How to come up with creative ideas consistently

Hi there. Today we are talking about how you can consistently come up with creative ideas. Let's go. A lot of clients that I have, they're working on launching some sort of project. For some of them it's a full blown company, for some of them it's just a creative outlet. Let's say a podcast or a YouTube channel. For some people it's kind of a combination of both where they want to expend their existing. Through the use of podcast, YouTube or blogging. A lot of them had asked me in the past how they can come up with creative ideas on a consistent schedule. Because I think we have this stereotype that in order to be creative, you have to be spontaneous and it's something that you can't really put on your schedule or something that you can't really plan out ahead of time. And after doing podcasts myself for two years, I tend to disagree with this, and I think it's quite the opposite. So today I want to share what works for me and also what worked for my clients. And hopefully it'll work for you. Creativity is when you are creating something. It's quite straightforward. This is the opposite of consuming. So when you are creating something, you are not consuming. Therefore, if you want to be more creative, you need to give yourself long, uninterrupted stretches of time when you are not consuming. Other people's creations. And it needs to be long and uninterrupted stretches of time. So those are the things that I do. For example, I go for long walks without listening to music or podcasts. I take my phone with me and I'll explain why, but I don't take my headphones. Just go and your mind will start giving you ideas that you can later use for your creations. So as I mentioned, I bring my phone with me. because I need a place to write things down, write these ideas down, that I come up with during my walk because I don't want to be using my brain to store and trying to remember all this ideas. I want them to be out of my head onto a paper or onto. Text file and then I can continue and kind of expand on this thought even further. I might even go and create an outline of what I want to say and all of that, and this is something that people have been doing. Decades for Centris, even. A lot of great minds went on daily walks and they would use this time to think about the problems that they're working on, maybe think about the writings that they were doing . So this is definitely helpful and I highly recommend. Along the same line I have recommendation to go for long bike rides. Again, without listening to music or podcasts, it's very similar to walking. There is something great about thinking and moving your body at the same. I find it to be. Much better for thinking than just sitting at my office. Another recommendation that I have is to go to a coffee shop with just a pen and paper. So that's when you actually want to go deeper into a certain issue, maybe create an outline for something. Yeah, just go to a coffee shop. Don't bring any electronics with you. Bring just a pen and paper or a notebook and get yourself a cup of coffee or tea and just sit down and start, writing. Start creating mind map. DDoS, whatever you can. When you don't have the option to instruct yourself with check in email or Googling something just real quick, you can go into the deeper state of thinking and actually come up with very interesting ideas. And the fun fact here so about two or three years ago, I transitioned towards a four size notebooks. So it used to be that I would only have smaller size notebooks, like a five or even pocket size. And my thinking was that, well, it's much easier to cure it. I it can always fit into any purse I have and I can always have it with me. And so that was my thinking. And then one day I saw. Beautiful notebook. That was a four size, so your regular print and paper size. And I bought it because it was very beautiful and I took it with me to a coffee shop, and didn't really think much of it. And then I. planning a project I was working on, maybe even doing sprint planning and this notebook, and I felt such a huge difference from having all this extra space. It kind of felt like the extra space that they have on paper allowed me to think bigger. And that is true because, for example, when you do mind maps, you can go few levels further on a bigger piece of paper. And I was so mind blown. And since then, I'm just using a four size notebooks and I love them. And if you haven't tried brainstorming or planning things out on bigger pisses of paper, bigger notebooks, I highly recommend you try it out. You might be amazed at the difference that you feel. Another thing that you can do is rent a cottage or a cabin without wifi and go there for a few days. Maybe take some books with you so that you have some sort of entertainment, because let's be honest, you can really work all the time. I've done it once where I rented an apartment because I needed to record a bunch of episodes, Ahead of time because it was traveling or something and I rented an apartment. It had wifi, but I didn't really use it. I just went there with the purpose to record a bunch of podcasts without any distractions and. . It worked. It worked really well. And I think if you go to a cabin where there is no Fifi, it'll work even better. So yeah, just get away, go somewhere, go for a thinking retreat or a creative retreat and I think it's gonna help you. You can use your commute time to think. You've probably been in this situation where you were driving and you have this amazing epiphany about something, so why not do it intentionally, right? So just turn off your music, turn off your podcast, and just think about something that you need to think about. Connect the dots and ask yourself some interesting questions and yeah, you can do a lot of thinking when you're commuting. When you are driving or taking a train or a subway, it's, it's a good time to. And my last recommendation here that falls under the category of an idea that you need to stop consuming