WHAT IS AN IDEA?
Dean Wesley Smith, a prolific author, has defined an idea as anything that makes you want to write. It’s ANYTHING that makes you want to create.
That means ideas are NOT rare. You don’t get a limited number of ideas. You DO NOT have to work hard for ideas.
Will they all be good? Nope. So what? It’s just an idea. If it’s not good, doesn’t work for you, isn’t helpful, disregard it. You can just come up with more.
Some of you might think this is ridiculous. Who has time to come up with a bunch of lousy ideas? Or it may not reflect your experience – maybe you feel ideas are rare & therefor precious.
YOU are the one who defines your relationship to ideas. You can choose to live in a world where ideas are easy & plentiful. And, you can encourage yourself to generate ideas, to work out your idea ‘muscle’.
James Altucher suggests keeping a notebook and generating 10 ideas every day. I’m going to be kinder and suggest you generate 5.
5 ideas about anything. In your new idea notebook.*
Too broad? Come up with a category: 5 vacations I’d love/hate; 5 free things I can do for fun; 5 project ideas using my senses; 5 smells I adore; 5 favorite curses; 5 places I love to be touched. Or ask yourself questions: What would happen if… How does…. Why….
No editing. No evaluating. Practice acceptance & thanking your imagination. No revising. Just record the ideas & move on. Keep it simple – you don’t need to develop the idea. You’re just recording the idea, the trigger to create. Do it daily for a week & you’ll have 35 ideas! And you CAN do it. Because ideas are everywhere.
* – when I say notebook, I mean any way that you can record ideas in case you want to look at them later. Anne Lamott (author) carries an index card & pencil all the time & has snowdrifts of index cards around her home. You might use your phone. You might take pictures. But put the ideas somewhere. Seeing them accumulate is important. And one day you might be bored & you might find an idea you want to work with.
Also, speaking of notebooks: Visit your compliment notebook. Soak in that admiration. If you remember a new compliment, add it to your notebook!
Let’s chat! Join me at www.facebook.com/QuietStormsCO and let me know what you think about generating 5 ideas a day.
More soon,
dawn