7 Things to Do When You’re Out of Ideas
Photo by Mark Fletcher-Brown on Unsplash
Do you ever struggle to come up with ideas? Are you struggling to come up with any right now? Or perhaps you never come up with original ideas on your own?
If you answered “Yes” to any of the questions above, then you’re in luck. Today you’ll learn how to come up with ideas.
Ideas can be hard to come by. There is almost always a never-ending stream of information, garbage thoughts, memories, etc. running through your brain.
But there are rarely any ideas running through your mind. Ideas that you could use to improve your circumstances in life, or help others improve their circumstance.
Ideas are a rare treasure. Especially in the era of pointless clips, drama, clickbait, and scandals dominating the content you see daily.
So, let’s fight through the noise. Let’s talk about how to come up with ideas when you’re struggling to do so.
Are you ready?
Here are 7 things you can do to generate new ideas:
Relax
When you’re struggling to come up with ideas, you’re likely stressed out. It’s frustrating to turn inwards looking for new ideas to use in your life, only to draw blanks. This feeling only stresses you out more with each passing minute. The more blanks you draw, the worse the stress gets.
So, stop stressing out. Take your mind off of generating new ideas. And take your mind off of the topic you want to gain new ideas about.
Relax.
Spend some time doing something to calm yourself down. Take a hot shower or bath. Go for a walk. Play with your pets. And so on.
2. Clear your mind
Adding on to the previous point, clearing your mind will help you relax.
But it will also help you empty the useless junk floating around in your mind. This junk information clouds your ability to think.
The more junk you have, the harder it is to think clearly.
Release these thoughts by meditating, journaling, walking, practicing breathwork, and so on.
3. Reflect
Reflection is a crucial element of life. It helps us know where we are going right and where we have room to improve.
Use reflection to think about your own experiences with the topic you want to gain ideas about. See if you can make any connections to other concepts within the topic and outside the topic.
Think of potential analogies for concepts about the topic you want to gain new ideas about.
Then, think of how this topic has affected your life. What has your reaction been to the topic? Did your life change after learning about it? If so, how?
Reflection changes the way you interact with ideas.
4. Brainstorm
Take out a piece of paper and pencil.
Treat this exercise like a journal brain dump entry about your desired topic.
List out anything that comes to your mind about the topic you want to gain ideas for. This can be concepts, terms, theories, opinions, etc.
Draw lines connecting an idea to another. You can create a web of interconnected ideas or concepts.
Circle one thought that sticks out to you. Write down anything that comes to mind about this thought. Hone in on this one thought and milk it for everything your brain can muster.
The purpose of this exercise is to get the brain churning. Let anything and everything that comes to mind flow out of your head and onto paper.
5. Consume new content
Consuming new content is an effective strategy for gaining ideas. But don’t overdo it. Watch 1 video. Read 1 article. Or listen to 1 podcast. Then, think about what you’ve learned.
It can be tempting to fall into the content rabbit hole. The content rabbit hole will give you the feeling of gaining new ideas when you’re really not. At a certain point, you’re only filling your brain with more junk. Resist the urge to fall into this trap.
A new perspective or voice can give you a deeper understanding of the information you already know. New content can also teach you new information you’ve never learned before.
6. Summarize what you’ve learned
After consuming content, test your newfound knowledge. Summarize what you’ve learned.
Determine the main points of the content you consumed. Figure out the smaller points.
Breaking the content down will help you analyze it. This exercise will reinforce the knowledge you learned. And it will deepen your understanding of the knowledge you gained.
This will come in handy…
7. Add your interpretation
You’ve learned about a new concept or heard a new perspective about it. Now it’s time to come up with your own perspective about the content you consumed. This exercise allows you to draw from your own opinions, experiences, and knowledge.
Put the content you learned into your own words. Make connections to other things you know.
Think about any potential questions you could ask about the content. See if you could answer these questions.
Write out any potential ways you could apply the content to your life. What situations could you apply it to? Why?
Interact with the content to squeeze every last drop of knowledge from it.
Wrapping up
Coming up with new ideas isn’t easy.
It’s often frustrating, disappointing, and discouraging.
But you can still come up with new ideas. Use one or more of the 7 strategies provided above.
You’ll gain new ideas if you’re patient enough.