Get the Idea?

IDEA = Innovate, Detach, Escape, Act

Innovate: Change the way you do things. Shake things up. Learn new things. Expand your current boundaries of knowledge. Read everything you can get your hands on. Explore new ways of thinking through new outlets. Look for common threads that link your interests, hobbies, job, family, business. Develop these themes. Make synergy your goal.

As South African scholar William Plomer said, "It is the function of creative men to perceive the relations between thoughts, or things, or forms of expression that may seem utterly different, and to be able to combine them into some new forms—the power to connect the seemingly unconnected."

Detach: Tone down your emotional connection and gear up your objectivity. Detach yourself from the norm, from the way things have always been done. Ask yourself questions: If I had to start from scratch, what would I do? Which way would I go? Which path would I take? Who might be able to help? Whose ideas would work well with mine?

Don't assume that a problem you're handed must be solved the way it has been solved before. Experiment. Pretend that the problem (situation, predicament, product, or puzzle) is made of building blocks that you can build up, tear down, and rebuild in any way you want. Take it apart and put it together in a whole new way and see if it functions well or solves the problem better than before.

Escape: Sometimes there is no better way to improve the quality of our thinking than by taking a break. When we are concentrating intensely for a long period of time (and the length of that period varies from individual to individual), our brain gets overheated. We come to a point where we may be going through the motions, but we are not thinking clearly or productively. That's when we need to rest, relax, and rejuvenate.

Rest comes in many forms. For some people, it's a good night's sleep. For others, it's a 20-minute nap. Still others find the best way to rejuvenate is to stop working, exercise for an hour or so, and then come back to work again. Whatever type of break you take, when you come back to work again, you will feel calmer, more capable, and more creative. You'll be ready to begin again with renewed energy and a fresh attitude.

Act: Do you know a person who always comes up with great ideas, but never does anything about them? An idea in a vacuum is of no use to anyone. It's an exercise in futility. It is only when an idea is combined with action that it becomes valuable. Thomas Edison had an idea of how to make electricity. It was only when he took action—over and over again, until he discovered the way to make his idea work—that he lit up the world.

Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work.

—Rita Mae Brown,
author