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PERSONAL GROWTH:
HOW TO DEVELOP GOOD IDEAS AND
MAKE THEM WORK. |
N.W.
Schmidt Windsor,
ONT |
Very few ideas areworth the time it takes to come up with the thought. Most ideas go no place and are forgotten before the day is over.Of the ideas that are good, very few are followed up and everend up in the market place. Most people are just not motivated to do anything about their ideas,while others believe it would take too much of their time and money to follow through to completion. This leaves the marketplace wide open for those people who take their ideas seriously.
The important thing to remember is that anybody can get an idea. It's what you do with it that counts. Generally speaking the key to succes with any idea is to get it out of the idea stage and make it real. Build a prototype, start a business, get it printed, do whatever it takes to bring it to life. Whoever had the idea for this website took the effort to build it, launch it, and get people like you to visit it. That effort is what seperates them from the guy just sitting around saying, "I bet a website that gave people answers to questions they really wanted to know about, would be a good idea."
After you make your idea real, then you can test it out to see if people will react to it, want it, buy it. If you can determine that there is a need for your product before you go to the trouble to make it real, great! But testing a concept is a lot more difficult than putting something in a person's hand and saying, "what do you think?"
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FEEDBACK: That's just crazy. It takes thusands of dollars to build a prototype. Few people have that kind of money laying around. There are companies that will prototype a good idea for a sizable percentage of the patent or intellectual property rights and then invest in bringing it to market. But there are also a lot of companies that will charge you for the same service and never deliver on their promises, You have to do your homework and shop around. Get references and look for success stories. The more you learn, the more you will earn. UH, New Haven, CT
The point is to never give up on your dream.
FR, San Diego,CA
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G.Y.
Prang
Oakland,
CA
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Learn to create ideas by evaluating all the different aspects ofthe product, method or concept you are interested in.
Putyourimagination and subconscious to work and write down yourthoughts pertaining to each of the things you expect to improve.
- Why should it be improved?
- Who will benefit from the improvement?
- What is wrong with it at the present time?
- Did someone else cause a problem with it?
- How do you propose to improve it?
- Do you have the facilities to do the work required?
- Do you have the know-how to do the work required to improve it?
- Exactly what part needs to be improved?
- Should it be smaller? Larger?
- Should the color be different?
- Would more activity help make it better?
- Could it be combined with something else to make it more practical?
- Would a different basic material work better?
- Is it too complicated, could it be simplified?
- Would a substitute be more meaningful?
- Is it priced too high?
- Would a change in personnel help the situation?
- Can the shape be changed to advantage?
- Can a new marketing plan make the difference?
- Is it safe?
- Can it be mass produced to bring the unit cost down?
- Should the appearance be changed... streamlined?
- Is there an adequate guarantee?
- What can make it appeal to a bigger audience?
- Would new packaging or trade name enhance it?
- Can it be made heavier, lighter, higher or lower?
- Can it be franchised?
- Is there a good maintenance program to back it up?
- Can financing be simplified?
- List ways to increase production:
- List ways to increase sales:
- List ways to reduce costs:
- List ways to increase efficiency:
- List ways to improve quality and increase profits!
- What can be done with it to satisfy more people?
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FEEDBACK: Don't judge the good or bad pointsof the ideas as they materialize to you, just write them downand judge them afterwards. You will stop the flow of ideas ifyou are critical of your thoughts before you put them on paper. When you have answered everything you can about your product idea and know how it fits in with serving a particular customer need, then sit down andevaluate all the details you have written. CZ, Durango, NM
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T.S.
Matthews
New York,
NY |
One"tool" that you can use to help dream up that million dollar idea,is to spend several minutes each evening, relaxed with your eyesclosed. Pick any object that comes to mind and try to change it in your "mind's eye". Change it in every manner you can thinkof to improve it.
