How To Generate Ideas

I am often approached and asked how I came up with the idea for something I’ve created; it may be an article or a piece of fiction, a computer games design or an organizing solution.

There is a technique I use, and have used for the better part of three decades, that allows me to come up with some of the craziest, out of left field ideas that you’re likely to see before breakfast. I basically keep a notebook where I write down my ideas — but that isn’t the important part – and every time I want to generate ideas for something, be it an article, a new computer game or a solution to a technical problem, I use the two dozen ideas rule.

I write down two dozen ideas for the particular subject I am noodling about. The first few ideas are usually the most obvious ones, and they are usually the weakest ideas too, it’s the later ideas, the ones where I struggle to come up with numbers 18 through 24 that usually are the better ones. There is no “low hanging fruit” metaphor to use here about the earlier numbered ideas because (to use the metaphor) most of the low hanging fruit ideas (the ones at the beginning of the list) are sour, spoiled and soggy.

Feel like giving yourself a huge mental block to the generation of ideas?

Just try to think up 20 ideas.

Okay. There’s your mental block. Ideas about what?

You get the basic gist of how to give yourself a mental block. Give yourself a blank canvas to work with, with no parameters to define what it is you will be working on, and you’ll block immediately.

We need a solution to the mental block. Let’s narrow the scope of what we want to generate ideas about.

“20 ideas on how to live a better life.”

Still blocking? Not surprised. Let’s narrow it down a bit more.

“20 ideas on to how to live a healthier, more active life.”

Better. Let’s go even further.

“20 ideas on how to live a healthier, more active life and without increasing my monthly financial expenditure.”

Now we’re really getting somewhere.

“20 ideas on how to live a healthier, more active life, without increasing my monthly expenditure and without changing anything else in my schedule.”

Okay, now we have some really restrictive rules in place we can start generating ideas that fit these parameters.

Here’s another example: “start a business.”

Okay, start a business doing what?

How about: “start a home based business.”

A little better, but I think we can tweak it some more: “Start a home based business for less than $5,000.”

Now we’re getting there.

“Start a home based business for $5,000 where I can still work full-time at my real job.”

Finally!

By drilling down, by putting in parameters, by defining our goals we’re able to generate ideas that fit within them.

Truly creative solutions arise when there are restrictions placed upon what is acceptable.

Never allow yourself to be faced with a blank canvas. Never give it a thought. Never work without restrictions.

When you are trying to generate ideas for anything, the narrower the focus, the better. Lots of restrictions (that aren’t contradictory) will really get your creative juices flowing as you think of solutions to the puzzle.

Ever notice how a lot of artists bemoan how they don’t have a large enough budget? The client is putting too many restrictions on them? And that artist will find a litany of other problems too. But when they have onerous restrictions – not enough time, not enough funding, not enough materials, poor lighting, odd work environment – the artist produces some of their best work.

I see it a lot in computer game development when an aspiring game designer wants to talk to me about their grand idea for a game. It just requires a team of a few hundred to put together. The game designer immediately shows their naivety about how the world works, how business happens, their own career, their own capabilities and their own game design prowess.

How about coming up with a grand idea that only requires a team of two or three people to implement?

How about a team of just one person?

If you cannot generate even one product, one idea, one creative thought with a team of just one person, i.e. just yourself and nobody else, that is worth following through on, what makes you think any of the other ideas you come up with will be worth a hill of beans? And why the hell should I listen to them let alone consider financing them.

In the movie Brewster’s Millions starring Richard Pryor and John Candy, there is one distinct scene where Richard Pryor’s character, Brewster, turns to an interior designer called Marilyn and asks her to "create me a room I could die in." Through many ideas and iterations of design eventually Marilyn creates a room that Brewster, without any further explanation, admits that he could die in. The interesting thing is that obviously the first rooms created were the usual, easy ones. Marilyn tried to offer the client, Brewster, what she thought he wanted. These were the early ideas that were generated, it was the later ideas that took their time and that were hard work to come up with. The final room, a horrible corporate open plan office (today it would be filled with cubicles) is basically something that would kill the free-wheeling Brewster if he had to show up every day.[1]

Think Small

It is very easy, especially if you are not used to listing out your ideas, to come up with grandiose solutions to a particular problem, or allow your parameters to be too flexible. Unless you have a half million dollars to spend on a solution, specifying a parameter of a half million dollars, or proposing ideas that require a half million dollars to solve aren’t going to cut it. Similarly if you come up with ideas that will take two, three or even five years to implement, these aren’t too good either. I see this all the time when people are trying to list out their goals for the first time. It takes practice to know what’s achievable, what your limitations are, what is realistic, and what you actually want rather than what you think you want.

