Where do ideas come from?

Where do ideas come from?

All of us are creative. Not necessarily at the exact moment when ideas would be most valuable. Normally at 3am when we are woken from a dream by our groundbreaking solution. We scrabble for a pen and piece of paper in the dark, jot down our eureka and then fall in to a satisfied slumber. Of course, in the morning, the meaningless scratches we made with the blunt pencil on the nightstand might as well be in Sanskrit but that's creativity for you – unreliable!

However, there are some techniques you can use when you just have to get a decent idea against the clock.

I recently bought a set of brainstorming cards for just this purpose. Produced by Michael Michalko, the “Thinkpak” is a set of 56 cards divided in to 10 types. Each one asks the thinker a question to break habitual creative thought patterns. Even the most creative of us sometimes get stuck in a rut and all our ideas start looking the same. Being asked random questions by another person or by a set of cards like these, helps you break the pattern.

The categories of card are based on the work of Alex Osborn and Bob Eberle who created the mnemonic SCAMPER to help people like us with our ideas.
Substitute something
Combine it with something else
Adapt something to it
Modify or Magnify it
Put it to some other use
Eliminate something
Reverse or Rearrange it

The 10th category is Evaluate – after all, not every idea you have will be fit for purpose so you need to whittle them down at some point in order to take action.

To test the cards on your behalf I have selected 4 at random. Before I reveal what they say, I will ask you to pick an issue you are currently struggling with…something where fresh ideas would be useful.

Get a pen and a piece of paper or start your Dictaphone going if you think better aloud. (I feel like a tarot reader!)
The first card I have picked at random is a “Modify” card. It asks:

“What can be modified? How could your subject be altered for the better?
Can you change its meaning, purpose, uses, dimensions, limits, process, or character?
What about its colour, motion, sound, odour, form, shape or functions?”

Don't skip on to the next card yet! It doesn't matter how unrelated these questions seem to your particular challenge – take a few moments to really consider them. Sometimes the most random, unconnected thoughts can inspire.

The second card I have picked at random is a “Rearrange” card. It asks:
“How else can this subject be arranged? What other arrangement might be better? What would happen if you interchanged components? Can you change the order? Where should this be in relation to that?”

Again, don't question the card! It may seem this card is more suited to engineering or manufacturing problems. Ignore that. See where the questions lead you.

The third card is an “Eliminate” card:

“Can you simplify it? Streamline it? Miniaturise it? Condense it? Make it compact? What can you understate?
Can you separate it into different parts? Can you determine how useful each part is? Can you change or improve one part at a time?”

Take your time. There are a lot of questions there. Often we look to make something more complex, bigger, add value. What if you take something away?

The final card is a “Rearrange” card:

“What if you switch the verb and the object in your original statement (For example, “How can we sell more bottles?” becomes “How can we bottle more sales?”) Do you get a different perspective?
What if you rearranged the way you work on this problem? Can you rearrange your environment? Priorities? People? Habits?”