Everyone possess immense creativity.
Unfortunately, our minds have ways to distract us from using our imagination for innovation.
A notebook is the best way you can improve your creative skills.
Sketches, to-do lists, ideas.
A notebook organizes your thoughts, helps improve your writing, and increases your capacity for deeper thinking.
Writing/sketching ideas in a notebook helps bring the imaginary closer to reality.
The longer an idea sits in the mind, the longer you get to criticize and dissect "why it won't work". You see an idea you had years ago make someone else rich.
Putting ideas on paper, removes internal criticism and makes your ideas real.
Don't like that line? Draw over it. Draw around it. Erase it.
You can iterate an idea in your mind, but putting all your work on paper documents the progression.
Writing down goals, feelings, to-do's has a positive therapeutic effect.
Goals become more achievable after you write them down.
Writing down feelings can make you feel better.
Those to-do lists, get remembered more when you write them down.
Even with 3D modeling prevalent in the footwear industry, many designers ideas start out as a sketch.
Sketching connects your mind with the object you are drawing. Writing down ideas moves them from the inside to outside, so you can have more inside space for more ideas.
You are creating change you can see.
Improving the concept with each iteration.
Growing your thoughts and ideas into something real.
When I visited Nike's campus back in July 2016, everyone had a Moleskine.
Next time anything crosses your mind, write it down.
Sources
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/featured/writing-and-remembering-why-we-remember-what-we-write.html
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/Putting-Feelings-Into-Words-Produces-8047
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2012/jun/19/joy-moleskine-notebooks