New Ideas

New ideas for business, art and life can be produced easily using a variety of methods you can learn in a short time. The following short list suggests some of those ways. Following that you'll find links to other pages and resources on generating ideas.

1. See What Others Are Doing

"New ideas" means new to you, right? What you want is ideas that work, so see what's working for other people. Whatever the problem is that you're trying to solve, it may have a great solution already - one you just don't know about yet.

2. Travel

Traveling is a way to accomplish number one above (seeing what others are doing), but it's also a way to open the mind. You bring your own ideas with you, and they mix with what you learn along the way. Be a traveler more than a tourist, though, meaning you get actively involved in the local culture and activities instead of just pasing through. I always return from trips with new ideas.

3. Ask Crazy Questions

There was an office building where a thousand or more people worked. A young man who was employed there asked, "What if I could talk each one into buying something from me?" He was used to asking crazy questions like this, and knew that they often became something useful if worked with. Eventually the idea came that he could play advertising on the speakers in all common areas like halls and elevators. He didn't have to sell to them, but only to advertisers who sold to them. He started selling ads and making CDs, and then talked the owner of his own office building plus fifteen others into splitting the revenue with him for playing the ads all day long. Ask crazy questions and work with them.

4. Combine Ideas

This is one of the most entertaining ways to create new ideas. Just take two existing concepts and see how they might work together. Some might argue that most innovation happens in this way. Once there were sailboats and skateboards, for example, it was only a matter of time before someone invented "skate-sailing" (now common along the boardwalks in Los Angeles). I cover this "concept combination" technique in detail in my ebook "Problem Solving Power," showing how it can go far beyond the obvious combining of "things" to get new inventions.

More Ways To Have New Ideas

If you want more information on the various methods of generating new ideas, here are some other pages and resources that may interest you. Just click a title for details.

Problem Solving Power - This is my own ebook, as mentioned above. There are dozens of creative problem solving techniques explained here.

Thinking Outside The Box - This is a page on my fun site, 999Ideas.com. On the rest of the site you'll find my own ideas for everything from politics to inventions to philosophy.

Radical Thinking Course - 24 free lessons. I have seriously considered taking this course down and using it as the basis for a book, so you may want to subscribe now while it's available.

Articles on Brainstorming - A page on this website, this is where you'll find a list of articles and pages with content on brainstorming.

Increase Creativity - This page outlines a few techniques for general creativity enhancement.

Scattered throughout the site are other pages on how to have new ideas or become more creative. You can find many listed on the homepage. New ones are announced in the Brainpower Newsletter, along with the occasional reminder of existing pages.