Thread by @joecassandra

T#8

HOW TO COME UP WITH A BIG IDEA FOR PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING

There's a scene in "In the Heights" (saw last night) where a girl is struggling to come up with an idea for a clothing design

"I've sat and thought and can't find any inspiration"

Here's how to find inspiration
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She ended up walking down the street & saw a friend graffiti-ing a wall. But he used different clothes to wipe the paint and such

She was then struck with a new design idea to use a similar pattern on upscale clothes and it was a hit

There's two thoughts here for ideas...

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#1. If you sit & think, you'll come up with something

#2. OR --> You expose your brain to different patterns/thoughts and smash them together with baseline idea

As someone who must come up with big ideas regularly for marketing, #2 ALWAYS WINS

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I would shake my head watching "Mad Men" as 'creatives' would sit in a circle & stare at the wall to come up with ideas

THIS is not productive.

THIS is a waste of time & leads to groupthink & complacency

instead...

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If you're trying to come up with an idea for a new product, angle on a pitch, even a Tweet, the best thing you can do is NOT sit at a desk

Instead, go out interacting with the world, media, competitors and smash ideas together

Democritus in 400BC hypothesized

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that all matter is made up of the same atoms just combined in different ways.

Same with ideas!

There are no NEW ideas, just ideas arranged and presented in a different way.

Here's an example

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In early BC, logs were used to create 'canoe-like' structures to carry materials.

This idea was combined with horses, to create a horse-drawn carriage.

Then, that idea was smashed with a motor to then make the motor-powered carriage

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What is an iPhone but the blending of a phone and a computer.

The lawn mower was invented in the cloth making industry by Edwin Budding who worked w a machine that trimmed cloth using revolving blades & rollers. He combined this concept with the scythe.

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From Michael Michalko's 'creative thinkering' work, here are 7 ways he recommends to come up w cool new ideas and angles

#1. Combine random objects - In my office, If I combine headphones w a lamp, there could be lamps that change the lights based on what I'm listening to?

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#2. Combining subjects from unrelated fields - I had an idea many years ago combining two of my fav things football and stocks. I thought what if you could buy stocks in a player -- now we have NFTs and other cryptos individuals give out

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#3. Combine problems - I need to spend less time on my phone but also network w people on Twitter. Maybe instead of responding to random tweets, I find 20 people and just direct message them and fast track building that relationship

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#4. Combine random words - Just put two words together "water phone" (because my jug of water is next to my phone) --- can't think of what that could mean...

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#5. Combine ideas --- This is where you take two mediocre ideas and put them together.

Look at your list of 'business ideas' and put a few together.

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#6 . Extremes - What if you took the Paw Patrol and combined it with the Sopranos...

You'd have Tony Soprano with 6 'heros' who secretly moonlight as money launderers.

Classic anti-hero :)

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#7. Combine different folks -- Instead of the CEO talking to the COO... have the CEO talk to the intern. Have the CFO talk to the marketing designer. Different brains together can come up with cool stuff

What ideas do you have right now?