I come up with new ideas almost everyday, many of them out of the blue, yet don't get side tracked from the ideas I'm actively working on. Lets do a deeper dive to better understand where those ideas come from and how to keep focus. Along the way, be sure to capture your ideas in a way makes sense for you. I use a MindMap and, if I happen to be out and about, I'll send my self an e-mail from my Blackberry so I don't forget it later. I always put the word "idea" somewhere in the subject so that it's easy to search for and I set up Gmail to automatically tag those emails with the label "idea".

This should be the one of the most fun parts of the whole experience. Unfortunately, many fall into the trap of only generating ideas and never doing anything with them. We're going to avoid that!

Now that you have a bucket or two to capture your ideas, let's start generating:

1) Professional Experience: This one is often the most obvious place to look but our ideas can also seem the most daunting. We have all had a job though where we saw something could be improved upon? Usually a way of doing something but that idea for improvement can often lead to a product or service solution. It may also be that that process which needs improvement is symptomatic of a larger issue upon which an entire business can be built.
2) Groups You Are Involved With: What are their challenges? What are their needs? Odds are that lots of groups have similar needs so start small and grow.
3) Hobbies: This one is the most obvious, especially for all of the inventors out there
4) Other Interests: i.e. things you are interested in but which don't really constitute a hobby.

All of these are great options because they come from places you already know something about. But even if you know about those areas, it can still be challenging to come up with initial ideas for products or services. Brainstorm away but use other resources to jump start your list by picking a topic and then:

1) Surf Google or Amazon and see what titles or ad's pop up around your keywords
2) Actually go to the bookstore. What is on the magazine rack or in the section that addresses your area of interest.
3) Watch your reader or favorite web portal for new links related to your topic(s) of choice.
4) Talk to your friends, family co-workers with similar interests (again professional, hobbies, ...) and listen to what are they talking about. Focus on paying attention to the needs they mention.
5) Make a note whenever you think to your self "I wish ...." there is probably an idea germinating in there.

If you are still having trouble, look at other ways to kick start your ideas here.

Once you have a good list you might want to Eliminate. At some point along the way you'll come up with a few ideas that you'll look back at as (probably) just nuts. I never throw them out but I do find a place to put them out of my sight so they aren't a distraction. Still, keep them, they might spawn other ideas later which make more sense.

It may take the ideas a while to start flowing but eventually they will; and they might come at you faster than you can deal with them which is why it's important to have a place prepared to capture your ideas and not loose them. If you hit a bump in the creative road don't get frustrated. Rather view that as the right time to move on to the Define phase with the ideas you have.

(Idea Lifecycle Frameowrk, Phase 1. click to enlarge)


















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Labels: frameworks, ideas