I recall reading and listening to many ‘strategies’ early in my career. Change your routine; change coffee to tea, have a notebook by your bed, walk instead taking the bus…and the list goes on.
Many have attested that these eureka moments can come from anywhere, at anytime and often when you least expect it. It may be so, but can we afford to wait and hope for it?
In my opinion, I believe it’s a process.
You heard right, a process. A 2-step process at that.
But first, take a pause. And get any thought of SOPS, templates or guidelines out of your head.
Step 1: Indulgence
Nothing comes out of thin air. Not even great ideas.
The first step is to feed your brain with as much diverse information as possible. It should be about anything and everything. In fact, the less relevant to the idea you’re looking for, the better.
A learned speaker once told me, “I don’t read, I learn.”
So as you’re indulging on the seemingly unrelated information, be sure to make your own hypothesis and conclusions. Yes, it’s part of the process.
So what’s the point? Great ideas come from having the ability to springboard and build connections from more than what you already know. So the more content you absorb (however irrelevant it may be), the wider your perspective becomes, giving you a bigger pool of ideas to consider from.
Step 2: Acceptance
The next step is accepting that great ideas don’t come every day.
That living with the good or so-so ideas for the most part is acceptable. And it’s perfectly human to make the best of circumstances such as timing and limitations.
Because the more ideas you bring to life, the more likely you are to hit a great one. Even Steve Jobs has had his fair share of the less than visionary decisions.
( https://www.fastcompany.com/90245223/steve-jobs-would-never-dothat?utm_source=postup&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Fast%20Company%20Weekly&position=1&partner=newsletter&campaign_date=10262018 ). So long as stay hungry and foolish.
Keep feeding and keep it flowing.
The path to great ideas will always be windy, bumpy and at times, unreachable. Nobody said it was easy. Just as nobody said that only visionaries come up with great ideas.