With a rebel yell, he cried “more, more, more!”

This is the stage of decline where the company becomes successful and starts to believe that anything they do will turn to gold. No idea is a bad one! Expand, expand, expand! These companies spread themselves too thin across too many (unproven) ideas, while not tending to the thing that brought them their initial success. They effectively kill the Golden Goose.

Ideas are hard. They’re easy to generate, but hard to filter and even harder to finish.

I try to swing for the “sweet spot” in the idea distillation process:

1. Capture every idea
2. Mercilessly pare the list down

This is incredibly hard to do, and takes practice. Mostly, because ideas are sneaky.

Most ideas start out innocently enough: They look “really easy” or “won’t take much time”. The worst is when a really good idea is deemed “a gold mine!”.

(Have you ever noticed how people never talk about the process of building gold mines? You need transportation, lots of manpower, financial backing, workers, managers, oh, and copious amounts of dynamite. And that’s just breaking ground. It’s not easy.)

Nobody wants to admit that finding the gold is often the easiest part.

Scott Belsky, (the guy who knows how to make ideas happen), believes that having too many ideas is detrimental. In fact, his team only spends 1% of their time generating new ideas. An intern at Behance was saddened to discover that her time there probably wouldn’t be spent generating new ideas at all.

Our eager intern was clearly disappointed when she realized that we spend less than 1% of our time generating ideas. As our founder explained to her mid-way through her time in the office, ‘if anything, we have a surplus of ideas. Excess ideas are our greatest cost. What we need is fewer ideas.’ In addition, our intern observed that the team essentially lives in ‘execution mode.’ Not much fun.

This business of taking on too much and trying too many ideas is easily my achilles heel. I’m guessing it’s many of yours too.

So how do you combat the idea generation addiction? Or do you? I think there are many ways to tackle this, and I’d love to hear your take.

Photo by misocrazy

My wife often asks “what’s on your mind?” as I’m staring blankly at the ceiling. (I’ve gotten so bad lately that I can be in mid-sentence and just trail off. She’s learned to love accept the fact that I will never be normal this way.)

But the hardest part…

But the hardest part about ideas is articulating them.

When my wife asks me what I’m thinking, the hardest part is being able to explain what just popped into my head. I’ll try and explain to her in blubbery fragments the idea I’ve just had, and most times it just confuses her. (This is clearly my weakness.)

Yet she knows that me trying to articulate the idea is important. She knows it’s her job to ask so that I can try and explain the idea, which ultimately helps me define it. (She’s a catch, I tell you.)

James Dyson created his revolutionary Dual Cyclone vacuum after becoming increasingly frustrated with how often his Hoover vacuum became clogged and lost suction. It wasn’t until Dyson visited his Ballbarrow factory, (the Ballbarrow is one of his lesser-known inventions), that he had the idea for the cyclonic vacuum.

Imagine Dyson staring up at the cyclonic air filters in his Ballbarrow factory, and his wife asking him “what’s on your mind, dear?”. I’m guessing it took James a few passes to articulate how he wanted to put a couple tornadoes in a vacuum cleaner.

No matter what you’re thinking, the key is to be able to explain the idea to other people. 99% of an idea’s success is based on whether or not you can clearly articulate what your idea actually does. If nobody understands, nobody gets excited.

Caution: It takes a long time to perfect the skill of putting down ideas so that other people can understand them.

Formatting, finding your personal style, learning how to articulate thoughts, finding other examples, and relating to different types of people are all needed skills. Man, is it tough. Don’t expect it to happen overnight. But in the end, it’s worth it.

The world paves a way for people who can write down exactly what they’re thinking.

Photo by Thomas Shahan

1. Get Productive (And Let Your Mind Wander)
2. MindMeister Makes Mind Mapping Marvelous
3. Exercising the Creative Mind

According to Mr. Fields, a healthy portion of his post ideas never get published, for one reason or another. I’d bet that most of the really good writers you find online are the same way.

It’s amazing how we think that every time a great writer sits down at the keyboard, magic prints out. What we don’t know is how many times those writers have read, re-read, edited and cut bits of their writing before they publish. Heck, many articles might not even see the light of day even after they’ve been written.

