How ideas are born

What if I told you that I have come up with a proven way to generate great new ideas, consistently? Would you believe me? Would you be willing to pay a high price?\nOf course, I don’t need or want your money (you can just buy me a drink). What I want is your commitment to success. In “Think and Grow Rich,” Napoleon Hill points out that both successful and unsuccessful people often have big dreams; the only difference is that successful people are willing to set aside resources (time, money and concentration). What are you willing to give in return for success?\nI have often been asked about ways to formulate great ideas and I have thought about it at great length. How does it work? Why do I come up with a lot of ideas every day? As a service to you, my reader, I have gone back and re-engineered the process.\nMy first realization was there is no such thing as a new idea. Read that again. Every new idea is only a combination of two previous ideas. No idea is made out of thin air. You walk down the street chewing gum and you see a watermelon. You get a craving for watermelon. Suddenly, you think to yourself how great it would be to have watermelon-flavored bubble gum. A new idea is born.\nThere is only one way to come up with new ideas: Put more old ideas into your memory bank. Not all ideas are created equal. Let’s focus on putting innovative ideas into your head. One easy and effective way to do this is to read. Read business books with high ratings on Amazon.com, as these are usually written by people that have introduced new ideas. Just because these books are easy to get, it does not mean they are not of incredible value. One new idea in a book is worth 100 times the price.\nMagazines and blogs are a great way to get a first look at new ideas in the marketplace. How can you evolve someone else’s idea? I read the following blogs: BlogMaverick, TechCrunch and that of lesser-known Seth Godin. I read Inc. and Entrepreneur magazines.\nAn even more effective way is to surround yourself with successful, innovative people. This is where the Young Entrepreneurs Association comes into play (visit YEAIU.org.) I always try to surround myself with people who are smarter and more successful than me.\nFinally, there are physical ways to stimulate those old ideas out of your head. Napoleon Hill writes about sexual transmutation, which is the idea that sexual stimulation, if channeled into business, can spur a lot of great new ideas. Physical exercise is a great way to stimulate the mind and help it be sharper. One entrepreneur is known to have kept a notepad by his swimming pool so that he could write down all the new ideas.\nIn order for the brain to keep getting new ideas, you must rid it of crap. Use a planner to write down deadlines and goals. In “Getting Things Done,” David Allen notes that the brain can only hold five to six thoughts at once. The brain doesn’t care if it is a deadline or if it is the next big idea. In order for your mind to be open to new ideas it must be rid of the non-consequential things. Also, clean your room. A cluttered room is a cluttered mind and an empty wallet.\nOpen your mind to new ideas, experiences and people. Rid your mind and life of crap and crappy people. Soon enough you will find that you will naturally start to have new ideas.