The following evening pick another subject or object and repeatthe process. Soon you will be using 20% of your brain powerinstead of the 10% normally used by the average person. As yourknowledge and "brain power" increase so will your bank account. It only takes one "Big Idea" to change your life forever. |
| FEEDBACK: I learned to develop ideas from observing everydaythings and details. I try to constantly think of what could make something better. Try to dwell on things that have a large marketing audience, somethingthat everyone needs and wants. Write your ideas down. Put apencil and pad at your night stand. When you remember a gooddream... don't just lay there, by morning you will forget it...Jot it down on the pad. You will be surprised what you candream up! Maybe the million dollar idea will magically appearon your pad tomorrow morning! MN, NYC,NY |
H.T.
Davenport
Detroit,
MI
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I have brought a number of ideas to life over the past few years and profited handsomely from the effort. Here is the list that I use to make it happen:
1. Be a good observer.
Keep your eyes and ears open to what is going on around you.
2. Let your mind play with ideas.
Play with ideas by letting them bounce around in your mind in a nonsensical way.
3. Don't be critical during ideation.
Be sure not to discard any ideas too soon.
4. Piggyback off others.
Listen to the people around you and use their ideas to stimulate ideas of your own.
5. Be fluent.
Remember that the more ideas you generate, the more probable it is that one of them will be a good idea.
6. Be open-minded.
Don't allow narrow thinking to stop the development of your ideas.
7. Daydream.
Set aside time during the day to exercise your imagination by daydreaming.
8. Know when to relax.
When ideas are stale, get away from them by relaxing via tennis, biking, reading, etc.
9. Keep a notebook of ideas.
Be sure to keep a small notebook handy at all times in which to record ideas so that you don't forget them.
10. Manipulate old ideas.
Come up with new ideas by taking old ideas and changing them. Change can occur when things are added, subtracted, magnified, minified, turned upside down, and pulled apart.
11. Take risks.
Have the courage to take risks by adopting new ideas and following new courses of action>
12. Be curious.
Don't be afraid to follow our curiosity by investigating things that interest you.
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FEEDBACK: Ideas usually aren't delivered fully-formed into our waiting brains. Idea generation is a skill, and like any skill it needs appropriate training to be done well.
Rest assured, we all have ideas. We might not recognise them as such, but they're there. The moment our imagination is sparked by something we read in the paper, or the images conjured by song lyrics, we're having ideas. Sometimes we simply dismiss them for not being rich enough, but that's a mistake. What arrives in our head at those points is the idea's birthday. It's up to us to teach it to walk, talk and ultimately grow up to be a fully-formed "Wow!" |
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EXPERT OPINIONS |
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See or make connections between ideas that seem far apart, |
look to nature for models and principles to solve problems, make the familiar strange and the strange familiar, cultivate curiosity, ask lots of questions, observe, be a good listener, and read to generate questions. Reading without reflecting is comparable to eating without digesting. To have a good idea and to make it happen successfully is a sure way to make your name in the world. It depends, of course, on the ethos of the organization. It won't do you much benefit if you work for a company whose chief executive says: "Change? That is the last thing we want; things are bad enough already."
Thomas Rath
Industrial Designer
Albany, NY
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Sometimes
we can be
our own
idea's worst enemy
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the worst unconscious assumption you can make is that you are not a creative thinker. You may, of course, be right, but you will never know until you put into practice the principles of Creative Thinking that others have outlined on these pages.
The trouble is that we don't know ourselves very well in some respects and we tend to be poor judges of our own creative potential. We abort our brilliance by calling it "silly" or categorizing it as "rediculous." So give your ideas a chance. experiment, have fun, and give yourself a few surprises.
David Thompson
Advertising Creative Dr.
Pittsburgh, PA
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There are three major formats you can use to create and produce |
a profitable idea:
1. Find something that already exists, the presence of which has never been known before.
2. Invent something. Most inventions are merely new arrangements of things that have already been invented.
3. Alter or improve in any number of different ways something that already exists.
As you "Create" ideas, write them down. What you dream up canbe your key to great wealth. Keep your mind "open" as you gothrough each day. What did you notice in the department storethat would reduce costs, save money or increase sales if somesimple procedure were added or something changed?
