Inspiration for a joyful and creative life

You’ve heard it before.  In order to generate more creative ideas, you need more ideas.  More ideas are better because usually the first ones are the obvious ones.

So if you are having trouble generating long lists of ideas, here are a few strategies that might help.

#1

Pull images and words from magazines that attract your attention, without thinking too hard.  You may be drawn to images subconsciously that unlock some great ideas.

 

 

#2

Doodle.  Yes, that’s right, doodle and let your mind wander.

Later look at the doodles and see if there is any image or idea that is triggered.

 

#3

Sleep on it.

Write down the problem or project that you need ideas for before you go to bed.  Then, let it go.  Sometimes you’ll dream of a great idea or have one that wakes you up….just jot it down and try to go back to sleep…..if you can.  I’m not always good at that one.

 

#4

Play the What If game……

What if I could……fill in the blank about what you want to accomplish.

Here is an example.  What if I could spend more time in the studio and increase my sales?

 

Or try other questions in the same way.

 

How might I…….

Wouldn’t it be great if I…….

 

Wouldn’t it be great if I could have more free time and increase my income?

 

Write down as many ideas as you can in response to the question, without worrying about how or editing their value or possibility for now.  Let the question marinate and keep jotting down ideas as they come to you.

 

In the example above, there are two questions.  You can also play with answering the questions separately and then playing with combining the answers to see if a new and improved idea comes up.

 

 

#5

Choose completely random images or words.

This one is related to #1 only this time, choosing completely random images or words can give you some new ideas and perspective that you wouldn’t have come up with on your own.

 

You can take a book, magazine, or look around the room, and just pick an image.

Or how about opening the dictionary or the yellow pages…..wow, I’m really dating myself….these are actual books and not the online versions….and flipping the pages and point to a random place.

 

Then while thinking about your problem or project, brainstorm new ideas inspired by the images and words

 

They don’t have to make sense at first…..just let your imagination run!

 

 

Example: Maybe the painting of a ballerina makes you think of dancing, and that makes you think of performance, and that makes you think of awards and that makes you think of giving an incentive to your clients or audience like award points.

 

Maybe the picture of a cupcake makes you think of a bakery which makes you think of sweet smells which makes you think of adding the scent of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies to your artwork (I told you it didn’t have to make sense!) and that makes you think of home and that makes you think of comfort and that makes you think of offering home consultations or hanging services and that makes you think of partnering with an interior designer.

 

 

 

#6 – #9

4 more creative ideas shared by Todd Henry of the Accidental Creative

 

 

 

 

Some Problems May Take More than One Pass to Solve

Do you ever find that you are so anxious to solve a problem that you take the first answer that comes to you or your group?

Sometimes that works beautifully. But sometimes you may need more than one approach and to be willing to experiment to find the best solutions.

The More the Merrier

One recommendation I have is to come up with several ideas instead of just one. You may still end up using that first idea but often you come up with even better solutions as you go deeper.

You may also end up combining ideas for a much more powerful solution.

What?’s Working and What?’s Not

One thing I?ve been tuned in to lately, though, is that sometimes you have a good solution to a challenge and once you implement it, you find that it can be tweaked and further refined for an even better solution.

Only you would not have come to that conclusion if you didn?t work through the first solution first. You don?t always understand enough until you start working through a problem to see things from a different perspective.

You can see what aspects of your solution work, what doesn?t, and what can be improved.

What does all this mean to you?

It means that your first attempts at solving a problem aren?t necessarily a failure if they don?t work out the way you hoped. They may be a stepping stone in the process.

Simply to be open to learning and experimenting until you are satisfied with the results.

Remember that old saying? If at first you don?t succeed, try, try again.

Do you have a problem or challenge that you are ready to make some adjustments to refine your initial solution?

P.S. If you need some help figuring things out, email me for an idea session or two.

Sometimes when you need a creative idea, you can use a
little help.

IdeaChampions.com has developed a fun way to play with your
challenge.  Free the Genie is a card deck for facilitating
problem solving and innovation.

You can sample it for free here
http://www.ideachampions.com/free_the_genie/

Roger Von Oech also has a card deck that I love called The
Creative Whack Pack with over 64 cards and strategies that
can help generate new ideas and allow you to come up with
some fresh ideas.

Check out the Creative Whack of the Day here

http://creativethink.com/1pu