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Creative thinkers value ideas. America was founded on the
power of ideas. I mean that literally. The history of America
begins with one man’s far-fetched dream of exploring
undiscovered lands. Because of his driving ambition, millions
and millions of immigrants were able to start new lives and
claim whole new territory.
Columbus, in the history books, is a great explorer. But in a
way, he was also a great entrepreneur and a truly creative
man. He also perfectly embodies the risk-reward dynamic of
creative thinking. Just think of all that he was risking when he
announced his plan and embarked on the journey to the new,
free world.
To see the rewards, just look around you. That’s exactly what
he was able to capture.
The American dream and it’s roots in Columbus’ dream, a man
who created his own opportunities, discovered a land of
opportunity himself. That one idea courageously and
ambitiously accomplished a whole new opportunity for him, his
family, his country, and the rest of the world. It’s changed the
livelihood of millions and millions of people.
If you ever find yourself wondering just how much you could
possibly expect to gain from harnessing your creative abilities,
remember that example of Columbus.
All creative thinkers know just how valuable ideas really are.
I’m not talking just about the obvious, flashy, crazy, out-there,
very profitable ideas.
Creativity is a game of odds. Write that down.
There are rules to creativity and one of them is that you have
to go big or go home. What I mean by that is that when you
are looking to generate new ideas, you have to generate as
many as humanly possible.
At one point in my career, I was speaking to high schools all
across North America, I would go in and work with their
student leadership groups. We would generate ideas for
things like fundraising, ways to generate school spirit, all
kinds of different things.
I would work with them for generally between an hour and an
hour and a half, and our goal was to come up with a top 10
list of wow ideas, for whatever challenge we were working
on.
When I say go big or go home, our objective was to generate
as many ideas as was humanly possible because quality
comes from the quantity. Write that down. Quality comes from
the quantity.
When you’re generating new ideas, you can’t go for the big,
great, fabulous, million-dollar idea right off the bat. Your
objective is to generate as many ideas as possible because
out of the quantity will come the quality.
When I was generating ideas with the student leadership
groups, we would generally generate between 3,000 and
4,000 ideas in an hour and a half span. Were all those ideas
good? Absolutely not. In fact, 99% of them were absolute
crap.
But the point is that out of that came 1% that were pure gold.
We would never have gotten to that 1% had we not tried to
go for as many ideas as humanly possible because creativity,
like I said earlier, is a game of odds. You put the odds in your
favor, the more ideas you generate.
That’s why brainstorming sessions and being in a group of
people who actively generate ideas together and can build on
each other’s ideas is so powerful because one person will
share an idea, and that will make a connection in another;
and that person will then share another three that came from
them. Those three ideas spark five others in somebody else,
and before you know it, you have this whole reaction going
on.
I want you to picture a long line of Dominos going straight out
in front of you. Wherever you are right now, it’s going straight
out in front of you, then it turns to the right, and then it
curves back around, almost in a circle. But before it comes
back it curves again the other way. It actually goes up a
couple stairs. That whole line of Dominos, that whole reaction
of Dominos can never happen unless the first Domino goes
down. That first Domino, in the creative thinking process is
something known as stimuli.
Stimuli is anything you see, touch, taste, feel, experience.
What it does is it acts as that first Domino, and it sets off
what I call an idea reaction. When you get in to a group of
people who are active, creative thinkers, high-level marketers,
when you spit out an idea, it’s going to serve as the stimuli for
them, and an idea reaction with inevitably happen.
As it happens, you increase your odds of success in terms of
an idea that’s going to be more profitable for you. You
increase the odds of that happening, the more ideas you
generate.
Your job is to generate as many ideas as possible because
not every risk is going to pay off, and not every sure thing
actually delivers. The more ideas you come up with, the more
likely you’re going to succeed, and every idea counts.
Think about it. All it takes is one flash of insight, one new
product, one innovative service, to create a million-dollar
business. With one idea - a scientist or a researcher – the
have the potential to cure a previously incurable disease.
With one sudden epiphany a software engineer could invent
the next major advance in computer technology.
That’s the power of an idea.
Creative thinkers, they never underestimate the power of
ideas, and they never underestimate the value of simple
ideas.
Sometimes it’s that seemingly simple idea that others
completely dismiss as silly that will ignite a whole idea
reaction in your brain. That seemingly silly idea, it’s like a seed
with the potential to blossom. It’s growth depends on the skill
and integrity of the person who plants it and cares for it.
Ignoring that seed will just absolutely kill it.
The bottom line is this: You don’t know what kind of beautiful
flower you could end up with until it actually blossoms. As a
creative thinker, you must value all ideas.
About the Author
Discovered! 227 Unusual, Different and Just Plain Crazy Business Ideas... That Could Make You Rich This Year... Starting From Zero!" Just One Great Idea Could Change Your Life! So Take Your Pick From 227 http://www.227UnusualBusinessIdeas.com/
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