Unearth the timeless wisdom of a 1939 classic as we delve into a 5-step technique for idea generation. Discover how this vintage approach can still spark creativity and innovation in today's fast-paced, digital world.
The habit of mind which leads to a search for relationships between facts becomes of the highest importance in the production of ideas
James Webb Young in 1939: A Technique for Producing Ideas (public library)
- An idea is a new combination
- The ability to generate new combinations depends on the ability to see relationships between different elements
- In a chapter on training the mind, Young offers two key principles
- Principles and method are everything
- What is most valuable to know is not where to look for a particular idea, but how to train the mind
Step 3: Conscious Processing
Turn the problem over to your unconscious mind and let it work while you sleep.
- Drop the problem completely and turn to whatever stimulates your imagination and emotions. Listen to music, go to the theater or movies, read poetry or a detective story.
The A-HAMOMENT
Out of nowhere the Idea will appear.
Gathering raw material
Young emphasizes the importance of building a rich pool of “raw material” – mental resources from which to build new combinations
- Instead of working systematically at the job of gathering raw material, we sit around hoping for inspiration to strike us
- The future belongs to the curious
- Curiosity is the root of all things creative
Step 5: Idea meets reality
It requires a lot of patient working over to make most ideas fit the exact conditions, or the practical exigencies, under which they must work.
- Do not make the mistake of holding your idea close to your chest at this stage. Submit it to the criticism of the judicious. When you do, a surprising thing will happen.
Step 2: DIGESTING THE MATERIAL
Take the different bits of material which you have gathered and feel them all over with the tentacles of the mind
- You take one fact, turn it this way and that, look at it in different lights, and feel for the meaning of it
- Finally, bring two facts together and see how they fit
