Yesterday I ran a small workshop for business owners here in Newcastle in an Art Gallery.
Before the workshop started, we all met, introduced ourselves and talked about our work and what has been happening.
When we meet someone new, we have a situation – a new interaction – and the new interaction usually “cues” a conversation.
We don’t typically meet and stay completely silent.
So, where does the idea for the topic of conversation come from?
It turns out that it’s a practice.
The cue here, of course, is the “meeting” of the person.
The practice, is to come up with the topic of conversation, almost instantaneously.
The reward, is we get to engage in the exchange, find out a little more, or be stimulated mentally.
This sequence is important, because it shows us that idea flow itself is a practice, that can simply come from a cue that we create.
If you are trying to come up with new ideas to write about, to draw, to integrate into your business – the work lies not in “finding” an idea, but in creating the practice that cues the brain to ideate.
Ideas are cheap – they aren’t hard to find. The hard part is building a consistent practice around creating them.
Fortunately, this means ideation and creativity is not some lofty dream reserved only for a few. In fact, this stuff is often a lot closer to just plain “work” than many of us realise.
