When Generating Ideas Quantity Should Be Valued More Than Quality
Creative thinkers value ideas. America was founded on the power of ideas. I mean that literally. The history of America begins with one man's far-fetched dream of exploring undiscovered lands. Because of his driving ambition, millions and millions of immigrants were able to start new lives and claim whole new territory.
Think about about what Columbus was risking when he decided to embark on a journey to find the new world. His plan was full of risk, but also amazing potential. Columbus' creative thinking dynamic embodies the risk-reward characteristic. To many he may only be an explorer, but if many other ways he was highly creative and truly an entrepreneur.
To see the rewards, just look around you. That's exactly what he was able to capture.
By having the courage and ambition to accomplish discovery the new world, Columbus opened up the doors of opportunity not only for himself, but for the world around him. His idea is rooted in the American dream, a man who was able to create his own opportunities, discover new land and change the lives and livelihood of millions.
If you ever find yourself wondering just how much you could possibly expect to gain from harnessing your creative abilities, remember that example of Columbus.
All creative thinkers know just how valuable ideas really are. I'm not talking just about the obvious, flashy, crazy, out-there, very profitable ideas.
Write this down. Creativity is a game of odds.
Go big or go home when generating ideas. What I mean by this is you have to come up with as many ideas as humanly possible when you are looking for new ideas. This is one of the rules of creativity.
When speaking with high school leadership groups in high school across North America, it would be my job to help them come up with ideas for fundraising, school spirit, assemblies, all different types of things.
For whatever challenge we were trying to solve, we work together for about an hour and a half. Within each of these sessions our goal was to generate a top 10 list of wow ideas that would solve the challenge.
Quality comes from quantity. Make sure you write that down. During the sessions with the high school students our objective was to come up with as many ideas as possible, following the rule of go big or go home. We always kept in our minds that quality comes from quantity.
The most amazing, fabulous, million-dollar idea won't come to you right off the bat. But, if you are generating as many ideas as possible, then out of quantity will come quality.
If you are generating as many ideas as possible they aren't all going to be good. When I was working with the student leadership groups 99% of the ideas we generated were bad, some really bad. The thing was that within that hour and a half span we would generate between 3,000 and 4,000 ideas!
But the point is that out of that came 1% that were pure gold. We would never have gotten to that 1% had we not tried to go for as many ideas as humanly possible because creativity, like I said earlier, is a game of odds. You put the odds in your favor, the more ideas you generate.
Working together in a group to come up with ideas is extremely powerful for the sole reason that multiple heads are better than one. People will work off each other's ideas, make connections and spark new ideas in other people. If I share an idea, it may trigger something in another person, which sparks three more ideas from another. By the end of it you have sparks flying and ideas popping out of everywhere.
Have you ever watched a set of Dominos start and progress, one after another? Imagine that in the room you are sitting in now. There is a straight line ahead of you, then it curves right and then back around to the left. It continues curving left, almost in a circle; but curves right just before it touches. It is now coming back towards you and continues past you into another room. Now what started that chain reaction of Dominos? The first one had to fall, just like an idea. We call this stimuli in the creative thinking process.
Look around you. Everything you can see, feel, taste, have experienced are types of stimuli. We use stimuli to act as the first Domino to get the ideas flowing. If you fire out an idea into a group of creative, alert, aware marketers, it will be their stimuli and an idea reaction, as I like to call it, will occur.
As it happens, you increase your odds of success in terms of an idea that's going to be more profitable for you. You increase the odds of that happening, the more ideas you generate.
In the creative process, every idea counts. Not every idea you come up with will be possible, or succeed. But, the more ideas you generate, you are increasing your odds at being successful.
When you see the latest product you realize that it was that one idea that is now turning that business into a million-dollar enterprise. That's all it takes is one idea to come up with the next big product, next technological boom, or to even cure a previously incurable disease.
With one sudden epiphany a software engineer could invent the next major advance in computer technology.
One idea could change how people live.
Being a creative thinker, you should embrace all of your ideas, never underestimate the power of the simplest one. Always remember the power of ideas.
By ignoring the plain and simple ideas could potentially be putting out the spark that will ignite a fire of ideas. Many people will dismiss the silly, simple ideas and continue searching for that one great idea. But by allowing the spark to ignite, your skill and integrity will allow it to grow with the potential to blossom.
All ideas must be valued. You never know what might blossom from the seeds you have planted.
Article Source: http://www.search-raven.com
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Find out what Stu McLaren has Uncovered! 227 Unusual and Just Plain Crazy Business Ideas! These Could Make You Rich This Year, Starting From Zero! Just One Great Idea Could Change Your Life! Chose Any Idea From 277 Unusual Business Ideas
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