How to Generate Ideas Effortlessly

Photo by AbsolutVision on Unsplash

Coming up with new ideas is challenging. It requires precision focus for a sustained period of time. 

You need to muster up all of your brain’s energy to come up with ideas.

That’s a tough task. 

Especially considering the prevalence of distractions such as social media. These distractions are available 24/7. 

Your smartphone is practically tethered to your hip. You can’t go anywhere without it. 

It has become more difficult to escape these distractions than it is to indulge in them.

And these addictions kill your productivity.

Your brain becomes overstimulated. It doesn’t have time to process all of the information that you took in during your scroll through all those Tik Toks. Or watching a dozen YouTube videos in a row.

This makes it more challenging to focus on idea generation.

This article will give you 3 simple ways to help you generate new ideas easily.

Let’s dig in.

1. Brainstorm sessions

Brainstorming is a tried-and-true way of developing ideas. 

Essentially, you write down anything that comes to your mind when you think of the topic of your choosing.

It doesn’t matter if these thoughts are right or wrong. You’re just trying to get as many thoughts on paper as possible. You can then reflect on each idea later. Trying to filter out good ideas from bad ideas will only slow you down and hamper your ability to generate ideas.

Filtering out which ideas you want to explore further is a challenging process in its own right. Don’t try and mix that process with the idea generation process.

You can also brainstorm ideas with friends or colleagues. Having 2 brains coming up with ideas is usually better than 1 brain. 

Just make sure they aren’t a distraction to you during the session. Communication is key to ensuring you’re all on the same page about the goals of the brainstorming session.

2. Clear your mind

Having a clear mind is crucial to idea generation. 

If you have lots of thoughts running through your mind, they will scramble in your mind. This will leave you confused.

You’ll have one thought pop into your head. But before you can write it down, 20 more thoughts will pop up. And these thoughts will all be on random topics. 

These thoughts block you from being able to reach deep into your unconscious mind and come up with ideas.

They are complete wastes of space in your brain.

Internal calamity is a never-ending loop of distractions.

So, you must clear your mind of these thoughts that race through your mind.

How do you clear your mind?

There are many different ways to do this.

Some of the best ways include practicing meditation, journaling, and practicing mindfulness.

These strategies help you tune out and release the thoughts that clutter your mind.

You learn to let go of these thoughts. This is a liberating experience.

You’ll notice how much calmer and relaxed you feel afterward. 

This state of calmness is necessary to be able to focus on idea generation.

3. Move your body

Moving your body is perhaps the best way to generate ideas.

Don’t believe me? 

Go for a walk and see what happens. 

You’ll most likely notice at least one interesting idea pop up in your mind during your walk. Or you’ll clear your mind, giving it time to process all of the information that’s cluttering it.

Exercising is a fantastic way to generate ideas. 

I recommend walking out in nature for 30 minutes or more. Don’t listen to music, podcasts, etc. while you walk. Give your mind a break from the stimulation and noise of modern living. Nature has a calming effect on the mind. 30 minutes or more is enough time to allow your mind to filter out the junk thoughts that block you from generating good ideas.

The one downside to exercising for idea generation is that it can be more difficult to capture the ideas when you’re exercising. It’s not practical to bring a notebook with you on a jog. But you can write things down in the notes app on your phone.

Wrapping up

Coming up with ideas can be difficult when your mind is cluttered with useless thoughts.

Give your mind space to develop ideas by clearing the clutter from it. 

Brainstorm. Practice mindfulness. Exercise.

These three strategies will help you come up with new ideas that could change your life.