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1194 : STEP TWO – GENERATING NEW IDEAS

mental workout two – stimulus materials The risk

of becoming stuck in mental ruts, always thinking along the same lines,
cannot be exaggerated. Stimulus material, whether pictures, words or
objects, is ideal for helping you reach ideas which you perhaps already
had in your subconscious but could not express. Pictures, words or
objects can all stimulate you to free-associate around your idea and they
can suggest different angles from which you can approach your
business opportunity.

keep seeking new materials Because the materials are

designed to stimulate your subconscious in new and unexpected ways,
you should continually update and refresh your stock of them. As
Thomas Edison is alleged to have once said: ‘To invent, you need a
good imagination and a pile of junk.’90

to invent, you need a good imagination and
a pile of junk

Part of this involves keeping your mind constantly alive to the potential
value of what you see as you go about your everyday business –
remember the old dictum that your mind is like a parachute, only of
any use when it is open. Part of it involves actively seeking out new
experiences and insights to add to the stimulus stock-room – it could
be visiting an art gallery or toy shop, browsing the sections of
bookshops you would not normally visit or surfing the internet. And
part of it involves keeping a record of the various stimuli, however
informal, to which you can return when needed.

the science of collecting junk It often helps to keep a scrapbook or

box of useful ideas or articles to which you can refer when you need
inspiration. It may be that you see a snippet in the newspaper which
makes you think ‘That’s clever’ or ‘I could use that’; it may be that you
spot an elegant application of technology in a product when you are
browsing through a store. It’s important to keep track of these ideas so
that you can apply them directly to your own opportunity or use them as
a springboard to create further innovative ideas.

IDEO, for example, has made a science of collecting junk. The company
maintains a continually updated ‘Tech Box’ which it treats as its
corporate lending library of innovation ideas. Described by CEO