Without consciously doing it I have practiced over many years of setting out goals, smaller ones at first, larger ones later on and those achieving goals, again small ones at first, larger goals later on. It is a little like designing a computer game, don’t attempt to design Spore when you haven’t tried your hand at designing a game like Pong first. The old adage holds true, learn to walk before you attempt to run. To throw out another metaphor, you cannot design sky scrapers without years of studying and practicing, though with a little effort, you can probably design a fairly good dog house. People that have spent a little while designing and building dog houses now believe they are ready for skyscrapers. Even worse, people that have never studied and never built anything, let alone a dog house, are trying to design and build skyscrapers.

Practice writing out a list of two dozen ideas for anything and everything around you. What does that mean? What should I try and brainstorm ideas about? Well, how about creating a list of two dozen topics that you want to create a list of two dozen ideas for? A list of lists. If you were to create your meta-list of ideas you’d end up with 24 x 24 ideas, 576 unique ideas for problems you want to solve and goals that you want to achieve. That’s a lot of practice.

“Two dozen ideas of how to clean up and organize my desk without spending more than $50”

This list of ideas I put together several years ago when my desk real estate was dwindling even after I shortly upgraded to a bigger desk that gave me about 14 linear feet of space. I realized that spending money to solve the problem wasn’t going to actually solve the real problem. The real problem was too much clutter and no amount of organization was ever going to stop it unless I put a stop to it myself, hence the limitation of $50 just to allow for the essential items I would need to get everything arranged. I’ve highlighted the ideas that I like by making the text bold.

1. Put everything in a box.
2. Use the desk drawers to hide everything away.
3. Pick up some desk drawer organizers that will keep everything tidy.
4. Throw out the papers and trash that clutter my area.
5. Always take away the coffee mugs, glasses and water bottles when I am done drinking them
6. Keep reusable Velcro cable ties on hand to wrap up cords for portable electronics when I am done using them.
7. Zip tie all of the computer cables around the desk in to neat bundles.
8. Remove all non-essential items from my desk at the end of the day and put them away.
9. File away and throw out all disused papers from my desk at the end of every day.
10. Obtain stacking desk organizer, pen caddy and other "desk furniture."
11. Minimize the amount of junk and non-essential non-work related material on my desk.
12. Move to a smaller desk. Less desk space means less room for acquiring and accumulating stuff.
13. Keep only those office supplies I actually use on a regular basis in my desk drawers.
14. Keep only enough office supplies for my actual needs.
15. Take all of the spare cables, electronic gadgets and toys out of my desk drawers and find a new permanent home for them.
16. Purchase some three ring binders to store all of my loose papers in.
17. Purchase plastic business card sheets and a binder to store all of the business cards I receive from business associates, conferences, clients, etc.
18. Unplug unused power bricks and wall chargers when not in use and place them in to a storage box.
19. Label each power brick and wall charger so that I can easily identify them later.
20. Dedicate permanent space on my desktop for my laptop computers.
21. Set up two smaller desks. One for my computer workstation and another further away for business paperwork, etc.
22. Get a cheap scanner and scan every piece of paper that isn’t a printout, dispose of the paper once I have digital copies.
23. Regularly clear off my desk of everything, polish the surface and then put back only what I want to keep.
24. Refuse to let unread magazines and periodicals stack up on my desk. Tear out just the articles I’m interested in and throw the rest of the magazine away.
25. Refuse to let unread science papers and study reports stack up on my desk by subscribing to the digital versions via laptop.
26. Have my friendly research librarian only supply digital copies of science papers and study reports.

“Two dozen ideas for finding more space and keeping it organized in my home.”

This organizing list was generated about eight years ago when I first moved in to my new, very tiny two bedroom beach house in Santa Cruz. I now apply almost all of these organizational ideas to any new home I move to.