When I write posts for this blog, I’ll often let them marinate for a while in the semi-finished stage. I currently have a folder full of post ideas, ranging from a couple sentences to nearly completed articles. Many will never see the light of day because they were bad ideas to begin with, and others just might not be relevant enough to this blog’s audience.

Is it wasteful? Hardly. If I wrote every post idea I’ve ever scribbled down, I’d have a blog full of random scatterbrained thoughts. (More random than you’re getting right now, at least.) And there would be so much content that the rare good nuggets would be buried beneath the really mediocre stuff.

The sad truth is that not all ideas are created equal. It’s just the way it works. You have to ruthlessly pare ideas down to the best, and only focus on the ones that are home runs. (Magnificent beats Mediocre every time.)

So, if we know that not all ideas are created equal, then how do we figure out which ones to work on? What makes an idea a “bad idea”?

When working on our ideas, there usually comes a low point after the initial excitement surrounding the idea wears off. The honeymoon period is over, and you’re starting to see your idea with all it’s faults and wrinkles.

Seth Godin describes this process in The Dip. Deciphering which ideas are actually worth shooting for isn’t an easy task. Sometimes it takes working through the low point, other times it means quitting altogether.

I’m not a huge proponent of quitting, but sometimes it’s the best option. Sometimes you just have to ride that bad idea to the glue factory, and start over with a fresh one.

I have a friend who’s building a service that, between you and I, wasn’t that great of an idea to begin with. But my friend powered ahead, working on the idea solely because “he believed in it”. Here’s a secret: just because you believe in something doesn’t make it a better idea.

Deep down he knew he was wasting his time and resources on something that was destined to fail, but he did anyway because he thought it honorable, part of the “entrepreneurs code”. He wanted to be an entrepreneur so badly that it blinded his judgement on how good his idea was.

It’s easy to get caught up in the romance of an idea in the early stages. But at some point you either have to power through the lull that follows, or quit the idea altogether.

The process is painful, but it becomes easier with practice. And who says you have to throw away the idea? Keep it around for nostalgic reasons. You might even find that the idea might reappear in a better way over time. You just never know.

***

We only have so many hours in the day. Spending time on mediocre ideas or projects is a disservice to you, and it’s definitely shortchanging the rest of us. Everyone wins when you’re spending time on only your best ideas.

You might have to toss some ideas. Some might have even felt like home runs at the start, but deep down you knew they were just singles or doubles. Toss ‘em! You’ll thank yourself in the long run.

Anyway, what are your thoughts? At what point will you quit an idea?

Photo by samantha celera

1. How To Grow Your Idea (While Staying Out Of its Way)
2. How to Add Structure to an Idea-Packed Day
3. Harry Potter: A Great Example of GTD and Idea Capture

I love watching shows like VH1′s “Behind the Music” and reading about how bands developed their original sound. Usually it’s nothing more than a band member being exposed to a certain type of music at an early age. Other times it’s an event, like being at a concert and something striking a chord. (Wow. Awful pun.) It turns out that what influences a band is incredibly important to the sound they develop on their own.

Masters” that create amazing work almost always quote their inspirations. Other writers, musicians, pieces of art… something is always inspiring their output.

The Web has created a massive platform for finding inspiration. There is no shortage of creativity that can be gleaned from different online sources. In fact, if you’re going to create amazing things, learning how to plunder inspiration and ideas is going to be an important part of growth.

Learning the Art of Plunder

I would be a lousy writer without the Web. Clarification: I’m still not very good. But I’d be much worse. Thank your lucky stars I’ve had inspiration from a cadre of better wordsmiths.

In fact, I openly plunder other writer’s works all the time. The best part of the Internet is that stealing is encouraged, provided there’s attribution. Blogs aren’t a static medium and perfect for conversation and responses. Here’s a few recent articles I’ve stolen ideas from:

• an article on TechCrunch about the rise of content farms started this article
• a friend pointed me to the story of the infamous “Brown M&M rider” of Van Halen’s, which lead to this article
• This book has always intrigued me, so eventually I got around to writing this article in response
• a single line from the BBC series Planet Earth gave inspiration for this article
• and pretty much every resource on this page.

