Where Do Ideas Come From?

Here is was -- a new assignment. I had to write an article for the HR department for a client. No topic was given to me, meaning I had to come up with something based on recent project work and conversations with my contact at the client. The chosen topic? Speaking Up.

I chose a topic then began to think "How will I come up with 350 words on a topic so generic as 'Speaking Up'?"

Central Thoughts as Hubs -- Mind Maps
After having a mind full of blank thoughts for a while, I found another blank: a blank page in my journal. I would create a mind map, I told myself. I put the topic in the middle of a blank page, and began to think about it from different perspectives.

Within just a few minutes, I had four major topics, many supporting ideas and lots of specific thoughts. Where did those all come from? Just a few minutes before, I was struggling to think of any main points, and now I sat there with enough to write a series of four articles. Amazing.


So I thought again: "Where did those ideas come from?"

The first ones came from personal experience with the environment most familiar to the audience for whom I was writing. I imagined or remembered being in a situation similar to the one I would be writing about. And I began to imagine what others might think in that situation.

Then I began to think about "why" others might think that way. What was their motivation - or lack thereof? What in their past would lead them to take a particular approach? What do people need to overcome in order to make a change?

From there, I jotted down additional thoughts that started coming to me. To convince people they need to take action, I began to make notes on the value of Speaking Up. To show people the way, I began making notes on "how to's". And then I made some notes on "when" to speak up.

Herein lies the power of the mind when using the mind map. Suddenly, one topic became four. It was a wonderful illustration of the power that the mind has to divide and multiply. I had divided the subject into four sub-topics and began to divide those. The sum total of my work was that I had multiplied one topic into a body of work that had over 30 different thoughts, topics and ideas.

Now I had a new challenge: How was I going to write just one article of 350 words!

Lateral Connections
The power of the mind to make lateral connections can also be harnessed to enhance a topic or to develop a topic. As I thought about certain aspects, my mind would make a leap to another place, and I would jot that down. When I paused for a moment to look at my ideas on paper, I noticed two sub-topics that were connected to two other sub-topics that were not originally related in my mind but were related once I saw the mind map.

I also noticed lateral connections to see that the effects of fear in this situation are the same in many others. Later, as I began to write the introduction to my article, I made a lateral connection from the word "opinion" in my subtitle to the concept of opinion surveys that are so prevalent in our society and business worlds today.

Unintended Consequence
Not only did I come up with ideas for the task at hand, but my mind also jumped to a new place that was totally unintended. This article that I have written has also stemmed from my original exercise to come up with ideas for an article.

It is a picture of the great interconnectedness of everything I do and say and think. It is almost as if everything I have ever thought (or will think) is somehow interconnected. To recognize that and to harness it is the exercise and experience for my mind so that I might be able to make many more rich connections to build upon what I already know and have experienced.

Any ideas come to you while reading and making your own connections?