Heard of the saying that success is 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration? That’s a little vague, so let’s take a look and see how that breaks down for idea generation.
There are five factors that go into becoming more adept at generating better ideas.
50% Hard work
There’s no way around it – to get one great idea you need to have ten bad ones. And if you get that ratio you’re lucky.
20% Organization
Being organized frees you from all the inefficiencies created by disorganization. The less time you have to focus on meaningless tasks, the more time you have to think.
20% Attitude
You must be in the right mindset to have and recognize an idea you can do something with. For instance, an idea doesn’t have to be great, just good and executable. Don’t throw away something just because it’s not the next iPhone or light bulb.
5% Luck
Sometimes coincidence and luck are your best friends. Learn to recognize a great idea that is born out of randomness.
5% Talent
A shred of talent is needed to get things from your brain to reality. I believe everyone has great ideas – creative people are the ones who have the knack and drive to get them from mind space into the world.
Great post. I hate those ‘you misspelled such and such’ comments but this typo might really confuse ppl:
0% inspiration, 90% inspiration?
I think that second one should be persperation, oui?
(feel free to delete my comment!)
Left by mahalie on February 6th, 2007