It’s safe to say that if it wasn’t for other writers, this blog wouldn’t exist. Before you grab the pitchforks and round up the posse to run my unoriginal arse out of town, consider this: I’m not alone. In fact, snagging inspiration is a major part of how we learn and improve.

Fledgling artists are often taught to mimic the style of the Greats as closely as possible, to learn different styles. It’s not uncommon for art professors to assign direct copying of masterpieces for learning purposes. As one art professor I’ve chatted with put it, copying is “the quickest way to learn best practices from the best artists”. These students are trying to replicate the greatest painters in history, and by doing so they’ll learn more than any textbook or lecture.

These students can’t learn how to create their own style without learning the best practices first. It’s not copying, it’s learning.

Plundering Resources

Finding sources of inspiration is going to be crucial to any creative endeavor. Don’t be afraid to start “stealing” inspiration from other sources.

Teddy Roosevelt once said “do what you can, with what you have, where you are”. We live in an age where information and inspiration has never been more free and available. Don’t be afraid to use it.

Here’s a collection of previous writings that show how I steal inspiration from others online.

• Generating Ideas from Social Media
• Creativity-sparking Websites
• Online Destinations for Creativity

The important thing isn’t where your inspiration comes from, but the fact that you’re actually inspired.

###

So where do you find inspiration to create? Let us know below… I’m sure we can all learn from it. As this community grows daily, the discussions have become more and more interesting and thoughtful. I’ve learned a ton from you guys, and am totally in your debt. You guys are incredible.

Photo by ste3ve

1. Creative Code: 14 Ways to Learn From Creative Programmers
2. 6 Things I Do to Stay Creative
3. Finding and Storing The Creative Juices

My wife absolutely loves Planet Earth. We were watching a segment the other day that featured dolphins who managed to figure out how to hydroplane into water only a few inches deep, catching fish in the shallow water. Large fish had taken refuge from the dolphins in the shallow water, knowing that dolphins need deeper water to swim.

The really interesting thing was that the Planet Earth cameramen actually managed to capture footage of the dolphins figuring out how to hydroplane. There was footage of the dolphins learning how to pick up speed and zoom on top of the water. During a tense moment, it seemed that one of the ballsier dolphins had built up a bit too much speed and had actually hydroplaned onto shore. Just when it looked like the dolphin was going to be stranded, the narrator (David Attenborough) delivered the perfect latin proverb:

“But fortune favors the bold”.

Cue music! At that exact moment a lucky wave crashed in and freed the stranded dolphin. The rest of the footage showed the dolphins using their new talent to catch unsuspecting fish on the shore.

Does Fortune Favor You?

It’s easy to stick in our comfort zones. If you don’t risk anything, you can’t gain anything. The status quo doesn’t inspire. New, fresh ideas aren’t without some sort of risk or pain. It takes major cajones to actually finish an idea. (See my list of tools that have helped me.)

So here’s the question: What are you doing that’s different than everyone else?

How are you innovating? How are you taking a risk to catch the bigger lazy fish, reseting in the shallow water? Sure, there’s always the risk that you could get bottom out and stuck on the shore. But that’s where the big fish are. The risk is what keeps most everyone else away.

The interesting thing about the footage of the dolphins was that only eight out of the large pack were able to figure out how to hydroplane onto the shore. The rest just watched.

It’s stankin’ easy to come up with ideas. We all have ideas. We all even might have good ideas.

It takes something special to actually execute them. Ideas are hard. And they take risk to actually turn them into something tangible.

So if the risk looks too daunting, just remember:

Fortune favors the bold.

Photo by Cayusa

People are awfully protective of their ideas (myself definitely included). There are plenty of reasons for not sharing ideas:

• we’re afraid people won’t like them, or worse, won’t understand them.
• someone might steal them
• they might, in reality, be total crap
• they’re hard to explain, especially when the proverbial ink is still dry in the mind
• etc., etc., etc.

But the biggest fear I have of sharing ideas is losing control.

There is an awful lot of ego that gets attached to our ideas, (see: the God Complex), and the thought of losing that grip is crippling.

One of the most intoxicating aspects of having an idea is having control over the idea. We thrive on building, planning, analyzing, almost anything but actually doing.

