En esta era interconectada existe la tentación de creer que las ideas pueden desarrollarse a través de mensajes de correo electrónico y en el iChat. Eso es una locura. La creatividad surge en las reuniones espontáneas, en las discusiones aleatorias. Tú te encuentras con alguien, le preguntas qué está haciendo, te sorprendes y pronto te encuentras elucubrando todo tipo de ideas.

Creativity comes from spontaneous meetings, from random discussions. You run into someone, you ask what they’re doing, you say “Wow” and soon you’re cooking up all sorts of ideas.

I don't know exactly where ideas come from, but when I'm working well ideas just appear. I've heard other people say similar things - so it's one of the ways I know there's help and guidance out there. It's just a matter of our figuring out how to receive the ideas or information that are waiting to be heard.

You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we're doing it.

Ideas come from everything

Ideas come from a lot of sources, experiences of friends, colleagues, neighbors, self and even strangers. However, my greatest source of gathering ideas is from listening to people talk about themselves, or about others, especially at public gatherings, weddings, naming ceremonies, funerals and the market place. A lot of ideas are also gathered at home among family members. The secret is to be a good listener, not talker.

Creativity is about connections, and connections are not made by siloing everything off into its own space. New ideas are formed by interesting juxtapositions, and interesting juxtapositions happen when things are out of place.

Creative ideas happen when you stop thinking about what others will think.

How to have original ideas:

1. Read lots at a young age. Start to see that many different people can formulate convincing ideas

2. Become cynical

3. Start to create/write, realize how hard it is to know what the hell you actually think anyway

4. Keep creating/writing. Copy other ideas, repurpose other peoples ideas

5. Become data literate. Realize how deep you can go with data. Realize the fallibility of surveys and other opinion polling. Realize how people will use this stuff in bad faith.

6. Try to formulate arguments without using references. Damn, realize its easier to repackage other peoples ideas than come up with your own

7. Humbly continue creating/writing. Realize it may never get easier. Keep at it. Get in reps. Find a working mode that you can sustain. Embrace the cringe (you will always feel a bit silly when you publish / share)

8. Read other people writing about similar topics. Realize you dislike some of their arguments and frames. Channel your disappointment into their work into your own commitment creating. Commit to nemeses in your head that you will never cede victory too

9. When people try to pay you to package your creations, deny them. If you accept their money fight for your ideas, no matter what. Don't compromise.

10. Keep going. Just make stuff up. Go for walks. Let things pop into your head. You might have a following now but screw them. You shall not be captured. Share ideas that make you uncomfortable because they are interesting to you. Dare to be unfollowed.

11. Talk to people along the way. Share your ideas in conversation. Find a handful of people that will nudge you if you are about to be captured or seem to be becoming cynical. Pay attention. Reset.

12. Keep going. Refuse to treat "what works" as a worthwhile pathway for creating things. Don't join any peer group where "what works" is a north star.

13. When people call you a genius reflect back on all the things you said that you know no one paid attention to. Reflect on your role in a long line of other people who's ideas let to yours

14. Ponder that you might never create anything original

15. Sit with that. Keep going.

creative people are always having ideas. That’s not the trick. The trick is learning how to capture them without being captured by them,

When you're a creative person the ideas come to you…it's learning how to discern between the ideas I have that are just fun and fanciful but will never go anywhere, and the ideas that I have that might appeal to others.

Creativity is not the domain of one single person. Through free-association of thoughts and brainstorming, an accidental suggestion can be the best solution.

Senior men have no monopoly on great ideas. Nor do creative people. Some of the best ideas come from account executives, researchers, and others. Encourage this; you need all the ideas you can get.

Creativity is the focused combination of unlikely things. Your mind locks onto a certain element and then searches widely for something unexpected that fits with it. What can scuba diving teach you about agriculture? What can trees teach you about public speaking? There is always some connective tissue between disciplines. If you wish to be more creative, look for the connections between two previously unconnected things.