Thread by @waronweakness

Every billion dollar business...

Every great work of art...

Every timeless story...

Started as a SIMPLE IDEA in someone's head.

Here is a proven step-by-step technique for producing Ideas

Even if you are "unoriginal" or "never have any good ideas"

[THREAD]

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Two things you need to understand about the production of Ideas

1) The production of ideas is just as definite a process as the production of Fords

2) An idea is nothing more nor less than a combination of old elements

99% of people make the mistake in assuming that a good idea has to be completely 100000% original.

This is NOT TRUE.

An Idea is simply creating a new chain of knowledge between 2 existing old elements.

Therefore,

your ability to see relationships that other people...

can't see is what will determine your success in coming up with a great idea.

When relationships of this kind are seen they lead to the extraction of a general principle

This general principle suggest the key to a new application, a new combination and the result is an idea
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The method for producing new ideas involves 5 steps.

Do NOT attempt to do these steps out of order.

These 5 steps are engineered to work in accordance with how the human mind works.

Let's begin 👇👇

Step 1) Gather raw materials
This is the most tedious step but it is also the step everyone else skips.

Most people wait for inspiration to strike when they should be SYSTEMATICALLY RESEARCHING raw material to pump into their idea producing machine (their 🧠)

There are 2...

types of raw material you need.

Specific - Material related to the specific topic or product you are researching.

General - Material that's in your general scrapbook of interesting facts and information. If you don't have one, start one.

Take a shit ton of notes

Then 👇

Step 2) Chew the materials, just as you would food you are going to digest

Hard to describe this step as it is all done in your mind

What you want to do is take a fact, and examine it like Sherlock Holmes would examine a piece of evidence

From All Angles

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You take one fact, turn it this way and that, look at it in different lights and feel for the meaning of it

You bring two facts together and see how they fit

Goal here is to seek relationship, a synthesis where everything comes together in a neat combo

2 things will happen..👇

-Little tentative or partial ideas will come to you. Write them down as they are foreshadowing of the real idea.

-You will get tired of trying to fit your puzzle together.

Only when you have tapped out your mental energy can proceed to step 3

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Ok let's continue to step 3 👇

Step 3) You make no effort of a direct nature. You drop the whole subject and put the problem as far out of your mind as possible.

You've overwhelmed your mind with specific and general material.

You've looked at your research from all angles and tried to form combinations...

with various bits and pieces of information.

Now it is time to hand the workload over to your Subconscious mind.

Drop the problem completely and go do something creative that stimulates your imagination and emotions

Listen to music, watch a film, read poetry or a ...

detective story etc

Step one you gather your food,

Step two you masticate it

Step three you let the digestive process do it's thing.

If you have done step 1 to 3 in order and you have done them correctly,

you can proceed to step 4 👇

Step 4) Constantly think about it

The idea will appear out of nowhere; while you’re shaving, walking the dog, taking out the trash etc.

Ideas come "after you have stopped straining for them and have passed through a period of rest and relaxation from the search."

Final step👇

Final 5) Test your idea in the world of reality

An idea is only a good one if it passes the test of reality.

An idea for a product is worthless if it leads to no sales.

An idea for a book is worthless without readers.

Step 5 is where many ideas are lost.

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When you test your ideas out in reality you will find that it’s not quite the marvelous child it seemed when you first gave birth to it

Here you must be patient enough to shape and adapt your idea for its practical usefulness in the real world.

Final Tweet 👇👇

This thread is a summary of key points from A technique for producing ideas [book] by James Webb Young

If you found it valuable, please like every tweet + RT 1st tweet in thread 🙏

The extended version for the book notes can be found 👇

unlockthevault.carrd.co