We all experience getting ideas, even great ideas, at unexpected moments, but what to do when we really need to get an idea, but inspiration just won’t seem to strike.
Determination might be the answer you are looking for. In this blog post we take a closer look at five ways to get ideas, maybe even great ideas.
Set aside time
A common mistake is waiting around for inspiration to strike. Sure, sometimes we get those great ideas when just strolling down the street or washing our hair, but sometimes we need to take the time to come up with the next big idea.We need to designate time to carving out the ideas and force the inspiration to hit us.
Research
Most great ideas comes from great frustration. Something isn’t working, so how can we fix it? But just because you’ve identified the problem it doesn’t mean that the solution will come to you in a divine moment of inspiration. Research what else is out there. What have other people done to solve this problem? Can you do it better? What question haven’t they answered?
Get bad ideas
Don’t be afraid of the bad idea. Actually, focusing on the really bad idea, can some times lead to a really great idea. So get your team together, if you have one, and get prepared to do some brainstorming. But before you begin, make one rule: For the first 15 minutes you can only share your ideas if they are truly bad – if they are: too complicated, too expensive or just plain silly. If nothing else, this exercise will make sure that any ideas thrown in to the mix after this session, will look good. And if you’re lucky one of those bad ideas will be the starting point of something great.
Get more ideas
In this article on LifeHacker the author explains that more ideas is the way to get the right ideas. So get out your pen and paper and write down every single idea that might pop in to you head. And then start working on them. Some of these ideas are bound to fail, but dare to explore them.
Be open to judgement
Finally, the LifeHacker article suggest that being open to criticism is a key step in order to get good ideas. Share your ideas with others, but be open to their critique. The questions they ask might help you see the weaknesses of your idea, but even more importantly, it might help you unearth some potential in your idea, that you hadn’t seen yourself.