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How to Generate More Good Ideas
How Ideas are Made
Generating ideas is the process of finding new connections between old ideas.
We have to be able to connect the dots, cross-pollinate ideas from various disciplines, and combine and recombine them to create new ideas.
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Key Ideas
How Ideas are Made
Generating ideas is the process of finding new connections between old ideas.
We have to be able to connect the dots, cross-pollinate ideas from various disciplines, and combine and recombine them to create new ideas.
Seth Godin
"Someone asked me where I get all my good ideas, explaining that it takes him a month or two to come up with one and I seem to have more than that. I asked him how many bad ideas he has every month. He paused and said, 'None.'"
A Safe Environment
Create a safe place, free from criticism, because we tend to clam up if we feel like we're going to be criticized.
Rather than criticizing what you don't like, focus on getting ideas out in the open so you can build on them.
Thomas Schnauz
"You've got to be free to say any dumb thing, because a lot of times when you say something stupid, a good idea arises from it."
Scratch Your Own Itch
The most successful ideas will be related to your own particular observations on your needs, or what you see is missing in the world.
Being Passion About Ideas
If you have a stack of ideas, you have to be ruthless about which ones you choose to pursue.
Give time for the ideas to settle. You'll find you are much less excited about some of the ideas you've written down. During the process of pursuing an idea, someone will have to be personally convicted of the idea and want to fight for it.
Put Some Ideas Aside
You're inevitably going to have to say 'no' to some of the ideas you want to execute. Give your ideas room to breathe before you assess them.
- Look at your ideas objectively.
- Choose the ones that have the best chance for success or that support your goals the best.
- Put other ideas aside for a while.
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Restrict yourself
Research suggests placing self-imposed limitations can boost creativity.
It forces your brain to come up with creative solutions to finish a project around the parameters you’ve ...
Re-conceptualize the problem
Instead of thinking of a cut-and-dry end goal to certain situations, creative people sit back and examine the problem in different ways before beginning to work.
If you find yourself stagnating by focusing on generic problems, try to re-conceptualize the problem by focusing on a more meaningful angle.
For example: Instead of thinking “What would be something cool to paint?” rather ask, “What sort of painting evokes the feeling of loneliness that we all encounter after a break-up?”
Create psychological distance
Creating “psychological” distance may be useful for breaking through a creative block.
Try to imagine your creative task as being disconnected and distant from your current position/location - this may make the problem more accessible and can encourage higher level thinking.
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Output comes from input
If you want to have a lot of good ideas, you need to expose yourself to good ideas.
This means reading books, having conversations with interesting people, seeking out new experiences,...
Have a capture mechanism
Creative ideas often come to you when you’re not deliberately trying to solve a problem, when your mind is relaxed.
That's why your creative process must include a system to capture ideas when you have them, so you can work on them later. The simplest mechanism is simply to have a list where you keep ideas.
Incubate your ideas
Regularly review your ideas lists. Incubation helps because just as a spontaneous connection can generate an idea, an incubated idea can spontaneously mature into a plan of action if you take care of it.
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Encouraging creativity within the team
In order to make sure that the team members make the most of their creativity, leaders should focus on creating working spaces where individuals feel at ease with each other and, therefore, feel fr...
Handling your team's ideas in the best way
When encouraging your team's creativity, you might find it useful to try all the new ideas they provide as soon as these have been introduced.
This way, your employees will feel trusted and appreciated. Moreover, you will most certainly have a nice surprise discovering that, at the very end, all this results also in an increase in productivity.