If ideas are what will lead to my success, how do I come up with better ideas?
Due to our uniqueness, we think up of different ideas, come up with unique connections, and better ways to execute and bring those ideas into reality.
What sets us apart is how we think, and products of that thinking process.
We’re really recognized and valued for the way we think, for our ability to think differently from other people, and how we make those ideas into reality.
And as a consequence, deliver better results, and gain better outcomes.
What can you do to have better ideas?
Capture those ideas.
Our brain is marvelous.
We come up with a lot of thoughts and ideas as we go along our daily lives.
What happens to most of those ideas? Forgotten, gone, never to return again.
Unless you capture them.
Write down those ideas. Find a way to record them, draw them, express them.
Don’t worry about fleshing out the whole thing, or elaborating on it. Just capture all that you can.
Thoughts, ideas, memories are fleeting, and they usually occur to us when we are at our most relaxed.
Dare I say, unguarded moments.
And when those things happen, come up with a plan to capture your ideas.
There are times when I’ve ran out of the shower trying to find a pen and paper. I try to keep one close at all times, if I’m not using my cellphone to type down my ideas.
Our brains are natural idea machines, but they are not natural idea remembering, processing, and capturing machines.
Not all ideas are essential to survival, which is what our brains have evolved to do.
So if we want to get to a level higher than where we are, and come up with better solutions, not just what’s survival, or what’s bare minimum, then we have to help our brain to remember, process, and capture all that information.
Capture those ideas.
My favorite way to do it?
Respect the muse.
And by that, I mean to let the ideas come to you, and to accept them all, initially.
Don’t discriminate against, judge, or put down an idea if you haven’t captured it yet.
I find that I write best, when I’m given an opportunity to just lay it all out, and then I come back to it and edit it later.
Most of the hardest posts I’ve written, I actually find myself editing them along the way. Typing something down, and then second guessing myself, and then changing it, and then rewriting.
When I haven’t even gotten all of the ideas I have for the post on the page.
I’m already judging my ideas, deeming them not good enough, in turn, endangering the other ideas I have in my head.
Ideas are like scared mice. When there’s no threat, they will happy show themselves, and frolic along, and play with each other, coming up with more ideas.
When there’s pressure, expectation, judgement, or a threat, they hide. It then becomes harder to coax ideas out.
It then becomes harder to come up with good ideas.
Respect the ideas and inspiration that’s coming to you. There’s a reason why they’re showing up.
It’s up to you to capture, and make sense of these ideas.
It’s not our job to criticize and judge. It’s our job to share.
Discipline and practice.
We all have an “idea muscle”, and like a muscle, it also needs exercise.
Exercise so that it gets stronger, more flexible, more responsive.
So we can think up of ideas, even while under pressure.
So we can think up of ideas when we need to, and not only when the ideas come to us.
When it comes to creating better ideas, it’s also about quantity, not only quality.
But rather, the quality comes from a direct result of the quantity, and the effort put into creating the amount of ideas.
Not all ideas will be the golden nuggets you’re looking for, and instead of forcing yourself to create a golden nugget every time, keep on creating, producing, and churning out ideas.
From the many ideas you have, it will be easier to pick out the golden nuggets, or to see which ideas can combine to create the idea you’ve been looking for.
This means setting aside time to create, write, capture ideas, to think of new ideas, to play around with ideas, to practice getting them down, and not allowing yourself to stop coming up with ideas.
When it comes to the practice of coming up with ideas, our number one enemy is ourselves.
Negative self-talk, too much criticism, and low self-esteem are our enemies in coming up with great ideas. We must not doubt ourselves, or our ideas at first. Let them all out, then compare them critically.
It’s discipline, and practice. Practice coming up with ideas, about anything. James Altucher recommends writing down 10 ideas a day.
Exercise that idea muscle.
Seek out new experiences.
We are processing machines, and although we can come up with ideas out of thin air, there’s always our experiences and inspirations behind those ideas.
So then to keep coming up with better ideas, seek out new experiences. Preferably media that’s useful to you at the moment, or something that you enjoy.
This doesn’t only mean surfing on Facebook or Youtube for whatever’s new. This means to look for experiences that also engage the senses. Not only your sense of sight and hearing, but also your sense of touch, smell, and how you feel about the situation you’re in.
I just took a course recently on high-performance management, and I found that quite an educational and refreshing experience!
Not only because of the new material, but also because of the interaction between classmates, and the trainer. It’s a great experience to meet and engage with new people.
Reading a good book is also a great experience, new music, traveling to a new place. Or revisiting places you’ve been to! Whenever I go back to Palawan, I always find something new about the place.
Manages to fill me up with better ideas, and fill up my soul as well.
Unplug from the digital world.
When you want to come up with better ideas, it’s not only the amount of ideas that you can get.
You can get a ton of ideas from the internet, from our mobile phones, from television or radio.
Sometimes, it’s a little too much.
To give our ideas a chance to blossom, and to give us a chance to practice the discipline of coming up with our own ideas, it’s great to unplug from the digital world.
Reduce your distractions, and focus on practicing your idea muscle by coming up with ideas.
That’s the danger of being plugged in all the time. We get used to the instant gratification it provides us.
That’s not how better ideas come to birth. We’ve got to find it, work on it, take care of it, nurture it, and then let it go.
Take some time off to disconnect, and to connect to yourself, your inner you.
Work at it to get better ideas.
It doesn’t come instantly, but with consistency and practice, you’ll consistently keep coming up with better and better ideas.
Give your ideas a chance.
Give yourself a chance.
Don’t be afraid to share what you’ve got.
Don’t be afraid to make a mistake.
What do you do to get better ideas? Please share in the comments below!
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