Summary:
What is idea generation? Creating ideas and idea development
“If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old” ― Peter Drucker
Although every single person on this planet is creative in his own right, most are insecure about it. Many feel that they are not intelligent or do not have good ideas like their contemporaries. However, it is wrong to believe that one is not smart enough to come up with ideas. It is worth noting that neither a billionaire businessman nor an accomplished scientist comes up with brilliant ideas daily.
Anyone who had a fantastic idea had many mediocre ideas too. Expecting the brain to produce brilliance every day is absurd. It’s possible that you are not making an effort elsewhere, leading to the perception that you as a student don’t have strong ideas. Ideas don’t simply fall on the lap of successful people. They put in the effort to come up with new ideas. They spend most of their time finding ways to optimize their thinking to invent or reinvent new ideas.
More ideas come to us daily than we need to use and most of the time we discard them. We don’t even make an effort to jot them down somewhere.In turn, as students, we might even dismiss concepts that could change the world. Incidentally, ideas are like inspiration. If you haven’t recorded the idea at the moment, you’ll most probably never remember the idea again.
High IQ is not the prime requisite to come up with ideas. The main requirement is to make a persistent effort to keep your brain thinking. The generation of ideas is more of a process than something that comes into existence suddenly. It is not exactly a moment of brilliance.
Meanwhile, a thinking brain requires patience to come up with good ideas. It is not like the brain will give you amazing ideas in just a couple of days. It can take weeks or months before one gets a concrete idea. Besides, there is no average time required to get a great idea for interests and thinking to differ from person to person.
Thus, by definition, a brilliant idea can be subjective. I might love the plan of trekking in an unconventional way, while you might consider a billion-dollar business to be excellent. Meanwhile, another person’s mind might be blown away by a painting.
One man’s extraordinary idea might sound mundane to someone else. So, the right definition for your idea has to be crafted by you.
Techniques to Generate Ideas
Here are several methods that students, irrespective of their preferences, personalities, and hobbies, can utilize to generate ideas.
1. Create 5 Ideas per Day
Like a muscle, a student’s brain needs frequent exercise. Hence, the simplest way to get good ideas is to come up with as many ideas as possible. Besides, the likelihood of stumbling upon a good idea is greater when one has a larger number of ideas. So, start making 5 ideas daily. It doesn’t matter where they come from or how good they are. The idea isn’t exactly to put into every single idea but rather to practice one’s brain into becoming more creative. Imagination is the key here and soon you’ll have a cartload of ideas, amazing, common, and bad.
2. Get Broader Experience
Our limits of imagination are limited by our limits of experience. It is like being in a well, the most one would think of would be about the well, water, sky, and clouds. The ideas are restricted to this limit because the person knows not what lies beyond the well. As a result, the extent of our exposure, experience, and knowledge will determine how far our thoughts as students can travel. Thus, as a student, you are unable to come up with an idea that you have never heard of. However, when you broaden your experience and gain new information, your brain is naturally enticed into thinking in new ways.
3. Read a Lot
Great minds are voracious readers. Also, reading is the easiest way of acquiring new knowledge. Besides in the 21st century, there is such ease of access to tons of content that an entire life will fail to consume it all. However, one just needs to grab a book and read it to get enlightened.
4. Set Aside Thinking Time
Every day, keep aside 15-30 mins to think and gain clarity to achieve goals. All you need to do is come up with little ideas for improvement. The time is not to think over world-altering ideas. The time is to find ways to improve yourself. For example during the time you think of ideas to improve your patience or become a more loving parent.
5. Cross Apply Knowledge
The majority of students believe that knowledge is only ever confined to one particular topic. In other words, one does not expect a theoretical physicist to apply physics in the stock market to generate profits.
However, it is worth noting that Warren Buffet’s billionaire partner Charlie Munger, has devised his framework of decision making using pieces of anthropology, psychology, economics, and physics. In other words, if you thoroughly know the basic principles of a field, then you will also be able to learn and apply them to an entirely different field. This comes as a unique advantage while generating ideas.
