8 HABITS OF PEOPLE WHO ALWAYS HAVE GREAT IDEAS
Eureka moments are rare.
The backstory behind great ideas is often more complex and winding than having
an apple fall on your head. But the best part is that creative ideas aren’t
reserved for a special group of people; they can come to anyone if you change
your mind-set.
"The fact is, almost all
of the research in this field shows that anyone with normal intelligence is
capable of doing some degree of creative work," Teresa Amabile, professor
of business administration at Harvard Business School and author of The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy,
Engagement, and Creativity at Work, told Fast
Company in 2004.
"Creativity depends on a number of things: experience, including knowledge
and technical skills; talent; an ability to think in new ways; and the capacity
to push through uncreative dry spells."
Whether they’re coming up
with an innovative new product to launch, finding a solution to a universal
problem, or picking a cool new place to grab lunch, people who consistently
have great ideas have formed habits that help them think. Here are eight simple
things those "creative geniuses" do that you can do, too:
1. THEY LOOK FOR INSPIRATION IN
UNEXPECTED PLACES
Instead
of staying focused within their industries, people who have great ideas look
elsewhere, says Sooshin Choi, provost at the College
for Creative Studies in
Detroit.
"Many professionals go
after information in their industry, but once you get that information, it’s
too late—everyone has it," he says. "Even if you get that information
faster than others, what kind of real difference can you make?"
Instead, Choi suggests
looking outside your field. "Car designers might look at furniture
designers for inspiration," he says. "There are endless examples of
different areas where you can find inspiration."
2. THEY MAKE SLOW DECISIONS
In his book Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind, author Guy Claxton
says intelligence increases when you think less: "There’s an expanding
idea of what it means to be intelligent," he told the London
Business Forum in
2014. "The narrow idea is all built around cleverness, which is the
ability to argue, marshal facts, and interpret a spreadsheet. That it’s all
done through reason; it’s all done consciously."
Research, however, has
found that thoughts are going on in the margins of the mind in areas Claxton
calls hazy, poetic, or uncontrolled. Calling this the "tortoise
mind," Claxton says great ideas bubble up when you slow down decisions:
"Whenever there’s a decision that needs to be made, the first thing you
ask yourself is, ‘When does this decision need to be made?’" he says.
"And you don’t make it until then."
Deciding prematurely stunts
your ability to find great ideas. Give your mind time to work in the margins—when
you’re thinking of something else. This allows time to collect more
information, listen to hunches, and experience bursts of creativity.
3. THEY FIND INTERNAL MOTIVATION
People who have great ideas
are motivated to work on something because it is interesting, involving,
exciting, satisfying, or personally challenging, says Amabile.
Research has found that
people are most creative when they’re intrinsically motivated, rather than
pushed by evaluation, surveillance, competition with peers, dictates from superiors,
or the promise of rewards.
"You should do what
you love, and you should love what you do," she writes. "The first is a matter of finding work that matches well
with your expertise, your creative thinking skills, and your strongest
intrinsic motivations. The second is a matter of finding a work environment
that will allow you to retain that intrinsic motivational focus, while supporting
your exploration of new ideas."
4. THEY START FROM SCRATCH
Instead of improving on an
existing item, people with great ideas pretend the product doesn’t exist and
they design it from scratch, says Choi.
"If you improve
something, then you only make it better," he says. "If you want to
make something different, you have to behave as if there is no such
thing."
Don’t ask yourself, ‘How
could I design a smartphone?’ says Choi. Ask yourself, ‘What is communication?’
"If you start there, you may be able to discover new possibilities,"
he says.
5. THEY ARE WILLING TO TAKE RISKS
"Often the difference
between a successful man and a failure is not one’s better abilities or ideas,
but the courage that one has to bet on his idea, to take a calculated risk, and
to act," said Maxwell Maltz, author of the 1960 self-help classic Psycho-Cybernetics.
Corporate cultures that
allow employees to challenge the status quo or disagree will foster innovation,
says Amabile. Training employees to be comfortable disagreeing with others and
receptive to disagreement will create an atmosphere of innovation, she writes.
6. THEY’RE ALWAYS TRYING NEW THINGS
Instead of becoming set in
your ways, Choi says people who have great ideas have formed the habit of
trying something different.
"If you always order
the same thing at your favorite restaurant, you are an old person," he
says. "Try something new—maybe something you didn’t like when you were
younger. Or do something you aren’t familiar with. You’ll feel young and you’ll
experience new things and ideas."
7. THEY FIND CONNECTIONS BETWEEN
EXPERIENCES
Great ideas are often the
result of connecting two seemingly unrelated items. People who consistently
have great ideas have become good at finding connections. In 1996—long before
he thought of the iPhone or iPod—the late Steve Jobs told Wired magazine:
8.
THEY’RE OPEN TO MAGIC
Elizabeth Gilbert, author
of Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear,
says ideas are out there waiting to find the right person who can bring them to
life.
"Ideas are these
disembodied life forms, they don’t have a form, but they have a will. All they
want is to be made manifest," she told Robin Young on NPR’s Here
and Now. "If you can manage to open up your consciousness to
an idea of living in a world of abundance, then you can believe that,
constantly, ideas are trying to find human collaborators."
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