Why you’re not coming up with better ideas.
Rodd Chant ????
Creative Director | Founder | Coach | LinkedIn Top Voice Since 2019 | Get in touch about projects via the button below. ?
Going about things in ‘situation normal’ mode will not exactly ignite big ideas, sorry to break the bad news to you.
This applies to individuals and companies alike.
One of my favorite quotes comes from the genius mind of Albert Einstein – “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.â€
If you wake at 7am, eat breakfast at 7.30am, get on the train by 8.30am, arrive at your station at 9.30am, get your favorite coffee at 9.35am and sit down at your desk at 9.45am every day, five days a week how on Earth do you expect your brain to get excited and switch into idea mode?
Your brain is sedated.
Let’s not forget that by around 1pm you will decide between the same handful of lunch options you have near your office, you will get your usual afternoon coffee around 3.30pm, and by 5.30pm you are trying to wrap up everything so as you can be on the train by 6.15pm.
That’s five days a week, twenty days a month of doing the same thing over and over again. That may be acceptable for robots on the manufacturing line at automobile factories but not for human beings.
The brain is a muscle and if you don’t use muscles they wither away.
The same can be said for creative companies, if they are doing the same thing, day in and day out the way they have always done things, they too will suffer from creative business muscle rot.
Remember, you’re only as good as your last idea; this applies to companies and people.
To think fresh you have to stay fresh.
If you’re an individual there are ways to invigorate your mind even if you have to arrive at the same place every day, some simple changes can help.
1. If at all possible take a different route to work. Can you get off at an earlier train station and walk the rest of the way? If you walk to work start diverting your path in some way.
2. Change your usual habits for at least one month. Get your coffee from a different place and change your order. Order something for lunch that you have never ordered. Go to a different bar for drinks.
3. Find a new solution for lunch. If you work in an area devoid of options then how about making your own, go old school. You can get creative and make a bento box or just a sandwich. Then go and eat it somewhere other than your desk.
4. Read a blog that you have never read before first thing in the morning. Bookmark a bunch of interesting ones and simply scan through them to start the day. But don’t look at the same ones each day; make every day different. I’m going to give you a head start below and list some that may be of interest.
5. Flick through some magazines. If your city has a great magazine store (my favorite one in NYC is Iconic Magazines on the corner of Mulberry and Kenmare) drop by and browse through some interesting magazines, there are so many great creative ones out there that you may never have heard of, so much fresh inspiration. Buy a few, often, and take them back to the office to inspire others.
6. Is there somewhere else you can sit in your office? If so move for at least some of your day. Don’t worry, the photos of your family, friends, vacation and pets will still be stuck on the wall when you get back.
7. Don’t listen to the same music in your headphones. Listen to music you never have listened to before, I’m not talking about switching from Guns n’ Roses to Jay-Z. Broaden your mind. Listen to some Chinese opera. Maybe some Mongolian throat singers. Get different. Excite your brain with sounds it hasn’t heard often, if ever.
8. Eat foods you’ve never eaten before. Food is one of the simple pleasures of life and there is an abundance of flavors out there on offer that come from every corner of the planet. When was the last time you ate at a Nepalese restaurant? Be adventurous.
9. Get a book that you had never considered reading and read it at night before you go to sleep.
10. When you walk to and from the station (I know I keep referencing trains here, but I do live in New York) put your phone away and look around you, be an observer. Take it all in. Look at people, storefronts, objects discarded on the sidewalk, street art, anything and everything. There is a world of visual stimuli that you are ignoring on a daily basis.
In summary, you need to change your routines and do new things if you want to start coming up with better ideas.
Here are some blogs and sites to consider reading for a bit of stimulation. I’m sure you can dig up many more.
Creativity in general
Art
Thinking
Photography
That’s it for today; see you tomorrow.
Rodd
P.S. If you are in New York and would like to attend a small talk I am moderating called ‘Where do ideas come from?’ on September 13 you can see the details here.
Rodd Chant is a Creative Director / Writer / Strategist and a bit more. He also teaches creativity to groups and individuals and makes a mean Thai red curry, or so he says. He also has a penchant for talking in the third person. You can read more of his LinkedIn musings here. You can also find him on Twitter and on Instagram. His official blog can be found here. Or drop him an email – roddchant@gmail.com
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