The stated problem is pretty easy to solve: jot down just enough information to trigger the idea. Don't explore it. Don't try to articulate it or communicate it

The stated problem is pretty easy to solve: jot down just enough information to trigger the idea. Don't explore it. Don't try to articulate it or communicate it or define it. The idea will remain safely in your head - the only danger is that you won't be able to access it. So, all that is needed is a trigger; a couple of evocative words will do. But I think the underlying problem is not the attraction of new ideas, but the repulsion of the old. New ideas are fun; old ideas are hard work. And the more progress you make, the more discipline is needed to finish. I don't think the answer is simple willpower, but seeing some meaning in the result - that this needs to be done... the world needs that first idea, and it needs you. Even, Victor Frankl's perspective that the work calls you. If you abandon it for every shiny new idea that flutters its eyes at you, what will become of it? Paraphrasing JFK: ask not what your idea can do for you, but what you can do for your idea.