Thread by @maxnuss

One of the most common things I see new writers struggling with is coming up with things to write about. I'm reminded of how impossible coming up with startup ideas seemed to me before I became a founder.

I think people in both cases suffer from the same flawed mindset.

The mistake is seeing any individual idea as the goal.

The goal isn't to come up with an idea—it's to become the kind of person for whom coming up with ideas is second nature.

Before I'd ever started a company, I had no idea how people came up with startup ideas. It took me FOREVER to find one worth working on. And it wasn't even mine—my cofounder came up with it.

(Also, the company failed.)

Now I come up with startup ideas all the time, without even trying. I get inspired by things I experience myself, or things I read about, or things other people tell me.

Or they just pop out of my head fully formed, like Athena from Zeus.

https://twitter.com/maxnuss/status/1338258919446228992

Most of them are probably still bad, but that doesn't matter. As long as I'm generating ideas constantly, it's okay if 99% of them suck.

Besides, you never truly know if an idea sucks until you start to work on it at least a little bit.

When I started my newsletter, I was worried I wouldn't be able to think of something to write about every week. But knowing that I had to come up with a ton of ideas, I started seeing them everywhere.

https://twitter.com/maxnuss/status/1312221699555942409

Ideas beget ideas, and each one you come up with—even (or especially) if it's bad—helps you with the next one.

So don't try to come up with your next great idea.

Try to become the next great idea generator.