Posted by Luke in Have you ever been stuck to come up with cool ideas? Today I thought that it would be nice to share some of the things that have worked well for me over the past few years. So here goes: 4 ways to come up with cool ideas.
1. Write (journal) your ideas down
There is a lot to be said for the art of writing. One of the most helpful things I have found in coming up with cool ideas is to write about the topic and see what flows out of my pen. Now this is really the free flow of intuition coming out of your pen. I don’t really know why but writing is a really easy way to find new ideas. Try this: take a blank piece of paper (or open up an office document… open or MS variety for you lovers of Bill Gates) and simply start writing about the topic. Those of you who have experimented with journaling before will understand what I am talking about. This is a wonderful way to find new ideas. When you switch off your reasoning process and move to the right side of your brain you will begin to think in a creative manner. Writing stuff down is a great way to do this.
2. Build a mind map
Mind mapping for me is a fruitful activity. It’s helps to see your assumptions about an idea right there on the page. I have used many modelling techniques over the years but this one is the simplest and quite possibly one of the best (maybe with the except of rich picture building) techniques available. If you aren’t familiar with it I would recommend reading the wikipedia article. Remember though, you can make more than one and then compare your results. This is also very important!
3. Synthesise
This is the art of putting two old ideas together where it was previously thought impossible (roughly speaking). To synthesise means you take one idea and add others to it to see what results. The process of brainstorming is a good example of this. Of course synthesis is flawed because it relies on the premise that you can put two things together and there will be a good result. Clearly this is not so (consider the Pug?). However, sometimes the right amount of synthesis can be a good thing. Adding one idea to another can spark a revolution of creativity which leads to new perspectives not previously available. Try it!
4. Talking to yourself (meditation)
In the bible we find the term ‘meditation’ which I think really means talking to yourself or thinking out loud on one concept for an extended period of time and doing so from different angles. I am not sure why this is so but I have to admit when I talk to myself about a topic my creative processes (I would argue intuitive processes) take over. Once I was stuck on a topic for a model I was building for one of my lectures on the Mobile Workforce. I began to think it through and talk about the concept from every possible angle when suddenly the idea spontaneously formed within me. The students in two classes responded so positively to it I believe most intuitive things are like this. We are often one good meditation session away from the answer!
Remember that when you are creating you are building things up from the inner you. Our minds prohibit this in general because of our capacity as humans to build overly large mental structures which form rules for us to live by. I think that when we engage in creativity we are putting the logical process aside so we can create new things to build. That is, when we build things from the inside we are creating things for the outside. I honestly believe our educational processes set aside creativity and intuition as a second order concept. In a later article on faith I will develop this idea further. I hope you have enjoyed this post and I look forward to hearing from you if you would like to add some techniques to the very short list I have here. Thanks for reading!
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I would also suggest getting exposure to new ideas, new concepts, new people in short keep learning something new everyday and you’ll then have a wide range of experience to draw upon to Synthesise ideas.
At least that’s how I develop the ideas that fill my blog.
In my job I meet people from all kinds of cultures and it never ceases to amaze me how different we all are! Good point. I have heard the term skilled incompetence used before to talk about stopping ourselves from learning because of our major abilities. Interesting point, thanks John.
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Another way to get cool ideas is to have a continual learning program
Read one new book (perferably, in this context – non-fiction!) a month
Attend some form of structured learning, whether or not it is in your field (conference, seminar, etc.)
Attend Trade (or other) fairs when they are in your area.
These are some of the things that get my mind working. Every year I attend an industry conference to monitor changes in my industry. While there, I make it a point to attend at least one short course.
Just thoughts to ponder. Bottom line: Learning should never end!
(Next objective: Learn passable conversation Spanish)
Thanks Rick,
Good advice. I read a lot of stuff, ficton/non-fiction. It’s interesting.