Ask any creativity expert and he will tell you "it helps to get a lot of ideas, more ideas you get, the better chance of hitting at a fresh solution." But the question that baffles everyone is: how?
Because in reality, forget a lot of ideas, people don't even get a few ideas to start with. Here are some tips to help you get ideas quickly:
Empty your mind:
Write everything that comes to your mind about that subject.
These may not be ideas, just your thoughts and preconceived notions about the situation. Write everything. Once these ideas are out you can think of some fresh ones.
Keywords:
Write all the key words associated with your opportunity at hand. These Keywords will become your gateways to ideas.
Phrase these keywords differently and see what happens. For example in this article instead of "keywords" I can say "words which are important to understand the concept" or the phrase "words that unlock the meaning" of a situation.
Now these phrases will give you cues to get more ideas.
Associations:
Start free-wheeling. Record all the associations that come to your mind about the opportunity and start creating ideas on those associations.
Write down all the jokes, all the anecdotes, all the lyrics that this situation reminds you.
Does it remind you of a movie scene? Write it down. It reminds you of a picnic where some funny thing happened? Record it.
Don't judge. Play with whatever your brain gives you.
For example "Mother" will take you to "love"
Mother > love > Now love can lead to "romance" or "security" or 'war" depending on your life experiences, context of the situation and mental state at the moment.
Keep writing as many ideas you can capture.
Write a book:
Pretend as if you are an expert author on the subject you want ideas for. Now think of possible book titles about the situation. Also add the subtitles to get a fresh angle.
For example:
How to think of a truckful of ideas under tight deadlines?
Idea mining: Where to dig to get good ideas.
Instant ideas: Whenever you want
Invite ideas: They are eager to come
The gang of Ideas: They never come alone
Now these titles will become a trigger for ideas.
All the ideas are a possible seed for the next idea. Like the book title above reads, Ideas have gangs, they never come alone!
Invite ideas:
Read a magazine or a newspaper and invite the headlines in your situation. See what will happen if you write your keywords in those headlines!
It will spark new combinations and many more ideas.
Do the same with shopping catalogues. See how a fashionable handbag can help you get the best of your opportunity.
Or a lipstick can help you create ideas?
For example I can say;
Try different shades of the idea you have generated. It will help you generate more ideas. What if I change the shades of verbs in my ideas?
Instead of, how to think of ideas quickly, what if I ask:
How to find ideas quickly? Or, how to cook ideas quickly?
What about, how to spice up your ideas instantly?
Build on ideas:
Write down all the ideas on a big sheet where the ideas can gang up together.
Now let them cross over from one gang to another.
New gangs will be created. Keep on recording the ideas.
Fill in the blanks:
On your idea sheet write numbers:
1:
2: . . .
60:
Human brain has a tendency to fill in the blanks. When there will be an expectation for ideas, it will provide.
Reward yourself:
Give yourself a good treat when you crack a good number of ideas. Reward yourself for number of ideas as well as good ideas.
Give yourself idea targets:
Creating ideas is a skill. You get better at it with practice.
So give increasing targets to yourself regularly. Achieving these targets will encourage and convince you, creating so many ideas is possible.
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Puneet Bhatnagar is a Creativity and NLP trainer, with 18 years of experience in the fields of advertising and media.
He writes with his own experience and conviction on the subjects of creativity, idea generation, subconscious mind power and branding related issues.
Now he runs his own Training company: The Creativity Mission.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
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