by BazookaMusic on 4/24/23, 7:25 PM with 16 comments
What are your tricks to get into a state of producing new ideas? To clarify, I don't only mean ideas meant to increase your productivity but also ideas about how the world works, understanding yourself, new ways to have fun and so on.
by surprisetalk on 4/25/23, 10:58 AM
How I come up with lots of ideas:
- I consume a lot of high-quality inputs from different fields (reading, podcasts, etc). If it's not difficult to consume, it's probably not worth it.
- I make the idea capture process extremely easy. I use a Siri shortcut to log to a text file with my ideas list, which is ~3k lines long right now.
- I publicly write about my ideas, and allow others to refine what I think.
- I choose one idea to pursue at a time until it's finished. I accept that execution is generally more important than ideas.
- Every morning, I run `cat ideas.txt | shuf | head -n 20` to review and refine my ideas.
- I ask people lots of questions. Every moment I'm talking about myself is a lost opportunity to explore.
by warrenm on 4/25/23, 4:11 PM
- Talk to other people (especially those a couple degrees separated from the field you're trying to think about)
- Try to come up with bad ideas [1]
- Carry something to write on and with (no - just typing it into your phone is not good enough (but it's better than not recording it at all))
- Ask questions - they're more important than ideas [2]. I reprinted "35 great questions" from Inc a few years ago [3] ... maybe they'll be of help here :)
- Listen to music (especially instrumental or in a foreign language you don't know (eg Carl Orff's Carmina Burana)) that isn't "your thing" ..discovery mode (or whatever the different services call it) on streaming offerings can be pretty interesting; likewise checking-out random albums from your local library
There're a few ideas for you on how to get ideas
-----------
[0] https://theexceptioncatcher.com/blog/2012/11/varying-your-re...
[1] https://seths.blog/2018/06/the-two-simple-secrets-to-good-id...
by AprilPhoenix on 4/25/23, 1:44 PM
No, seriously, get lost. Go out for a walk somewhere remote, let your mental juices flow, and bring a pad of paper to write down whatever comes to mind. Your mind will naturally gravitate to what preoccupies you if you are up for it. Talk to yourself as you walk, visualise what you’ve got ahead. If what you have is a problem to solve, zoom in and look for entry points. No electronics, no phones, no interruptions whatsoever. Then when you get back into your normal life, try and flesh it out or implement it or whatever.
by atomicnature on 4/25/23, 2:20 PM
But then, just like in architecture, there are ways of arranging the material. How to put together ideas, for various sorts of purposes? There are so many disciplines, so many fields of knowledge and human activity. It's dizzying. The key is to build up heuristics to create meaning, to create coherence, internally.
For learning to build internal coherence/structure, first, it is useful to learn about the fields that teach you to abstract: mathematics and philosophy, certain types of computing, etc. Listen to lectures from serious and dedicated researchers, pay attention to every word, extract different styles of thinking.
Once you build up the power of abstraction, sail through various existing disciplines, you'll be able to find things that others have missed. For instance, if you're a trained elite programmer/computing person, you can have new ways of looking at rock climbing or mountaineering.
In summary: new ideas, new structure/coherence = library of ideas + abstraction + analogies
I probably do other things as well, but this is what I'd start with.
by aristofun on 4/25/23, 1:02 PM
This is exactly why most of successful startup were founded by people already experienced in the industry of a startup.
To your question, ideas in my area of expertise come up by themselves naturally, just like you write code and don’t try to create a class definition, but just create it.
i never waste time on this nonsense train yourself to be creative activities.
But I tried in the past to be confident that it is a nonsense to make a profit from naive “success seekers”.
There is no generic creativity, no generic idea muscle to train, no general answer on “how” question.
It’s all about the details and specifics. Even though creative people in one specific area tend to stay creative in many others, this is not how they do it.
by jschveibinz on 4/24/23, 7:33 PM
by Silverback_VII on 4/25/23, 9:03 AM
For example:
0, ".", grey, stone, mountain landscape, wolf, irregular shape, beard
1, "a", red, fire, burning forest, bull, square, penis
2, "b", blue, water, ocean, whale, circle, breast
Now, I visualize a blue water cell working and growing when I do bench presses.
Looking back, it might seem somewhat autistic, but it makes my daily life (especially mundane tasks) more interesting, as sometimes images randomly pop up. I believe such a system might greatly enhance the ability to generate new ideas.
by phpsecure on 4/27/23, 10:39 AM
1) Ask questions: Idea people are curious people. They ask a lot of questions of others and especially of themselves.
2) Write Ideas Down: Creative people keep lists and notes. Leonardo Da Vinci’s notes were written in mirror writing and his notebooks also contained fascinating drawings.
3) Think associatively: I mean taking an idea in one context and joining it with another possibility or opportunity. Steve Jobs had a great ability to adapt computing technology to new practical uses.
4) Put ideas to the test. Innovators know the importance of experimentation. Testing is key to many advancements.
by maCDzP on 4/25/23, 6:12 PM
Then I just do something different. Take a shower, go for a walk, whatever. For me changing the environment helps a lot, or using my body.
Then the ideas start to flow.
by cheerioty on 4/25/23, 12:06 PM
That’s for the more thought-through, or, defined ideas. Random ones happen way more frequently, but usually are more high-level and about the what, missing the how part.
by ggwp99 on 4/27/23, 4:50 PM
by Irongirl1 on 4/27/23, 6:37 PM
Editors are the unheralded SEO stars of this age. People don't make the connection between newspapers always making headlines and having to be in with the zeitgeist of the times, but they really should take another look. Sentiment analysis on the scale which matches the audience is a superpower. Hence my belief that the Bankers/VCs of our current age run the risk of some real "French Revolution" moments of they don't better control the current narrative. For too long, the story has been "excess, excess, excess" at a time when everyone else was suffering major contractions in their living standards and were constantly being sneered at for not learning to code. "Free laundry" "free lunch" and "free massage Monday" don't sound so good when at the same time vast swathes of people can't afford proper housing, food or health insurance. The costs, all of them, to society as a whole has to be reckoned with...preferably without turning to communism or fascism. Tech can solve for "X", but only if it allows many more seats at the hallowed table.
Now the Piper is coming home to roost (wow, what a mixed metaphor!) and everyone (ie: techies, VCs etc) is expressing shock and amazement at the lack of sympathy. That lack will increase significantly if the taxpayer has to bear the brunt of anymore SV/Wall Street excesses.
I can read the paper, any issue, any paper and send you a passage and my subsequent analysis if you wish...my email is in the box.
by swami108 on 4/26/23, 2:45 PM
To generate ideas on demand (for example if I want to come up with questions for my next podcast guest, I’ll go for a walk and jot down notes on my phone as I’m walking. My brain works best when walking.)
Keeping a “thought library” helps:
[0] https://medium.com/@swamiphoto/create-your-thought-library-b...