Entrepreneurship is all about generating creative & innovative ideas, planning their execution, and then finally executing the idea as per the plan. If you know how to generate ideas you have already completed one-third of your journey as an entrepreneur. Ideas are the place from where the journey of entrepreneurship begins. So, one of the first questions you need to ponder upon is where do ideas come from?
Now at this stage we need introspection plus brainstorming with like-minded and not so like-minded people is needed. To go a step further do a test drive by conducting stakeholder interviews with your prospective clients. Listen to them, discuss and come closer to finalizing your ‘Good Idea’.
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Technically, ideas are a product of synapses firing and connecting dots between thoughts, images, and responses. But, surely we do not want to get into that. We just want to focus our discussion on the ways to get those synapses to connect and generate ideas.
Here, we are listing down the top techniques to get your mind to generate great ideas.
Being social animals, we interact and socialize with others on regular basis. For being an entrepreneur you just need to add the ingredient of intent to your socializing activities. Don’t just listen to people’s problems; think of a solution to that problem. Every small and big commodity and service we use was developed simply because someone had the intention to solve someone’s problem.
“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants,” said Isaac Newton, one of the greatest scientists of all time. Building an idea on the base of an existing idea is always easier than building from scratch. So, keep yourself informed about the field of your interest so that you can learn from the experiences of those walking ahead of you. And, you do not need to follow any particular person physically. Books and research papers written by industry leaders are always the best place to start. They can help you combine old ideas to form a new idea. Thinking Critically
Not all ideas are scattered outside; a lot of them come from within. When you start thinking critically about any given situation you start coming up with new ideas. To train your brain to generate ideas you can sit in a quiet environment just with yourself and try to jot down ideas that come to your mind on a piece of paper. Do not dismiss any of your ideas before writing them on paper. Research has shown that writing down things makes your thought process clearer and helps you think more creatively.
Discussing a certain topic is the best way to understand it completely. While some people would like to have discussions only with like-minded people we do not suggest that. Discussing with like-minded people may make you feel good but you can get better ideas when you let your idea or thought process be challenged by opposing ideas. So, when you have a certain topic in mind, start discussing it with different types of people and you will get many new ideas.
Generating ideas is just like any other creative skill. The more you practice, the better you get at it.
Though normally we talk about idea generation by Brain Storming. But I think that you generate innovative and creative ideas not just by sharing and sharing but by listening to your own voice from within in silence.
