Everybody gets a good idea or two every moth. Some people are forced to do it for living (see art directors, web designers etc). The people that do it for living do not get more ideas than other people, they just get to apply those really fast into projects.

Why is that we do everything to stop ourselves to get more ideas. Countless times I hear, I had an idea in the shower. Why is that? Because it’s one of the few moments when we just stop and enjoy life a little bit. Because ideas come not when your sharp and fully alert. Idea is basically a response of our subconscious  self to a problem we deeply thought about. It can be something on a shopping list, or it can be something grand. Go figure..

We stop ourselves from getting ideas by filling our heads with rubbish, too much news (guilty!), worries, screen time (tv, smartphone, tablet etc). When we consume we do not get ideas, ideally we get inspirations from consuming, but that’s it.

The screen distractions do not help neither…

If we want more ideas we need to bring back the daydreaming state which we had when we had fewer distractions. That’s a hard thing to do when you feel the urge to tweet what you just eat. Idea’s and responses to thoughts come when the mind is half absent, present but not focused, thinking but not really. Tough to generalize state of mind that is….

We need to stop and internalize the news. Just stop and think about that whole destroyed town (Philippines in news today), think about what it would mean to be one of those poor souls. Think about and then go to sleep. Ideas will come tomorrow or in a couple of weeks.

Someday somebody’s idea will save a lot of people in the same situations as that super typhoon.

Just stop and try to enjoy something simple, notice a few details. Rinse, repeat… You have just started on your path to ideas! The first 60 years are the most difficult.