Guest Post: Jump-starting ideas
Today's guest post comes from Peter Levinson, owner of LevinsonBlock LLC, a graphic design firm that has specialized in entrepreneurial non profits for over 20 years. It's a great, FUN hack for restarting the idea machine when it gets stuck in low gear.
I was designing a gala invitation concept for one of my clients. Not my favorite kind of project -- no real concept, horrible photos, and, of course, it needed to happen yesterday.
I had spent the previous afternoon at my desk trying to hammer out something, anything that could work. I looked at my scribbles the next morning -- there wasn't a winner in the bunch. I was stuck.
What to do? Road trip -- NYC style! I grabbed a pen and a notebook and hopped on the subway. On off-hours it is like a strange fluorescent-lit library. The rhythm of the rails focuses and relaxes me -- and it helps to be away from email and phone calls. An hour later I exit the train with workable concepts.
What do you think? Share your methods for getting un-stuck.
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I'm all about keeping a gigantic notebook of ideas. My own self-generated swipe file, I guess.
If I've got absolutely nothing, I'll take a walk and then a shower. Working out on the ellipse with a little trancy techno on the iPod actually gets a lot of ideas going as well.
Posted by: Sonia Simone | January 19, 2008 at 11:12 PM
Man, I wish I could contain my ideas in a giant notebook. At some point, I decided txt files would be a good idea. Now I've got hundreds of them, growing across my hard drive like kudzu.
The walk is key, isn't it? Any mindless physical activity seems to work wonders for loosening things up. I like doing housework when it happens: ideas _and_ a clean floor!
Posted by: Colleen Wainwright | January 21, 2008 at 11:19 AM
For me, it's often a yoga practice or a walk if it's warm enough. That, and either cooking something tasty, or dancing around my office - often to Jim Croce.
Posted by: Dani Nordin | January 21, 2008 at 01:58 PM
For me it is a drive between cities. If I am commuting, I often get good ideas in the middle of my drive. Or a weekend drive to New Orleans. Doesn't matter if there is a lot of traffic or not. Driving engages the visual and motor parts of the mind, but leaves lots of free frontal lobe capacity to generate ideas. I jot down ideas on a notebook on my lap without looking. Might be messy, but I can always read enough to remember what I was thinking.
Posted by: Janet | February 20, 2008 at 03:58 PM