14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas - Mitch Ditkoff

changethis.com/manifesto/show/49.06.14Ways

Mitch Ditkoff begins his article “14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas” by explaining how CEO’s are constantly looking for innovation to improve their businesses and get ahead. But what is it that inspires innovation? There are two schools of thought, the Western, which is based in Rene Descartes’ “I think therefore I am” which means that ideas come from within. The second school of thought is Eastern which focuses on feeling and is the opposite of the Western. Ditkoff goes on to say that most people are a hybrid of the two schools and in the rest of his article goes on to give fourteen suggestions on how to jump start our innovation and activities for you to try.

1. Follow your fascination: If you’re fascinated by something, let it grow.

2. Immerse: Once you have an idea immerse yourself in it. Make sure you put away time to focus on your idea.

3. Tolerate Ambiguity: When there is a setback do not look at it as a setback but as a learning experience

4. Make New Connections: Look for connections in some seemingly unrelated things.

5. Fantasize: Imagine the impossible.

6. Define the Right Challenge: Come up with a breakthrough question before the breakthrough idea.

7. Listen to Your Subconscious: Don’t discard dreams or random thoughts. Allow time for daydreaming.

8. Take a Break: If you’re stuck take a break and focus on something else.

9. Notice and Challenge Existing Patterns and Trends: Don’t accept existing trends, challenge them to find the next big trend.

10. Hang Out With Diverse Groups of People: Hang out with people outside your normal group of friends. They’ll challenge your thinking, seeing and acting.

11. Brainstorm: Two brains are better than one, but pick the right people to brainstorm with.

12. Look for Happy Accidents: Some of the biggest breakthroughs have happened by accident. Get rid of your expectations and assumptions and get curious.

13. Use Creative Thinking Techniques: Use some aids to help spark your inspiration.

14. Suspend Logic: Suspend judgment, evaluation and your addiction to the practical.

Ditkoff’s suggestions all sound like very good ideas to jump start innovation but there are three that really stuck out to me and sounded especially helpful. The first one is Fantasize. Many times I will think of ideas that seem just absurd but I usually discard them. But after reading this article it made me think that the whole idea could be crazy but there may be some tiny bit of an idea that could spark that breakthrough.

The second idea that stuck out was Take a Break. I am a pro at taking breaks but often for the wrong reasons. Not because I’m stumped but I’m bored or tired of doing work. I know that when I am stumped on something taking a break will take my mind off it and when I go back I will often see something that I overlooked that can make solving the problem easier.

The third idea that I really liked was Hang Out With Diverse Groups of People. Most of my friends I’ve known for years and I hang out with them all the time. But because we’re friends we have many of the same ideas, beliefs and hobbies. But by broadening my horizons my eyes will be opened to whole new worlds of thoughts.
Finally, I’m going to try one of the activities at after one of the suggestions. I’m choosing the one after Make New Connections. It states: Make three parallel lists of ten words. The first list? Nouns. The second list? Verbs. The third list? Adjectives. Then look for intriguing new connections between them. This one looks fun so I’m going to give it a shot.

Dogs         Play       Lumpy
Music       Climb     Sleepy
Table        Judge     Cold
Couch      Drink      Wet
TV           Watch     Large
Cup          Tickle     Tiny
Car           Jump      Vast
Chicken    Sleep      Thick
Trash        Throw     Black
Suit           Attack    Moldy

At first look I don’t seem to see any connections. Perhaps a better cup that keeps things cold. Maybe some kind of large play area for dogs to play with each other is an idea. Or may even some kind of car that will drive for you while you’re sleeping could be possible. None of these ideas will probably be the next big breakthrough but this was a fun activity that really got me thinking. I will have to keep trying it.

I think that “14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas” is a phenomenal article that can be extremely helpful to anybody. I know that I am going to implement these suggestions into my life. Be sure to check out the link above to read the article for yourself.