How To Turn Your Brain Into An Ideas Factory!

Want to set up your own business but don’t have an idea?

Well it helps to know where ideas come from and at Create we believe there are 4 sources:

Passion -  the things in your life that get you really juiced up

Hobbies – these are things that you do regularly on a casual basis and quite enjoy

Anger/Frustration – these are the things that you really annoy the hell out of you

Necessity – these are the things that you consider necessary to your survival.

There are no correct answers for any of the above (its amazing how many people consider mobile phones necessary to their survival) and everyone will have different answers.

Draw 4 columns on a piece of paper each with one of the above as a heading (it doesn’t matter in what order you do this) and then write suitable things in each column.   (By the way this is better done in a group).  It doesn’t matter what you write as long as you are honest.  Once you have done that start linking things up and making connections – for example link something your passionate about with something that makes you angry. 

This is the essence of creativity – the linking of disparate objects. 

Its also very similar to the joke process! 

What is a joke? 

The linking of two disparate things that produces a laugh at the end of it. 

The ideas generation process is the linking of two disparate things that produces an idea at the end of it.

A simple but very powerful technique that will help you come up with business ideas very quickly.

Click  here  for past Create articles on ideas generation, entrepreneurial thinking and enterprise skills.