Is there a framework for generating ideas? Do ideas just happen? Today I struggled to come up with ideas for my next blog post. None of my initial ideas truly resonated with me. Next I just started thinking about what my process for coming up with ideas looks like. Usually it is just writing down a bunch of random thoughts until one of those sparks interest in me. But then a realization came to me:

Sometimes ideas come as visualization at a later time – the other day I could not finish a bouldering (climbing) problem, always falling at the last move. I was walking and visualizing myself climbing and different moves and could not solve it. I was walking later in the day and a ‘toe hook’ idea came to me. The next day I went to the gym and simply flawlessly executed.

Similarly today I was looking at my keyboard and struggling to come up with ideas and then it came to me: ideas are not some kind of “magic” that appear from nowhere, but rather they are processes and you can make them happen and come to you. I don’t pretend to have a patent on generating ideas, otherwise I would sit on a pile of billions of dollars, but, anyway,  some thoughts:

Step 1: Input Loading. Any idea out there is some variation of previously existing idea, some synthesis of multiple existing ideas, or some application to the new context. We can say that Idea: Idea = Input A + Input B (in a new context). For example my blog post about Global Maximum was a combination of computer science “hill climbing” and my career story.

Step 2: The Constraint. Staring at a blank page is very intimidating because there are way too many degrees of freedom, but having constraints is helpful. One constraint I’m operating under right now is time (it is 6:00AM, I’m at a coffee place, and I have 1h20m to write my blog post). Another type of constraint is topic based (like how I connect athletic performance to software careers, blog post). There are more constraints to come up with “artificially”.

Step 3: Diffuse mode thinking. Everyone knows the cliche about the best ideas coming in the shower. This is actually a known phenomenon called Diffuse Mode thinking. It is a key step in James Webb Young’s technique for producing ideas:

• Gather new material.
• Work over the materials in your mind.
• Put the problem completely out of your mind.
• Your idea will come back to you with a flash of insight.
• Shape and develop your idea into practical usefulness.

Conclusion
This “framework” might not be complete but I think next time around I will open this blog post to remind me that this is simply a process and I can be in control of it and use techniques.