Ideas

Everything -- every project, every report, every work of art or music -- everything, starts with an idea, a seed that gets the ball rolling.  Those seeds grow into beautiful sculptures, eloquent prose, soul-stirring music, or bells-and-whistles-loaded presentations.  But where do these ideas come from?  How does a creative come up with his ideas for his projects?

Part of the problem with this question is it assumes the creative clears his mind, gets in touch with the Cosmic Void, and then, when he is appropriately ready, the idea comes to him, fully formed.  

This never happens.

The better question is not, “Where do ideas come from,” but “Which idea do I develop?”  Ideas, my friends, are everywhere.  You’ve probably had three or four workable ideas for art, writing, music, or something else just in the time you’ve been reading this post.  The problem is that in the commotion and cacophony of everyday life, we ignore these ideas, dismiss them as part of the background noise of our minds.  The creative has learned not to ignore these ideas, no matter what they are, because she knows that what actually leads to the creation of the work of art is not the idea itself, but rather what she does with the idea.

Think of a seed: there are billions of seeds in the world for the myriad trees, flowers, fruits, and shrubs all around us.  What transforms a seed into the fullest realization of its potential is when it receives the right mixture of air, soil, sun, and water.  Sometimes this is deliberately designed, as when a gardener plants a row of beans in the soil, or accidental, as when a maple seed flutters from the tree and embeds itself at just the right spot in the earth.  Even then, though, each realization of that seed is unique -- no two sugar maples are the same, nor two rose bushes.

Sometimes our ideas are deliberately designed, as when our boss tells us to have the Ninja Monkey Realignment Project ready by Wednesday at 2:00.  Sometimes our ideas are accidental, as when we write the phrase "Ninja Monkey Realignment Project" and realize it would make a great name for a rock band*. 

Ideas are everywhere, but what matters is which ideas we choose to nurture, to pay attention to, to grow and develop, to follow through to completion.  No matter what type of thing we choose to create -- prose, music, art, PowerPoint presentation, or something else -- our creation will be different from every other of the same type.

This is why we create -- because we all have our own unique view on life, our own unique gifts to share, stories to tell, songs to sing.  The first step in the creative process is just to look for the ideas.  It doesn’t even take much of an idea to get the ball rolling: this post came about because I was sitting here thinking, “I need an idea of what to write a post about.  Hey, I know….”

As you go about your day today, pay attention to all the little ideas that float through your mind.  You don’t need to dwell on or develop them all -- you don’t need to dwell on or develop any of them; just pay attention to them, and notice how many you have.  Once you get in the habit of noticing ideas, you’ll realize it’s not a question of if you’ll get an idea to develop, rather which of countless ideas you'll choose.

* Apologies to Dave Barry -- I stole the "great name for a rock band" shtick from him because, well, it's just darned funny, and the only thing that really gives cosmic meaning to those strange phrases that run through my head.