faithfully wrote down. Not all of them turned into the perfect joke or article on this website, but many of them did. In fact, I believe that this habit of mine saved my job last year. It certainly helped me establish this website and keep it going for the past 12 years.

I encourage everyone to be like George Lucas and write down everything. Whether it’s a beautiful piece of music, a business idea, or an urge to serve others, put it in writing. That way, you’ll be able to remember it, even if you can’t put it into action right this minute.

I believe that the Source of great ideas is God, and I don’t want to waste any gift He bestows upon me. So, by way of encouragement, I will transpose that idea into a familiar phrase: May the Source be with you.

This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.

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