Interupting the Universe

I just got back from my last road trip of the year.  I was invited to present a two part offering of our program, THE IDEA FACTORY  to an invitation only group of professionals for one of my favorite clients.  Part I was the development of ideas and the critical second part was the execution of ideas.  Each time I have the honor of working with our idea strategic platform I get this question –  “Where do ideas really come from?”

It’s a great question considering the core subject matter.  I was I had an answer as great as the question, but NOTHING and I mean NOTHING is more subjective than the genesis of an idea.  There are countless books on creativity and idea development, not surprisingly,  though they share some aspects they vary in their core interpretation of this mystical realm of ideas.

 

Here is the Creative Ventures take on our 30 years of idea development.

• Ideas are born from the synthesizing of what you know.  Even the legendary EUREKA moments are born from the pool of your existing knowledge.
• No idea happens in isolation.  Want more ideas, then learn more stuff.  Look for opportunities to learn.
• To know something is to be changed by it.  It makes no difference if you are studying a G chord on a guitar or the Plank unit of time measurement expand your knowledge.
• Knowing takes effort.   If you want to learn new things then create the time to do so.  Simple.  Choose to listen to a lecture on YouTube, subscribe to a podcast, pick up a magazine or the good old fall back activity that has served idea generation for a long time – read a book.
• Something almost always leads to something else.  You will be surprised how an understanding of a DNA molecule can be connected to how a company positions its marketing material.  You have to have something to start with and that something is always knowledge.

You all know how I feel about lists and I am not offering this as a DO THIS checklist.  I am merely sharing how we have discovered our ideas.

You have to occasionally interrupt the flow of the universe, your universe, to discover something unique and hidden, something that will make your brain shout –  WOW, where the hell did that come from.  Guess what, you will know!