It’s not just little companies or amateurs that struggle with letting go. Some of the biggest companies in the world suffer from these “idea insecurities” listed above.

Microsoft’s Decline In Innovation

I read an interesting sad article about the causes of the downward spiral of Microsoft’s innovation. For the past ten years, Microsoft has been playing catch-up to companies like Google and Apple. Instead of creating breakthrough products that once made the software giant famous, the company has relied on a monkey-see, monkey-do approach to production.

The article goes on to explain that the top brass at Microsoft were directly responsible for the void of innovation, simply by harboring the fears listed above. Products were never made because of petty differences between divisions. The main reason for the lack of innovation was the stubbornness of division heads to work together on technologies.

They were afraid of losing their ideas in favor of someone else’s better idea.

Letting Go of the Idea

Some people never understand that if they hand over control of the original idea, something better might come out of it. Flickr was set to be a gaming company until the founders discovered a really efficient way to serve photos. There are plenty of examples of this happening throughout history.

Letting go is one of the absolute hardest concepts to grasp as an entrepreneur. But sometimes our idea outgrows us. The trick is to swallow the thick pride and embrace the potential of what could happen.

If the powerful suits at Microsoft had put aside petty differences and allowed other departments to improve their products, who knows what Microsoft would be today. They might have had a Google killer, or the iPod. We’ll never know.

This wasn’t an excuse to single out Microsoft. Every single company and entrepreneur deals with control issues at some point. I know I have. The important thing is recognizing when we’re holding on a bit too tightly on what’s “ours” and not recognizing the full potential of the idea, with the help of others.

Photo by chavals

1. Never Lose An Idea
2. How To Grow Your Idea (While Staying Out Of its Way)
3. Ride That Bad Idea to the Glue Factory

Photo by jared

I can’t even begin to count how many posts I jot down that I never finish. Some sit and rot in an ideas file for the rest of their life, and that’s as far as they get. Others get as far as a few paragraphs, even up to a nearly finished post before it’s crumpled and thrown in the digital trash. I typically end up writing only about 20% of the posts I start.

Yet if I published every single idea I’ve had for an article, then there’s no way you’d still be reading my drivel. (Thanks for sticking around, by the way!) There would be much, much more unfocused, sporadic and unfinished content lying around this place. You’d spend your time trying not to step in the really stanky posts while trying to find the good ones. Yuck.

So, in order to separate the wheat from the chaff and the “men from the boys”, I throw away the stuff that just doesn’t cut the mustard. Of the stuff that I don’t throw away, 9 times out of the 10 I revise the pickles out of it. I cut, scratch, peel and scour the suckers until they’re at a point that I can call good. Then, and only then, I hit publish.

I think this is a natural thing for writers to do, and an important one at that. Ask any accomplished writer how many drafts they’ve tossed in the trash, and they’ll say the same thing. When you write, you already know that every sentence you type is going to be checked over, modified and possibly even thrown away. It’s just a part of the creative writing process.

Yet I’m surprised at how people don’t use this practice for other aspects of life. Old businesses never revised or even threw the plan away when it no longer worked. Or they finished that mediocre product because management wanted to see something. The art of cutting and running is a valuable one, and businesses should study it more.

Businesses don’t value failure like they should. They don’t understand that throwing away 50% of bad ideas is a good great thing. But you and I know it’s a vital part of creating. Why, this year alone I’ve had at least one “failed” product launch, and I fully expect to have more in the next year. In fact, I’m planning on it.

Every potential post that I throw away or every idea I chuck, I’ve learned a little something struggling with it. The same with every failure in business or life. It’s just a part of the process.

But when you find that one stellar idea out of 10, then you’ve got something special…

Image by MacQ

As I’ve written before, I love sharing ideas, and think it’s a crucial aspect of developing a project.

Yet oftentimes the people I share ideas with don’t like or understand them. They’ll let me know quickly if the idea is a stinker.

But there are a few occasions when my friends won’t like my idea, and I’ll still think it’s great. But instead of listening to my gut and working on the idea anyway, I dropped it.

I can think of three specific and recent examples where if I had just stuck to my guns and developed the idea, it would have done really well. Yet I chickened out.

