We’ve all done it, scanned the shelves of an airport Bookshop looking for something life changing to read while trapped up in the air. Last week I flew between New Zealand and Australia which took 3 and a half hours. Before I boarded the flight I brought a book called The Idea Accelerator by Ken Hudson.

Physically it’s a smallish book but it’s really packed with fantastic easy to implement approaches to quickly generate, build, and evaluate ideas.

The essence of Ken’s book is fast paced idea generation, of thinking as quickly as you can without judgement. Evaluation does come later and the book contains 10 tools for doing so.

The Idea Accelerator focuses on problem solving and if you think about it - anytime you have an idea or need to be creative it is to solve a problem of some sort. Problems are not all the same of course, and there are lots that are not even urgent or important to solve. Regardless of the size or shape of your problems generating ideas to address them does not have to be time consuming or hard work.

During my flight I worked my way through each of the sixty idea acceleration tools frantically making notes on how I’d apply them in my work environment. If you see this book grab it. Take a look a Ken’s the speed thinking zone website too.

Speed Thinking
How to Thrive in a Time-Poor World
The Speed Thinking Zone is a space where you can learn more about, practice and use your Speed Thinking Skills to help you thrive in a time-poor world. Learning how to think better and quicker is a far better option than working longer or attending an old-fashioned time management course. This means that you can achieve more in a shorter period of time.

Tags: creativity, ideas, inspiration

Ideas may seem like strange things to collect but if you’re interested in creativity and innovation you’re probably subconsciously doing it already.

Somewhere in your brain (probably scattered about) you already have the memories of things that intrigued you. Remember all those times you’ve tried to recall a great idea and wanted to share or apply it and couldn’t recall where you saw or heard it.

I borrow an idea from the advertising world and it’s called a Swipe file. It’s a pretty simple idea – just write down the idea, the website name, the book name, or whatever and keep it so you can refer back to it. So do I have a messy pile of scrap paper and curled up Post It’s in the corner of my office? Yeah, sometimes, but I regularly sort them and put them in a folder.

I have a blank form that I transfer, staple, or stick the original notes to. I refer to my folder regularly and I’m always surprised how a solution manifests from the least likely connections.

So why should you collect ideas. Here are a few reasons that spring to mind, though I’m sure there are plenty more.

• It prompts you to think differently about the things you see and hear.
• It allows you to look at seemingly unrelated things and make a connection.
• It helps develops your sense of what is a good or useful idea.
• It allows you to see how your thinking “maturity” grows.
• It gives you a ready source of inspiration and problem solving triggers.
• It trains your thinking and creativity “muscles”.
• It can help you to spot trends.
• And, once you’ve recorded your idea it “releases that brain space” for something else.

Happy collecting.

Tags: connections, ideas, inspiration