I love creating an idea.
When I was a little kid in elementary school, I remember I wanted to think about something special that others couldn’t think of.
When I grow up and become an engineer and think about what ideas I have created in my career? I think that’s patents I can be proud of.
I have created 2-3 patents per year for more than 10 years. I’m not a genius and can’t make any money from my parents (yet) but I made patents regularly. I don’t know if my experience will be useful to others, but I hope you will find new tips.
Enjoy creating ideas
I think the most important thing to create ideas is to enjoy the process itself of creating ideas. If you enjoy it, you will be able to continue to think of ideas. Fun is the motivation and the driving force. If we can’t enjoy it, it’s a pain to make an idea and we don’t want to do it. Then the idea doesn’t come to you.
Start with an issue
If we find an issue we can find an idea. We have to think about a solution how to solve the issue by ideas. So the solution is the idea. If we don’t define an issue appropriately we end up in the wrong place.
It’s very similar to a patient who visits a hospital. The patient does not know what is wrong with his or her body. We don’t know the reason but we feel sick. The doctor needs to diagnose it and determine if it has bad internal organs or psychological problems or others. If we can identify the name of the disease, we can identify the way how to cure and treat it.
It’s the same as a client of advertisement. The client does not know what kind of advertisement is best to appeal to consumers. We know the fact that sales are not growing and we don’t have brand power, but we don’t know the reason. Once we identify the client’s problem, we’ll have a clear picture of what we’re aiming for, and we’ll have a rough idea of how to get there. Base on the rough idea we can create the advertisement.
So hardest and most important thing is to find an issue. If you find an issue you can find an idea.
Ignore restrictions
In a real business even if you find a solution to a problem, that solution may not be feasible because there are so many restrictions such as R&D cost, product cost, time schedule, engineering resource, etc. Even if you get an idea, at that moment you will realize that it is not feasible because of high costs, and then you will move away from the idea. Or suppose that realizing the idea would have a big impact on your development schedule and you would have to start over with product development from scratch. “Would you like to do that?” ask me and hear my voice “No way!” So ideas are dead for a variety of reasons.
From my experience of making patents, I have been creating ideas without considering those restrictions, at least in the first step of creating patents. Why? Because it’s fun! I have always enjoyed creating ideas and I think it’s important to have fun creating ideas. These restrictions are a major obstacle to real business, but not in the patent world. Think about if Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple can solve the restrictions related to R&D investment, human resources, and cost. If they can solve them, that is not a real obstacle even if it’s an obstacle for our company. Your idea can still be alive. I like the process of thinking about patents itself because I feel from the restriction and activate my imagination and creativity as much as possible.
Wait patiently
We have to be patient and wait until an idea will come.
when will the idea come? From my experience, it will come tension and relaxation are moderately mixed. For example, on the way from home to the office. When I leave the house, I listen to music and am fully relaxed, but when I get closer to the office, I think about my work and gradually mix tension and relaxation. Alcohol may also be moderately relaxing. After the meeting with the customer, I moved to the airport and drink a few glasses of beer during waiting for the flight. Alcohol relieves tension after the meeting. I think it’s good to run or walk. Listening to music while running makes me relaxed but have to think about the idea when the deadline is coming. it’s a good mixed feeling.
In other words, the idea won’t come when I sitting at my office desk or relaxing at home on holiday.
Believe in yourself
We have to be confident we can definitely create ideas. We don’t need any reason. We just need to believe in ourselves. My favorite word related to this is
Don’t think you are. Know you are.
by Morpheus, The Matrix
This is the word from Morpheus to Nio during the Karate lesson in the Matrix. We can learn the importance of believing in ourselves. Please check if you like.
Thank you for reading this post.
Please check 4Bs where you get a creative idea to find your place.
Think a lot of ideas
In the beginning, all we need to do is think of a lot of ideas. silly ideas are OK. just think of a lot of ideas. Write down everything in your head. It is also good to limit the time. If we have to write 10 ideas within 60 seconds, we can’t care about the quality of our ideas. We have to write anything even if it’s boring or silly or stupid.
related posts
