A Four Step Process For Generating Ideas

Generating new ideas is not about hoping to be struck with sudden inspiration; you need to roll up your sleeves and get to work.  In this Hub you'll find a four step process you can apply whenever you need to solve a specific problem or come up with new ideas.  The four steps are as follows:

1.  Learn All You Can About the Topic

2.  Work With the Information You Gathered

3.  Take Some Time Off

4.  Make Your Idea Real

photo credit: jenn_jenn

Teresa M. Amabile explains in her article, "How to Kill Creativity", that expertise is essential to creativity. For example, suppose that a scientist at a pharmaceutical company is charged with developing a blood-clotting drug. Her expertise includes her ability to think scientifically, as well as all the knowledge that she has in the fields of medicine, chemistry, biology, and biochemistry. It's this knowledge that will allow her to generate creative ideas in developing the new drug.

You can gain expertise in a subject matter by reading everything you can on the topic, attending seminars and lectures, doing online research, and interviewing experts in that area.

Nobel laureate Herb Simon explains that expertise is basically a person's “network of possible wanderings,” the intellectual space they have to solve problems and generate ideas. The larger that space--that is, the more a person knows about a particular subject--the more likely it is that they'll be able to come up with a novel idea.

Now that you've gathered information about your subject matter, you need to work with that information in order to create something new.  One way to do this is to apply creativity techniques.  Basically, creativity techniques can be expansive, such as questioning assumptions, brainstorming, and so on, or they can be constraining, such as forcing associations between the subject matter and a word picked at random.

There are many creativity techniques you can choose from, and which ones would render the best results depends on the nature of the problem you're trying to solve.  Start collecting creativity techniques, whether by doing online research or reading books on creativity, so that you have the tools available for when you need to come up with lots of ideas.  You can start by visiting my Squidoo lens, "Creative Thinking Techniques - Enhance Your Creativity".

Research has shown that after intense focus on a problem, the best thing you can do is disconnect from the problem and go do something else. This allows your knowledge, thoughts, and ideas to percolate; that is, while you're off doing other things, your subconscious mind continues to work on the problem.

Ernest Hemingway was a regular swimmer and is said to have gotten some of his best ideas while going for a swim.  In addition, Julia Cameron writes in “The Artist’s Way” that Steven Spielberg has explained that he's gotten some of his best ideas while driving on freeways.

Take a cue from Hemingway and Spielberg: go for a walk, visit a museum, go have a cup of coffee with a friend, or work on a crossword puzzle.  Many people have reported "Aha" moment while taking a break from the task they were working on.

Lots of people have great ideas, but very few people take those ideas and actually turn them into reality. The fabulously creative Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy--SARK--talks in one of her books about the Australian artist Ken Done. Ken had created a colorful painting which he thought would look great on bed sheets.

Done approached a bed sheet company and pitched his idea. The people at the sheet company were unable to visualize what Done was trying to get across to them, and they rejected his idea.

However, Done refused to give up; instead, he went home, took out a white bed sheet, and proceeded to paint his painting on it. When he was finished he went back to the sheet company. Now that they had something concrete in front of them, the people at the sheet company were able to see that Done's painting looked great on the bed sheet and they proceeded to place a large order.

If you stop at the idea stage you'll never have anything to show for your ideas. You need to take steps to make your ideas real.