Where do Ideas come from?
Ideas are the currency of creativity.
But where do they come from? And how can we get more of them?
First, we must understand that ideas are simply the products of synapses firing and connecting creative dots between our thoughts, experiences and the world around us. The more thoughts and experiences we have or are exposed to, the more connections we can make…and the more ideas we can generate. Thus, the more creative we become.
Therefore, creativity isn't some mystical, magical born-with trait, but rather the practice and pursuit of making these exponential connections that increase our creative bandwidth.
So, really, the only limit to your creativity is you.
So how do you become more creative? How does one engineer and tap into their own creative well?
I believe that it is by learning to CURATE.
…your physical space.
…your mental space.
…your social space.
See, people define me as a creative, a designer, an artist….but the way I see it, I’m a master curator.
Because when we think of a creative or an artist, we think of invention, of creating from nothing... a blank canvas, an empty page.
But nothing comes from nothing. And there is no such thing as a novel idea. Even this very idea of no new ideas is not new. In fact, Mark Twain once said…
“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.”
So how do you become a master curator?
Three simple ways:
01
Curate your physical space.
Or as Mark Twain would say, surround yourself with those old pieces of colored glass.
Our environment imprints on our mood, perception, and ultimately our ability to create or not create. The space you work in should be designed to essentially, “help you, help you.”
Think about what you can see, hear, feel, even smell. If you want to be creative, you must facilitate creativity. If you’ve ever come into my studio, you’ll see that I take this quite seriously.
I have special playlists for different types of creative work, essential oils for Pavlovian-cueing of my creative focus, walls and shelves overflowing with art, words and ideas all around me for when my creativity stalls. Different areas for sitting, thinking, laying, reading, writing, stretching, sleeping.
But having an art studio is not the point. A fancy abode is no yellow brick road to the Emerald City of creative abundance.
How you curate your space can be as simple or elaborate as you want or need it to be.
For example, as a nomad, I have to set up shop in many different cities, on tiny tables in a coffee shop corner, in a closet-turned-desk in my tiny Chicago apartment, on the cluttered kitchen table in my grandma’s hundred-year-old house….
For me a curated space doesn’t have to be fancy, but to function it must include a few things:
Music— but usually songs with no words.
A stack of blank notebooks
An even taller stack of books I’m reading related to the work I’m doing and some not.
A traveling cork 18x20 posterboard from the craft store that I can pin inspiration for my latest projects. Think traveling vision board. It weighs nothing, costs less and if something happens to it on my travels, it’s easy enough to replace.
All notifications turned off. This may be the most important. In order for my brain to ideate at its maximum potential the work I do must be deep and distraction-free. This is non-negotiable. For me, my creative space must create as much focus as it does inspiration.
02
Curate your mental space.
Your mind is where the ideas come from after all.
And it’s the easiest and most necessary to curate if you want to be able to come up with ideas quickly, often and well. Which pretty much sums up my job.
To be able to do this…to make the connections that generate new ideas and novel combinations, you simply need to increase the number of connections you can mathematically generate.
Read, listen, learn, watch, travel, observe, try…..repeat.
Here’s what it looks like in my life:
I travel a lot.
Traveling is the best way to expose yourself to different ways of thinking, being, living and doing. I was lucky enough that my mom took me all over the world with her from a young age. Much of what I saw and experienced definitely gave me a creative headstart. But now as a nomad, I intentionally pick up every few months and find a new place to inhabit and work from. This reinvigorates me creatively and inspires new ideas and projects.
But you don’t have to get on a plane or become a nomad to travel. You can simply change up where you work by heading to a coffee shop, patio or a different space in your house. Sometimes my friend and I (she is also an entrepreneur) will have working days together, where we come over to each other’s spaces to work.
I learn a lot.
Learning through a creative course or YouTube video is another way of curating from wherever you are. It’s not about trying to be good at something new, but just exposing yourself to anything and everything. Learn to make sushi, a new language, start a new hobby, just try something new and you’ll see how one idea can spark or inform the next.
I read a lot.
Even when I don’t leave my house, which is most days…..I am constantly listening to podcasts, different types of music spanning genres, styles and decades….and reading.
Lots and lots of reading. I read one book a week on topics in my field (like branding, design, business, etc.) but am also very intentional about reading on topics outside of my periphery or interests.
If a book outside of my interest is harder to get through, I cheat by watching documentaries on things I know nothing about or would never pick for myself. One way I do this is by never deciding what plays on TV. I let my partner decide (usually a violent documentary on war or famous druglords) or whoever is around (My mom loves true crime stories, my brothers love science fiction, and the kids love cartoons—which is equally fascinating and a bit more entertaining for me since I hate murder mysteries lol).
All that to say, if you’re ever in a fight over the remote or what to watch on Netflix, let the other person pick and consider it an opportunity to build your creative wealth.
03
Curate your social space.
We get a lot of our information and inspiration from social media. But unfortunately, because of the way algorithms are designed we also get a lot of the SAME information and inspiration from these feeds.
I do a lot of work to counter this by following lots of different accounts outside of my interests or subscribing to blogs on topics I wouldn’t normally.
My friend who writes a mom blog was surprised to hear I read her blog since I didn’t have any kids. I told her that aside from being a pretty curious person (and her kids being really entertaining), I have a lot of moms as clients. And so to better serve my own clients who come from all walks of life, I have to stay curious. I have to see the world how they might and be able to think like they do.
Think about the accounts you follow, the people you surround yourself with and try to diversify.
To think of something that hasn’t been thought of, you have to be able to think differently.
And to think differently, you simply need expose yourself to as many different subjects, ideas, perspectives and people as possible.
Learn to curate creativity and I assure you, you’ll be rich in ideas for your brand and business.
