My Idea Process

// My ideas?

Let me tell you a story about volcanic sugar.

Back when I was a kid, there used to be comic books which you could get delivered by the local newsagent. I’m not going to say that these comics were the Beano or the Dandy but they were similar - in the back of these comics were adverts for practical jokes.

I dreamed of ordering these practical jokes to carry out ‘hilarious’ pranks on my family. The jokes included things like fake dog poo, a little device which gave a small electric shock (surprisingly in the 80’s these were actually small vibrating discs and not actual electric shocks) and fake spiders but for 9 year old me, they were the best thing ever.

Practical jokes and these types of pranks were not commonplace in my childhood and not only would I have ruled my household but I would have ruled the neighbourhood. The kid who carried around the fake poo and could impress his friends was the don.

Oe particular practical joke fascinated me though - volcanic sugar.

At the time, my parents didn’t really get it but I bought it.

The risk of severe burns was real as I replaced the sugar in my mums tea with ‘volcanic sugar’ and was a hot cuppa frothing up all over the kitchen counter - it was a literal hot steamy fluffy cloud of volcanic sugar which erupted from my mums favourite mug.

My mum, armed with a full on 80’s style tea tower ushered me away from the mug and kitchen counter and tried to prevent this molten lava from hitting the Lino covered kitchen floor.

The reason I tell you this - thats the metaphor for ideas in my head.

// See the fun.

I think it’s a carry over from my childhood - the vivid and wild imagination which allows me to see the fun side in everything but conjoined with the analytical brain of a fully grown man.

Our lives are mundane enough - the daily commute on the 0804 train from Poole to Bournemouth, the daily trudge from the station to the office and then the reverse at around 5:30. The sullen routine of paying your bills on the 1st of every month, the responsibilities of arranging MOT’s, replacing tyres or getting your boiler serviced.

All important tasks but not really setting the world alight in excitement.

This is why whenever there is a ‘pattern interrupt’ - Pattern interrupt is a way to alter a person's mental, emotional, or behavioral state to break their typical habits - I embrace it.

I want to be entertained (which is why a lot of my ‘3 things’ in my newsletters are videos) and I chase to find the things which set my imagination alight.

Someone recently asked me where my ideas come from and whilst I’ve never thought about this question directly - I do embrace things which entertain me and I always look for things which are outside of my normal routes (that’s step one).

// Switch up the menu.

My wife hates it whenever we go to a restaurant or a new place to eat because whilst she will order something familiar and ‘safe’, I will always try to order something which I’ve never had before and it will (more often than not) be much more appealing and better than hers.

You should always try and experience things that are not in your normal sphere of entertainment to avoid a form of confirmation bias.

Listen to classical music if you like rap, watch a silent movie if you’re a fan of action movies and click on that strange Youtube video (with the non-appealing thumbnail) if you religiously watch Mr Beast.

Just one moment of experimentation a day will mean you become better at recognising things which work and those which don’t work.

When I mean ‘work’ what I’m actually saying is those things which resonate with you.

// It has to resonate.

Only by knowing what you don’t like (I don’t like baked beans for example) will you get to understand what you do like and when you end up creating content and creating things which you want to appeal to others - you will begin creating things which resonate with you.

I wrote this article about the importance of having things which were similar because it brings down the guard - it makes people feel comfortable.

When you experiment in your consumption, you can identify things which make you excited, it can show you the path of where you could create and then it will flow from enjoyment and not a place of necessity.

I think this is the problem with ‘business’ related content - things are often created from a place of necessity and not from a place of enjoyment. Businesses are not people and they don’t take the time to check what resonates with their audiences and the people who create the content don’t study their competition and see what makes them engage.

All too often, product businesses will ‘show off’ their products and service based businesses will ‘showcase’ their clients results.

It’s a safe space to operate and they blend in.

Nothing resonates.

For those of you who work within a business and are tasked with creating content - look at what resonates with you, what content you produce in your own work and then try to replicate that in your corporate work.

I don’t understand businesses who show off their ‘staff’ on a Monday and then post about the latest industry trend on a Tuesday - no-one really cares for that type of stuff and I don’t know anyone who looks forward to a post about a ‘new member’ of the team. It’s not my go to content to consume and I very much doubt it’s yours. (That’s step two)

// Analyse

As you get older - you begin to learn to appreciate good work.

It’s why art galleries exist.

People are fascinated with not only the concept of the art but also the method used to produce it - they see beyond the surface level image.

Take the Sistine Chapel as an example - whilst the surface level artwork is incredibly detailed and impressive, the method and actual graft which went into producing it is equally as impressive.

It’s the four years of work and the technique used by Michaelangelo which sets imaginations alight as much as the intricate details and the impressive artwork and when you consume content, you should look for similar things.

Whenever I see a video, a film or an impressive image - that thing which creates a pattern interrupt - I recognise that and then take another look.

I analyse what made me take a deeper look, I look specifically at the camera angles, the pace, the speed and the dialogue of the videos. I try to understand what has made the video different to others that I’ve watched and whilst on the first watch, I’ve seen the art - in the second or third watch, I try to see the method.

It’s an analytical part of my brain which shows up and try to deconstruct what I’m watching.

When you begin to deconstruct things and you begin to see how things are made, you get to see the potential of how you might improve your work.

Take a look at work which has resonated with you - whether thats a video or an Instagram post - and work out what is appealing to you.

// Store them up.

Then the work begins - you can begin to sort them into different pots in your head (or electronically if you need to) and store them for later.

As an example - I created this post to help promote the You Are the Media Creator Day and whilst it looks like a fairly complicated post to create - when I broke it down, it was actually just a series of images, placed on top of each other for around a frame each and then run through several times (aligning the images as you go) so there is a single reference point.

This was an idea I had stored up for a long time - I wanted to create it for my own newsletter as a promotional piece but the Your Are the Media case was a much better use and I loved creating it (I have a new idea for next years so stay tuned).

When you store up ideas and you recombine the elements, you’re able to create something original.

Strangely - this particular post came from a page on Instagram which promoted a church service in America - not your typical instagram page to follow.

You need to have a bank of ideas - a metaphorical volcanic sugar cloud to keep diving into so that you can continue to innovate.

Even older ideas have a place in your content creation space - whenever you create, you should call upon these references and see what works.

// Let me sum up.

So, where do my ideas come from - everywhere.

There is no one direct path for ideation because quite often they will arise at times when you’re not expecting but there is an overriding rule to create innovatively.

Curiousity.

Remaining curios in your consumption means you don’t stay the same - I love consuming content (too much sometimes) as it’s always sparking my brain in different ways and when I collect those ideas, I spend time trying to combine them in different ways.

Stay curious, consume more and then combine in a way which appeals to you.