Continuation from yesterday……….
STEP #2: Dismiss Any Notion of a Brilliant or a Perfect Idea
When people begin working on Step #1, one of their primary complaints I hear is that they can’t come up with 8-10 good ideas within a 30 minute time frame. They are missing the entire point. In most cases people are pushing incredibly hard for that billion dollar idea or that perfect idea that would be easy to execute. They want it now.
I remember receiving an e-mail from Zack about this process when I originally shared this information on one of my blogs in 2012. Zack was angry. He told me, in no uncertain terms, that my idea generation process was absolute garbage and that after two weeks of practice he wasn’t able to come up with a single idea. After inquiring further into Zack’s issue it quickly became apparent that he was trying to come up with 8-10 great business ideas on a daily basis.
Something that is statistically impossible to do.
Please understand something very important. Not every single one of your ideas has to be perfect or even workable. They are also allowed to be crazy, out there, stupid, absurd, laughable, impossible, illegal, etc….. No matter how insane you believe your idea is, put it in your notepad. Worst case scenario, it will allow you to improve on your ideas, the best case, it will unify with one of your other ideas at a later time to create a spark otherwise impossible. And never forget, the world is full of billionaires and millionaires who were laughed at, ridiculed and dismissed as outright crazy. Don’t be afraid to join their company.
STEP #3: Read, Read, Read and Then Read Some More….
Not only is it good for your overall intelligence, but it is also good for your wallet. As you read industry news, business articles, technology developments, various reports, research papers or whatever else you are interested in, you will be able to start putting things together in your mind in such a way that it will allow you to come up with A LOT of new ideas.
Take Bill Gates for example. While he clearly saw the computer revolution coming in the mid 1970’s, even dropping out of Harvard in order to take advantage of it, very few others saw what he did. Not only did most people think he was crazy, even IBM dismissed his vision for the future as utterly ridiculous. Yet, Bill Gates knew. He spent his formative years in Lakeside school playing with computers and by the time he was 18 he was one of the best programmers in the nation. From his vantage point he could clear see what the future held.
The same process applies to new idea generation. The more you know and in the wider range of fields, the better your ideas will become. As often is the case, you will be able to connect the dots and see things that other people simply do not see. While you might not have as much inside information as Bill Gates had, by having a deep pool of knowledge to draw from you will be ahead of 99.99% of the people out there.
Quick Note: Try to stay away from worthless entertainment such as gossip, celebrity news, novels, arguments and other similar writings.
PRACTICE #2: Try to structure your day or your current job in such a fashion that you are able to read as much as you possibly can. Make a conscious effort to increase your knowledge base and it will pay off 10X in the form of much better and much more profitable ideas.
To Be Continued Tomorrow ……(Why Am I Seeing This On A Financial Website?)
The Shocking Truth Behind Coming Up With Brilliant Ideas Google