Building more ideas, part V - Third Support

Third in our idea support system is Collaboration. Read and Apply is a great source to get a lot of other people's ideas, but isn't very interactive. By collaborating with other people, you get the benefit of their ideas, but also the rewards of the push and pull of growing ideas together.

Get out and talk to people. It isn't that hard. People love to talk about themselves and their ideas. Join a club. Talk to a new colleague. Volunteer with a charity.

All of these interactions will be valuable, but every once in a while you'll find someone that you click with. A person who wants to dream big just like you. Try to surround yourself with those people, and watch your ideas take off.

Don't forget to give back too. Help when you can. Offer to make introductions and give information. Be available to someone else who wants help getting more ideas.

How can you increase your quality interactions with others?

Building more ideas, part IV - Second Support

The second support to your idea building is Read and Apply. When you want to have a bunch of great ideas, you're going to have to admit to yourself that the best ideas come from other people. You just have to figure out how to apply them to what you're doing. The easiest and most common form of other people's ideas? Books, blogs, websites, etc - anything written.

Reading can have the same mind clearing effect as Activity. And with the amount of information available, you can become an expert on anything you want to.

One excellent source of ideas I read recently was The Four Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. His blog is fun too.

Other blogs I subscribe to are:
Gaping Void
How to Change the World
Real Dan Lyons
Scobleizer
Seth Godin

I have kind of a reading addiction issue to tell the truth. If you aren't a reader, try starting small. Subscribe to one really entertaining or useful blog and read it every day.

Remember that the more information you put in, the more ideas you'll get out.

Building more ideas, part III - First Support

Now that we have our idea foundation built, let's start putting up some supports. There are four main supports. Let's talk about the first one - Activity.

When you need to get more ideas, sometimes it helps to perform some unrelated or creative activity. Play with toys. Take a walk. Draw a picture. Play the piano. As long as it's something that actively engages you. Watching a TV show doesn't count.

After you finish your activity, sit down and try for more ideas. You'll find that it's easier after you've cleared your mind a little.

Another thing to try is to think about how your idea might relate to the activity. For example, if you need ideas for a restaurant ad campaign, you might sit down with some play dough and sculpt the images that come to mind when thinking of that restaurant. You might come up with some good ideas from the exercise, or you might just get a bunch of silly sculptures that look more like hair than spaghetti, but the principle is the same. It allows you to clear your head and open your mind a little, so you can attack your ideas from a fresh perspective.

And the very best thing of all? It gives you an excuse to play when you should be working...