Odds are your convictions are what will differentiate your ideas from the competitors. Think about Steve Jobs at Apple. His strong convictions of how an MP3 player should look and work created a music empire. He reportedly had meetings every day with designers and engineers to make sure the iPod was exactly as he envisioned it.

I always love the story about how the founder of Starbucks Howard Schultz held to his convictions about giving even his part-time employees insurance. His company could be saving gobs of money by doing what other coffee companies (and pretty much the rest of corporate America does) and not given his part-time employees insurance.

And the reason he did it? He wanted to create a company that his father would want to work for. That’s a strong, deep-rooted conviction right there.

When people don’t agree with your ideas, it doesn’t mean you should just accept their opinion as the Gospel. Remember, it’s your idea. They may have valid reasons for not liking them, (and you should definitely take that into consideration), but at the end of the day you’re still the one calling the shots. Not your friends or coworkers.

So don’t be afraid to pursue an idea even if nobody likes it. If you feel strongly about it, the disagreement will only add fuel to your fire to work even harder at it.

Photo by zanzibar

This is the first in a series of posts that showcase things I’ve learned during my recent honeymoon travels.

My new wife and I decided to go on a Caribbean cruise for our honeymoon, and with the help of the most knowledgeable traveler I know, we booked an amazing week-long cruise.

Lynn made me promise to leave my laptop at home, and we decided both of our phones were going to remain off for the entire trip. (Little did we know that it costs a ton to have wifi connection and even phone service on a cruise.) We wanted to spend time with each other, without worrying about the outside world.

And then a funny thing happened. I had an absolute deluge of creativity.

Aside from hanging out with the most beautiful woman in the world for a week, I managed to:

• write 5 posts and a few post “fragments” for potential posts
• planned and completely outlined 2 entire ebooks
• put finishing writing touches on a soon to be released ebook
• planned goals for the next 6 months for my sites and release dates
• and on top of all that I managed to read 4 print books.

All without the help of a computer. This was far and away the most productive week of my life, and I was on vacation. So how did I do it?

Factor One: Distraction-Free Platform

Without the computer I was able to think clearer with less distractions. No IM, no Twitter, no email… those are just a few of the benefits of unplugging.

But more importantly, the medium I was using was much better suited for no holds barred creative output. A pen and paper is so simple, yet it’s the most powerful tool that I own. Unlike computers, the simplicity of paper and a pen makes it more powerful. It can only mirror what I’ve put onto it, nothing more. I can jot ideas down as fast as my hand can write, and I’m not constrained to just text. I can draw diagrams, make arrows, circle worlds, all with a few swooshes of the wrist.

Also, when I use a computer I feel sucked in to the screen in front of me. Pen and paper allows me to look away, take in my surroundings, without demanding my attention like a computer monitor does. In terms of the perfect “output” medium, a pen and paper wins every time.

I don’t think that we give enough thought or credit to the medium or tools that we’re using to create or get information. The medium means everything.

Factor Two: No Extra Distractions

While Lynn and I explored all parts of the ships and were constantly checking out ports and towns along the cruise, the only place where I was actually doing this creation was either in our ship room or on our private balcony. Why? Because there weren’t any distractions in these two places.

Thanks to Chris’ excellent advice, we opted to pay a little more and get a balcony room. This meant that every morning I could sit out on our balcony, enjoy the fantastic weather and ocean views, without having to worry about distractions like other people.

Contrast that environment with the one I’m in right now. I’m sitting at a table in a coffee shop with random people walking in and out, ordering coffee. Cell phones ringing, people talking, espresso machines hissing. While I typically love working in a coffee shop, the cruise spoiled me. The only distractions there were the waves and the incredible views.

Which brings me to the last factor…

Factor Three: The perfect “Work” Environment

Great work environments mean everything. For whatever reason, beauty, scenery and nature inspires like no other. Inspiration means you can output more and better ideas.

Imagine the “office” I was using on the cruise: A private balcony on a ship that gently swayed as it rolled through the ocean towards our next port. The sound of the sea lightly hitting the side of the boat. The warm Caribbean breeze blowing.

Now contrast that with this:

Photo by tenderlung

Pretty much the same, right? Hmmm….

I know this was a major reason I was able to think clearly, plan and create with such efficiency. The unprecedented work environment created unprecedented results.