1. Put up wide shelves above freezer in the kitchen for storing cookware.
2. Purchase behind the door organizing storage baskets.
3. Under sink organizer slide out trays.
4. Kitchen cabinet slide out organizers.
5. Hang pots and pans on organizer rack affixed to ceiling.
6. Put up narrow shelving behind bedroom door.
7. Put extra shelves in master bedroom walk-in closet.
8. Put up narrow shelving behind bathroom door.
9. Put up shelving and cupboards above toilet cistern.
10. Extend bathroom cabinet that holds bathroom sink with extra unit.
11. Put up extra kitchen cabinets on blank wall of kitchen above the trash can.
12. Put up cabinets above computer desk.
13. Install CD shelving all along wall behind television.
14. Install cabinets above current CD shelving.
15. Obtain a storage ottoman that matches the couch for remote controls, video game controllers, etc
16. Put up open shelving above towel rack in master bathroom to store bath towels and other bathroom linens.
17. Purchase stacking shelf organizers for kitchen cabinets to stack plates and dishes on.
18. Move non-regular use canned foods to a storage area that is not in the immediate kitchen.
19. Move counter top kitchen appliances that aren’t used regularly to kitchen goods storage closet.
20. Put all the boxes of tea and varieties of coffee in to storage jars with tight sealing lids. Throw out the empty boxes and bags.
21. Only store enough plates, glasses, cups and other dishware for my own personal needs directly in the kitchen. All other dishware that I don’t personally use on at least a weekly basis gets put into the kitchen closet or the hallway closet for use when guests arrive.
22. Attach shelves to the back of the door of the laundry closet to store detergents, dryer sheets, steaming iron, etc.
23. Attach hooks to hang up a laundry basket on the back of the door of the laundry closet.
24. Put a wicker laundry basket in the bathroom for the exclusive use of damp towels.
25. Put a wicker laundry basket in the bathroom for the exclusive use of used workout clothing so that it doesn’t contaminate my regular clothing.
26. Sort through all the medication and first aid supplies in the bathroom and throw out those that are expired or no longer required.
27. Install hooks in the hallway closet to hang up brooms and mops.
28. Install handheld vacuum cleaner on the back of the hallway closet door.
29. Purchase under bed storage boxes for bed linens, spare towels, sweaters, etc

“Two dozen ideas for direct income generation for less than $5,000 invested in activities that I am qualified to do and that interest me”

I wrote out this list of ideas specifically for this article, but many of the ideas are based on earlier ideas that I had many years ago. I basically stripped out the ideas that weren’t feasible, kept the ones that worked based on direct experience and added a few more that I think could also work now that I’ve had more experience in the service industry.

1. Build several special interest, very narrow niche websites that only require a minor update once a week or once a month
2. A hot dog cart situated outside of a convention centre
3. A hot dog cart situated in a popular bar & nightclub area
4. An early morning mobile coffee cart
5. A home organizing business
6. Laundry pick up and drop off service
7. A home cooked meals delivery service for busy professionals living alone
8. A professional supper club catering to vegetarians, raw foodies, or other niche eaters
9. A belongings packing and unpacking company for people who are moving
10. A neighbourhood welcome service for people moving in to a particular area
11. A pet sitting/pet walking/pet grooming/pet photography business
12. Motorcycle messenger/courier service
13. A virtual assistant/concierge business
14. A storage locker/garage organizing business with product and service up-sell
15. Organization of coffee mornings in retirement communities
16. Silk flower arrangements for homes and offices
17. On call home visit computer repair and maintenance targeting retirement communities
18. Mobile coffee cart delivery service to business parks and offices
19. Lunch delivery service to business parks and offices
20. Children’s clothing parties
21. Cooking party organizer with product up-sell
22. Cooking school (mobile or permanently situated)
23. Local business web hosting
24. On call home visit laptop repair centre and laptop hard drive data recovery
25. Life coach with video tutorials
26. Errand/odd job man/handyman service targeting retirement communities
27. On call tutoring business in music, computers, game design, writing, mathematics, English or other specialised subjects I know

Why Two dozen? Why Not 10?

Why two dozen ideas? Why not ten? Ten ideas might be a pleasing round number to a lot of us but it doesn’t let us get past the sour fruit (low hanging fruit metaphor again) to the best ideas produce that will come later on. When you are really struggling to get that 22^nd idea you’re pushing against your ideology, you’re pushing against your daily life momentum, you’re pushing against your ingrained habits, and you’re pushing against tradition to come up with great creative solutions. That’s where your best ideas will germinate. Some ideas come to you in a flash and a bang. They are usually solitary and unbidden. These are great ideas, but they are not usually practical for day to day problems or when you are on a tight deadline and have to produce.

In essence being forced to come up with two dozen ideas for a situation, a subject, a problem, a goal will make you consider things you normally wouldn’t. You remove all of the cruft, all of the dregs, all of the ideas that don’t have legs, usually in the first half dozen bullet pointed thoughts. The later ideas, the ones you really struggle to find are often the better ones that are worth drilling down in to, conducting research on, creating a proper project for.

“So do I really need two dozen ideas?” You lament. “What if I can only come up with five?”

Yes, two dozen ideas, that’s how many you need and not one less.

People who are already whinging about the number of ideas they have to generate or concerned that they’ll only come up with five ideas. This system isn’t for them. They have already defeated themselves before they even start. The sort of person that worries about generating 24 ideas for a subject is the sort of person looking for an easy way out. They’re looking for someone else to do the work for them or they are looking for the easiest solution possible. I could have made this entire article about how you need to write out just five ideas and those self-same people would then be lamenting about five ideas, about how crazy I am to suggest such a thing, and could they just get by and do only three ideas? Maybe only two? How about only half an idea?

