Looking For Ideas In Broad Daylight

Have you found one yet? Yes? Aah, you had one last night right before you went to sleep? And you forgot all about it this morning? Instant classic! You needed a note pad besides your bed right then. But there are more ways to it! More ways than pondering away another sleepless night.

I’ll give you a simple tip to trigger new ideas in broad daylight. I will ask you to change your daily routines slightly, but hey! It’s all for the greater ideational good here so… lets go for it:

 

Looking for ideas is a tough task to grasp. Actually, no person on this planet thinks exactly the same. Thats why ideas don’t come to us in the same way. There are a few constant factors we all share though. Factors most of us experience every day, which can be altered for the better. I’m not talking about brainstorming with a group. I’ll show you how you can develop ideas by yourself when you’re alone. Here is a first one I often use myself when I’m looking for ideas:

Change Your Daily Travel Routes

The title says it all right? Its that simple. By moving yourself over a new daily route you trigger your senses again. All due to the new environment you see around you; new houses, cars, people, stores, signs, etc. Your new surroundings will act as the brainstorming partner in a group as they will stimulate your senses. To start, write down a little list with the routes you travel daily or weekly. This could look something like this:

1. Home -> Work
2. Home -> School/University
3. Home -> Grocery store
4. Home -> Friend
5. etc.

(Mornings work the best I noticed as your brain is still fresh and active to absorb new input! You can take the old route when you return.)

Lets find these routes you travel. If you’re very familiar with your town or city it will be a piece of cake. Just open up Google Maps and create the route you normally travel. Then place a few new waypoints in between. There is a 100% chance you’ll have to travel a longer distance, accept that

Here is an example: Let’s say I travel the daily route from A to B, showed below. Normally I would take the quickest route like this:

Now click your mouse anywhere on that blue line en drag it up or down. You’ll create a new waypoint which looks like a white dot. Drag it, so that it seems interesting and full of surprises. It could look something like this then (as you can see I moved it so I would walk through the park):

And finally create a second waypoint and drag it in the in the other direction (in the example its down). Yes, your travel distance increases, as will the input for your senses! Your final new route could look something like this:

Looking For Ideas In Action

Finally, make a paper print out from it. Next time when you’re about to embark on your new journey you’ll discover a new world full surprises! The new stuff you’ll see around you will have a positive effect on your senses. Try to look for things that look strange or that could need an improvement of some sort. Example: while on route I cross this super dirty dumpster. I would be like ‘What the…?!’

How can we ‘solve’ this dirty mofo?! In other words: how can be make it look nice? Maybe we could develop a half transparant colorful thing around it and sell the idea to the local municipality? Here’s what I mashed up quickly in Photoshop using this idea:

You get the picture. So thats it! Hope this tip will help you in your next trip when looking for new ideas.

Cheers,

Rene Andreasi-Bassi