The best part: I wasn’t even trying to do anything productive. I just wanted to jot down some ideas. This simple act coupled with a perfect work environment and no distractions lead to a 6 day outpouring of ideas.

What about you? Have you experienced this before? Can you attribute these factors to your creative boons?

1. Lessons Learned in 4 Different Countries and the High Seas
2. Casual Friday Video: The High-Speed Hamster
3. Creative Tools That Kicked My Unproductive Arse

Photo by macropoulos

Being a writer, or in any creative profession, means you’re heavily reliant on a creative “something” to get you going, and give you the impetus you need to get working. Once the creative juices get flowing, you’re sailing through your work; when that creativity isn’t there, it can be hard to get started.

Trouble is, we can’t always afford to be at the mercy of these creative whims. We often have work to do that we can’t put off until a moment we’re feeling more creative.

My solution to this dilemma has been to create a system that takes advantage of my creative moments to make my uncreative ones less problematic. In my experience, I’m feeling uncreative far more often than I’m feeling creative. Creativity comes in furious spurts, and I’m slowly learning how to take advantage of those in order to make feigning creativity easier, using tools like these:

Keep a List

This is probably the most basic way to make sure you can create when you’re not feeling creative. The key here is to have a list, always with you, of ideas. Whenever you think of something you’d like to do, make, or write, put it on the list. I find my creative moments come at unpredictable times- when I’m running, taking a shower, or doing just about anything that takes me away from my computer, and I need a way to record those ideas when they hit.

Having a list always on hand is critical to harnessing those creative moments to make it easier to work later on. I use Evernote, others use Moleskines- you can use anything you want, as long as it’s quick and easy to add and view your list.

Don’t Finish What You Start

This one’s particularly useful for writing- when you’re feeling creative, don’t write a full article, blog post, or whatever it is you need to do. Instead, write only beginnings. I find in an hour, I can start a huge number of different blog posts, and write just the first few words or first sentence for all of them.

When you’re writing these, don’t just stop with a period, or a nice, neat end. End in mid-sentence. Pick a number of words to write, and then stop wherever you are. When you come back to that piece, you’ll remember how your sentence was going to end. Once you’ve written the few words you were already going to write, the rest will begin to flow.

Find New Directions

Mind mapping is one of my favorite ways to leverage my most creative moments. Start with one particular word or idea, and then spin it in as many different ways as possible. I find that one thought can branch a hundred different ideas, and even lead me in a totally different direction.

Whenever you’re feeling creative, try making a mind map. Pick a topic, as broad or specific as you want, and see how many ideas you can come up with. Anything that pops into your head, write it down- it might serve you well later. If you’re looking for a great Web-based Mindmapping tool, try MindMeister.

Ask Around

Even if I’m not always feeling creative, odds are someone I know is bound to be. Try leveraging those around you, steal their ideas, and you’ll have a great starting point without any work on your part. Twitter, Facebook, and email are all great for this- crowdsourcing creativity can be incredibly useful.

For example, in writing this post, I asked for help from my Twitter friends. Immediately, I got back a response pointing me to a video about creative inspiration that got my juices flowing again. Talking to other people can provide great ideas, and talking with other creative people can get your brain functioning creatively again.

Bail

Do you ever notice that your most creative moments come during mindless, monotonous tasks? When you’re doing something like driving, taking a shower, folding laundry- that’s when great ideas tend to come out. If you’re not feeling creative at a given moment, don’t fret- just go do something else. We’ve all got mindless tasks on our plate, and the best time to do them is when your muse is failing you.

Sometimes, doing a task that requires zero brainpower will free your brain to wander, and that’s when the creative juices come back. Just make sure you’ve got a way to record them!

The time when creativity is key is starting- I find, once I get going, it’s always easy to continue. Finding an idea, writing the first sentence, or drawing the first line is always the most difficult part.

By leveraging the creative moments, both our own and others’, to make the uncreative less problematic, we’re in a position to always be creating, even when we’re not creative.

What do you do when the creative juices aren’t flowing?

David Pierce is a college student, freelance writer, and lover of all things web-based. He blogs about the digital world at The 2.0 Life, and can frequently be found on Twitter.

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