Cultivating new, creative ideas is analogous to planting vegetables. The first step is to clear out some space in some new soil. It often means getting rid of the old. I suggest we look at what’s really useless in our life and not adding value and getting rid of it. Only then will we have space for something new.
Even when we start seeing vegetables starting to grow in the garden, the work isn’t over. We have to make sure we’re taking care of those young plants.
Coming up with new ideas is more than just removing junk (like some social media and other time-wasters) from our lives. We have to add water and fertilizer, which for our purpose is new, positive, practical, and useful information.
Reading: I’ve always been a fan of reading. A few years ago I even did a reading challenge with subscribers to read one book per week for the year. I only made it to 33 but really learned a lot. I kind of slacked off this year but now have finished 14 books so far. Lots of good ideas in there! If you think reading doesn’t benefit you, just watch a documentary where prison inmates are interviewed. Some of them sound like college professors even though most never finished high school. How? All they do is read! Spend your day reading and you’ll receive a great education.
Watching: Normally I turn the TV on every evening. I find it easy to get hooked on programs such as CSI, Bones, House, Dallas, and even silly shows like The Big Bang Theory. This past week though we started watching programs on National Geographic and on Smithsonian. There was a fascinating program on the other night on how the brain makes decisions. This is relevant information I can apply to my business. Other than providing good video clips for my workshops, The Big Bang Theory gives me as much mental nutrition as a pork rind. Just this week while on the road, I actually made an effort to turn the TV off completely. In just two days I’m amazed at how I’m able to focus on working on projects!
Listening: I like to work with music on in the background. Last week I experimented with listening to different types of music on my Spotify channel. I tried soft techno and even classical. Made a big difference in my ability to focus as I finished up some projects.
So enough about me. What are you doing to fill in the gaps in your mind? Now that you’ve removed the junk, I hope you’re not adding more junk back in. New and creative ideas don’t just appear. They take work. So far this process is working for me. I hope you’ll give it a try too!
