I wrote a very short article explaining the right way I have learnt to relate with ideas in order to build a successful business.
After writing that, a question began to bug my mind: “how do ideas even come? If it is true that ideas well executed rule the world, how can I move from a position of no idea to having what to rule my world with.
Here are four express and unfailing channels I have used to get ideas endlessly. These channels work for every form of idea you need; from business ideas to creative story lines, to solving complex problems, and so on.
How To Get Ideas
1. Learning
A good number of exciting ideas I’ve gotten came while I was learning about how businesses work. In 2020, I was listening to Poju Oyemade speak on the Mystery Of Capital where he was explaining that capital does not necessarily mean funds to start up a business. He explains that capital is any value you have that can be processed into creating something bigger.
Think of a seed that has the capacity to produce a tree as a capital. This means capital includes ideas (what we are talking about), good relationships (social capital) strength of character, and that abandoned gadget you have in your house coupled with your tech savviness.
That last phrase sprung up an idea. I can play the keyboard and understand some psychological effects of music. This means I can specialize in creating background music for business events. I didn’t
end up implementing that idea, though, for some reasons.I got the idea of starting my blog while learning about knowledge monetization from Veralyn Chinenye. I got the idea of my second failed business while reading Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco. You get the point.
Learning opens up your brain to possibilities you never thought of before because you see different routes others are taking. The very act of learning is simply opening up your mind to different ideas and experiences; because your mind is open, it is open to see other ideas— even those not taught by who you are learning from. Coach Vera didn’t speak about blogging when I got the idea.
2. Thinking
This is the most common channel people take to coming up with ideas. While you are learning, there are many things your mind receives that aren’t processed yet. Thinking is that process that helps you connect the dots between all you have been learning to come up with something mind blowing.
Thinking is fuelled by questions e.g what can I do in 3 seconds to make someone laugh? Let me share some thinking raw materials that will help you think better in coming up with business ideas:
- consider all the resources you have at hand (e.g your talents, skills, your friends, personality, money, knowledge, material possessions to list a few). List as many of them as you can find— even seemingly irrelevant things.
- think of lapses or needs you see around you. What’s a persistent complaint you or people have about a situation? e.g if you’re coming up with a stage play idea, think of the drama trends that bore people and list out as many as you can find. For a business idea, think of a conventional poor experience or dissatisfactions people are used to in a particular service.
- think of how you can use your resources to meet those needs. For my background music idea, I thought that one common pitfall with business conferences is boredom so I thought I could use my skill and understanding (keyboard and psychology) to help lighten up the environment.
PS: music is not the only way to lighten up a conference, so the key is brainstorming on how to maximize your regular resources to create something uncommon or better. It mustn’t be genius.
3. Playing
I love this part. One thing about learning and thinking is that they channel your mind towards a particular direction trying to dig out solutions from there. If your mind is channeled, you are sure to get a particular type of idea. Playing, on the other hand, gives your mind liberty to swing toward places books can’t take you (except fictions) and there you will find weird ideas that can be polished into breathtaking unconvention.
Play itself is an idea. Many people are worked up. So bringing play or fun into a system that has always been pent up without taking the attention away from the work that is being done is an idea that will sell any day, anytime.
This is why mind games exist. People want to have fun and grow at the same time. There’s no better way to find fun than in a fun environment. Lastly, play and fun relaxes the mind so it is strengthened and opened when you go back to learning and thinking.
4. Praying
Isn’t it logical enough that the easiest way to get something out of this world is to communicate with something out of this world? As obvious as it is, we don’t see it.
I have been planning on starting a YouTube channel for some time but the major discouragement I was facing was that there is nothing I have to offer different from what everyone else is doing, and because I don’t have a big name already, it will be difficult to get people to listen to just another random guy who does what everybody else is doing.
Until I went to the place of prayer and my mind was opened up. God began to release to me some USPs I could take advantage of to make my videos different from what everyone is doing. I’m currently strategizing for my YouTube launch fearlessly. Thanks the Author of wisdom.
Conclusion
I will love you to treat these channels as a cycle instead of four distinct channels you can just pick individually. Learning without thinking will do no good. Thinking without playing will take you to what I call the Thinker’s Block. Playing without praying will give you disorganized ideas that don’t make any sense. Praying without learning will give you breathtaking ideas that are unrefined, and the cycle continues. You can live a life of endless ideas if you use this Infinite Ideas Loop.
Olusegun Iyejare is a career coach and certified counselor. He helps individuals discover and maximize their potential to live satisfying lives regardless of obvious limitations holding them back.
