Think big

One of the things you can do when you’re looking for idea inspiration is to think bigger. When you’re reading something, don’t just think of the information in the context of that particular story. Think about the fundamentals of the information and how you can apply them to what you are doing.

For example, Dharmesh Shah over at Hubspot just put up a nice piece on product launches. He gives seven lessons on launching new software. You may take a glance at it and think, “I’m not launching any new software, now or ever. This doesn’t apply to me at all.” But look again. The underlying principles can apply to any idea.

Take the first lesson – It’s not too early to release. Dharmesh talks about how if you wait until everything is perfect, you’ll never go to market with your product. You’ll be making endless tweaks.

This applies to your ideas. If you wait to talk about an idea until it’s perfect, or until there is no risk that anyone will dislike it – you’ll never offer any ideas.

In fact, all of Dharmesh’s lessons fit perfectly with having new ideas. Here are the rest of Dharmesh’s lessons with my applications to ideas in parenthesis:

Lesson 2 – Be ready to iterate (Be ready to refine and tweak your ideas)
Lesson 3 – Provide a simple feedback mechanism (Let people respond to your ideas without getting defensive)
Lesson 4 – Respond to feedback (Be open to the ideas of others and use them to make your ideas better. Let go of idea ownership.)
Lesson 5 – Track as much data as you can (Take lots of notes - even if you don't use them now, they may come in handy for future ideas)
Lesson 6 – Don’t waste time coding reports (Keep your notes, but don’t obsess over them. Go back and review them later, but don’t catalog and alphabetize!)
Lesson 7 – Watch it spread, nudge it along (When you get a big idea, encourage others to talk about it and participate in it. Ask others for their opinions, and pay attention to who is embracing your idea or not)

You can repeat this exercise with any bit of information. Try pulling out the fundamentals and applying them to your world, even if at first it may seem a little out there. Innovation starts when we take information we have and combine it in unexpected ways.

Some good ideas have to die

I know you’re probably sick of hearing about Google. I am a little bit too. But I did enjoy this description of how they get ideas, provided by Social Media Influence. Apparently, Google gets so many good ideas from its employees that they have to kill a bunch of good ones. I think that’s an important point. Once you start having a lot of good ideas, you will not be able to take action on every single one. You will need to learn to let go or you’ll be spread too thin. When you’re working on too much at once, everything will get a crummy implementation – if it gets one at all. Believe me, I know this from experience.

It’s better to sacrifice a few good ideas than your reputation for getting things done.

Are you getting too many good ideas? Which ones should you let go of?

Don't hoard

The VAR guy has an interesting post on what he calls sustainable innovation. Basically, he emphasizes the importance of continuing to innovate, and not just putting all your eggs in one basket. I think it ties in nicely to one of the principles of having a lot of ideas. Don’t hoard them.

Ever get an idea that you loved, that you knew was a winner? But the timing wasn’t quite right. You didn’t think the audience would be receptive yet. You thought that this was the Next Big Thing and you wanted to wait until everything was perfect to roll it out. And you held on to it, and didn’t share it or act on it. Or you fell so in love with the idea in its current state that you refused to consider other possibilities for it.

When you hoard ideas like this, it puts a roadblock up. That roadblock keeps you from developing and building on the original idea. And often our new best ideas come from our old best ideas.

Lesson? Don’t hoard your ideas. Don’t fall so in love with one of them you think it has no faults or can’t get better.

Ideas on index cards

Jessica at Indexed has so many amazing ideas. Can't imagine them getting much riper. Of course, that's the thing about getting ideas - You can continuously improve. I can't wait to see what someone with this much idea potential does next.

A recent favorite post on innovation.

Jessica takes index cards and draws clever diagrams with clever headers. Wonder what her idea inspiration was.

Look around your home or office. How can you transform an everyday item like an index card into a great idea?

Don't kill your ideas for small people

How many times have you been in a situation where you had a good idea, decided not to speak out, and then someone else came up with something similar and everyone liked it? That’s what happens when you kill your own ideas. You miss out on opportunities to show your colleagues, friends, bosses, whoever what value you can add.

On the flip side, have you ever spoken an idea aloud that no one liked? Or worse yet, that was harshly criticized or laughed at? Ouch. That doesn’t feel good, does it? It doesn’t really make you want to go out there and share more ideas either. This is why it is so difficult to stop killing your own ideas. Killing ideas keeps you from feeling embarrassed.

When I feel belittled by someone making fun of my ideas, I like to remember this quote from Mark Twain:

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the truly great make you feel that you, too, can become great.