Mitch Ditkoff's article,
"14 Ways To Get Breakthrough Ideas", discusses ways to think about ideas. These ideas are useful and helpful in the creative process. Although there are 14 ideas that he discussed, 3 of them stuck out more than the others.
1. Follow Your Fascination (1)
Ditkoff explains that if you are fascinated with an idea, then it is a good idea to pursue and look further in to. In his reading he comes up with a great quote stating that "Fascination is nature's way of getting our attention". Bill Gates was fascinated with producing movies as a kid. Since he was fascinated, he pursued this and later became famous for producing movies such as E.T. and Jaws. Bill Gates was fascinated with computers so he pursued his fascination and developed the company, Microsoft. If a person is not fascinated with an idea but still pursues it, he/she might not succeed with the idea. This is because the person is not interested, so they will not put much of an effort in it. For example, if somebody does not want to attend college and enhance their education further, but still attends and pursues the idea of going to college, the person may not put forth much effort and end up failing. If somebody does want to attend college to enhance their education in order to receive a better paying job, then that person will work hard and succeed in obtaining a degree and well paying job. I myself am fascinated about video production, and love to edit videos. Since I am so fascinated, I am more likely to pursue what I want to do in the future, which is to become a movie editor.
2. Fantasize (5)
Ditkoff explains that fantasizing about something will help you discover more ideas and to successfully reach these ideas. Many people are told to not fantasize because it will get your hopes up, and potentially lose creativeness. But it is actually the opposite. If you fantasize about the impossible, you are more likely to achieve the impossible. For example, before a baseball game a pitcher could fantasize about the game that he is about to pitch in. He can fantasize about each pitch that he is going to throw for each player. If he fantasizes, he will become more creative with ideas of what to actually throw in the game. He then has a no hitter, just because he imagined what he was going to do. So if I was going to try this technique out, I would be fantasizing about my dream career as a movie editor in Hollywood. I imagine the process that I have to go through in order to reach my goal as a big time movie editor. Since I fantasized about the process and the obstacles that I need to overcome in order to reach this goal, I will become more prepared and have more motivation to achieve everything I can in order to reach my fantasy as a Hollywood movie editor.
3. Brainstorm (11)
Ditkoff explains that brainstorming is key to success. You need to think of ways to achieve your goals. He also explains that sometimes, you need a partner or somebody to help you in order to achieve an idea. You need to think of as many ways to reach success. You need to think of a meaningful question, find the right people to help you and pursue your question. For example, Bill Gates partnered with Paul Allen in order to achieve his idea of Microsoft. Bill Gates thought of an idea, found the right people to associate with (Paul Allen), and think of ways to pursue your question (development of Microsoft). Collaborative thinking is sometimes necessary in order to obtain ideas. The saying, "Two heads are better than one" is perfect with this idea. With multiple people thinking about ideas and brainstorming, there is more likely going to be more ideas to choose from that somebody who was thinking all to themselves. Others ideas help spark new ideas that you might not have been able to think of on your own. For example, without the Winklevoss' idea of Harvard Connection, Mark Zuckerberg would have not been able to branch off and come up with the idea of Facebook.
What is the topic of your next group brainstorm? Who will you invite? Who will facilitate? When?
My next topic for group brainstorming is how will I be able to make myself noticeable to big name movie companies in Hollywood? I would invite people that I share the common goal that I have. Possibly find people to create a group to develop videos with. For example, since I want to be an editor, I should associate with writers, producers, videographers, and grips. That way I can do what I love to do, while still achieving the other peoples goals as well and be able to make great videos. I will facilitate with AVW who has groups of people making shows for Ohio University. This will be done as soon as possible (this spring)