Ideas for improvements are one of the most valuable things you can contribute to society and at the same time add to your bankaccount. To create ideas for improvements, consider everypossibility and alternative for the thing you want to improve.!
Clara Vincente
Graphic Design Professor
Pasadena, CA
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Brain storming is a useful and popular tool that you can use to develop |
highly creative solutions to a problem.
It is particularly helpful when you need to break out of stale, established patterns of thinking, so that you can develop new ways of looking at things. This can be when you need to develop new opportunities, where you want to improve the service that you offer, or when existing approaches just aren't giving you the results you want.
Used with your team, it helps you bring the experience of all team members into play during problem solving.
Brainstorming is a lateral thinking process. It asks that people come up with ideas and thoughts that seem at first to be a bit shocking or crazy. You can then change and improve them into ideas that are useful, and often stunningly original.
During brainstorming sessions there should therefore be no criticism of ideas: You are trying to open up possibilities and break down wrong assumptions about the limits of the problem. Judgments and analysis at this stage will stunt idea generation.
Rastus Haarsoot
Product Designer
Framington, MA
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much of our analyzing, synthesizing and valuing goes on
at an |
unconscious level, and in some cases the resulting 'product' is a new idea that rises suddenly or gradually into the surface mind. This process is exceptionally well attested in the biodata on creative people, from the talented to gifted. Most people are familiar with the Left Brain and Right Brain distinction. More recently brain research has confirmed that it is the Front Brain that does all our conscious thinking.Our ideas come from somewhere else.
Lilly Tennesco
Art Director
Atlanta, GA |
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A Chinese proverb says, No man is wise by himself. The same holds true, |
| for creative thinking. It is a social activity, although paradoxically you may spend much time on your own - as writers, composers and artists do. You should, with a little practice, soon begin to discern an unconscious assumption that some one else is making. And if anyone points out to you what you are taking for granted unawares, then they are doing you a very good turn and you should thank them. Creative thinking always involves this sort of team work.
Daphne Talbot
Industrial Designer
Chicago, IL |
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David Swann
Art Director
Fantazzzmia
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Are you stuck? Well here is a simple technique that might help you out. Take that idea and try to apply some of the items in the following 'List And Twist' checklist to it. They may seem strange but they just might jog your memory! For instance we used the list todevelop our next children's book andcame up with the idea of adding a smell! The net result - a scratch and sniff book. Try it for yourself and see.
THE TWIST LIST: Add a step, Find other uses, Slow down, Rearrange the steps, Improve the quality,
Add motion, Add an ingredient, Make it easier, Change packaging, Combine ingredients,
Align with other product, De-automate parts, Make it more extreme, Make it more expensive , Put some fun in it, Substitute materials, Find new distribution, Change the state, Make it self service, Combine other processes, Change the shape , Add more service, Make it a game, Put a story with it, Celebrity connection, Reverse the concept, Turn it upside down, Purify it, Add nostalgia, Add smell |
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Daniella Soto
Research Analyst
Fantazzzmia |
| According to Sir John Harvey Jones
"The essential characteristics of modern organisations are creativity, innovation and speed. There is no place for turnaround strategies or Business Process Reengineering. If you need these, then it may already be too late".
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Mary Watson
Animator
Fantazzzmia |
The Innovations of the last century equal more than all those in the previous history combined, because our recent civilization has more “raw ideas” and “raw innovations” to begin with.
The same thing applies to your personal life. The more ideas you have, the more new ideas you will get. The virtuous cycle begins, and your ideas will develop exponentially.
How can you start this virtuous cycle and develop your ideas exponentially? Here is a key characteristic of ideas:
Ideas are cross-pollinating
For example: Idea. A and B are two different ideas, but if we cross pollinate them by interconnecting them, we will get a new idea which is AB which may lead to C,D, E and possibly F.
Therefore, the key to developing new ideas is getting different ideas and then interconnecting them. |
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