The list of ideas of how to clean up and organize my desk contains the first idea, throw everything in a big box and have done with it. Well that’s fine, that’s the kind of solution the person who only wants to create five ideas is looking for. If you’re that person, why are you even reading this article?

Okay, now for every list of ideas that you work on I am not serious in that you absolutely must come up with 24 separate schemes. You’ll know when you’ve truly run out of ideas. You’ll know when you have no more juice to wring out of the fruit (low hanging fruit metaphor again.) You might generate two dozen ideas, you might generate only a dozen, but you’ll know if you are honest with yourself, that you generated as many ideas as you possibly could before you gave up.

So what if you really can, after trying, only come up with five ideas. The importance is to try. Giving up before you try, then you might as well not bother even to show up.

I have to admit, when I sit down to write out two dozen ideas I rarely create a full list of two dozen on the first attempt. It usually takes me some hours, spread over a couple of days, to come up with the full two dozen. I rarely if ever not manage to fill the list, but I cannot think of a single time when I was able to come up with all two dozen ideas within a couple of minutes.

Even though there is no fruit metaphor going on in this article I will say that if there were low hanging fruit to be had, by listing out two dozen ideas I’m getting it all as early as possible in the first half dozen or dozen thoughts. Just wanted to put that out there. In case, you know, someone accused me of abusing a fruit metaphor. Never was good at fruit metaphors. Now car metaphors on the other hand, I’m incredibly good at those.

When I am done with a list I will often revisit it a few months or even years later. Depending on the applicability of the list to what I am working on or thinking about in my current life I will often find that many of the ideas are no longer applicable to my situation and can be struck from the record. I leave the idea on the list but I strike it through to indicate that the note is no longer relevant. Revisiting my lists is like visiting an earlier version of me, much like re-reading my earlier writings, which provides an insight to my psychological state and immediate concerns at the time that I wrote out the list.

How descriptive should I be in my ideas? How long is a piece of string? Once I have as many ideas on the list as I can manage I will go back and write out a sentence or two about the idea itself. This expounding on the idea will often lead to new ideas I can add to the list. I also expound on the ideas if I become stuck because, as I said, the expansion of the description of the idea will often lead to new ideas. If I am having difficulty describing the idea or not feeling motivated to expound on it, it is usually a sure sign that the idea is probably not worth pursuing. I will often scribble in a quick note to let my future self know that a particular idea wasn’t all that good anyway.

Occasionally the expansion of the idea is just a word or two. Often it is a whole paragraph of text or even a whole other set of bullet points. I cannot emphasise enough the necessity to expand upon an idea as much as possible as close in time to when the idea was germinated. When I am pondering a particular subject or quietly meditating I forget more ideas than I manage to recall or capture. I often find when writing out my list of ideas that I cannot get them down on paper fast enough before the next one comes along which for me is a bit like regular writing. My future self is going to have no clue what “cat RFID feeding collar” actually means two years from now, or even two weeks from now. I will remember what I was thinking of if I expand the idea to describe “a device that cats or other pets can wear that has an embedded RFID chip in it that will unlock a food dispenser or dispense a fixed quantity of food in to a bowl when the pet approaches it if the particular pet is on special diet food or requires fixed feeding times.” See? Much more sane and in two years time I’ll know exactly what I was thinking when it’s time to be an expert witness in a patent litigation case.

I never throw my lists of ideas away. I may archive them and never look at them again, but I never throw them out. I use Microsoft OneNote to capture all of my ideas and notes so I never have to worry about running out of space or not being able to find something ever again. Hard drive space is cheap and Microsoft OneNote will synchronize itself between multiple machines in real time. I have often regretted throwing descriptions of ideas or lists away that I wrote out on a legal pad without capturing them digitally first and so I completely gave up the practice. If you are writing out your ideas too, no matter how asinine or ephemeral you think they may be, I strongly urge you to keep a digital copy of all of them for as long as you possibly can.

Okay, so I’ve got my list of ideas, hopefully two dozen in all. So then what? I pick out the ideas that seem worthy of keeping and expand and elucidate on them in another page of my notebook. I’ll often add in research notes, hand drawn images to convey anything that isn’t clear and a whole bunch of calculations that will hopefully either prove or disprove how feasible the idea is. I have to iterate this point again, if I am struggling to expand an idea beyond the initial few words I wrote out it’s a sure sign the idea is not worth pursuing. I stop struggling with it and move on to another idea that is hopefully more worthy.

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[1] Interesting to note that of all the people I have watched this movie with, at this point look at other people in the room, shrug their shoulders and go "huh?" Perhaps the joke is too subtle or perhaps it comes down to a drab, grey, corporate office space being so ingrained into their psyche as something so perfectly normal that the prospect of spending every day there wouldn’t kill them.