in order to start creating is to do this challenge for. Few weeks for a month where you don't use any digital screens in the evenings. I do this challenge at least once a year. I've had people join me on this challenge and all of them were mind blown at what they've been able to not, I don't want to say what they've been able to create or achieve. It's just the whole quality of life kind of change. When you stop using digital entertainment in the evening. So the challenge was that we picked a time, so let's say 6:00 PM and then you basically, take your phone and your laptop to another room or to the basement, basically as far away as possible. And then you just pen your time doing anything else. You don't have to be creating, you don't have to be productive. The only rule that you have is that you're not allowed to use digital screens. First of all, what you'll discover is that a lot of the chores that you have, like household chores, they become much more enticing and interesting when you don't have the alternative of. Scrolling Instagram all of a sudden doing your dishes is not such a problem as it was before. All of a sudden all this home projects that you've been procrastinating on. They become interesting activity that you can entertain yourself with. And I myself went on a lot of walks. Again, couldn't bring my phone with me, but I did have a lot of thinking time and it was awesome. People. , rediscovered their old hobbies, read a bunch of books. I like this challenge. I do it , as I said, at least every year. Sometimes I invite people to join me and we share our updates every day. So, This is something that you can start doing anytime. You don't have to join any groups. Just lock your digital devices somewhere in another room, in the basement, in the car, whatever you decide to do and see what happens. You will be surprised, I guarantee. And that's because when you don't have the superficial sweetness, of digital distractions, other activities become much more appealing. When you remove this artificial overstimulation that comes from digital entertainment, be it Instagram or some, Netflix shows. Then other activities like tune the dishes or doing some. Home projects or going on a walk or drawing or painting or whatever it is, this activities become a lot more interesting. So that's how it works. Okay. Another way you can generate creative ideas is to ask different questions. And I like to think of our brain as, it's like Google. You ask it a question and it immediately starts generating answers. The problem is that we don't ask the good questions sometimes, and that's why we don't have good search outcomes, right? our brain Google doesn't give us the right search results. If we start asking ourselves better questions, then our brain goes into this creative state where it starts producing very interesting results. So the questions that I like to ask is, how can it be different? How can it be done? D. from how it's been done before. How would it look like if it was easy? I love this question. When I feel overwhelmed, Stucked, when I have a to-do list of hundred items, then I ask myself, how would it look like if it was easy? And then all of a sudden, half of the things that I thought I need to do, they disappear. I love questions. What frustrates me the most, What annoys me? Can it be done differently? And people always tell you that you should focus on being happy and all of that, but I think there is a lot of power in being angry, annoyed, or frustrated. There's a lot of motivation and creativity that you can get from this emotion. Don't try to run away from them as soon as possible. Figure out why you are so angry, frustrated, or annoyed about this process, about this project, about how this thing is done. Conventionally. The fact that you have this emotions of frustration and annoyance means that you can see a better way of doing this thing. . You've probably experienced it . For example, I have experience working in restaurant business and every time I see bad service in the restaurant, when it's slow. And inefficient and all of that and really annoys me because I can see the better way of doing things. And I worked many years in optimizing operational processes and streamlining, operations and all of that. So not only in restaurant business, but anytime I go somewhere a bit the government office to submit papers or something. The things that I know me are the things that I know can be done better, but if I didn't have experience in. Doing this, then it wouldn't annoy me. For example, when I go to fix my car and they tell me that it'll take three hours to fix, I'm like, Sure, whatever. But if I was a mechanic or if I did have some knowledge in this process, then the fact that they ask for so much time would probably annoy me or frustrate me or make me angry. So the fact that you have this emotions of annoyance and frustration means that you might know a better way and why not create a new product, a new business, or a new something that that's this process in the much better. So again, don't run away from this bad quote unquote emotions. They can be an indication that you can apply yourself here and create a much better product. Another question that you can ask yourself. What do you see people doing wrong in your opinion? All the. and then you can actually create a video or, a blog post explaining how it should be done and actually help people out. Another question that you can ask yourself. What lessons have you learned recently from your life experience or reading a book or watching a movie or going to a show and how can you apply it to the work you are doing? How can you help your clients with this new. How can you apply the tricks and techniques from another industry methodology or country to what you are working on? How can you connect the previously unconnected? So that's what they've done with the whole monthly method idea. I looked at another industry, and for me it was tech, because I was working in tech , and all the startups, they're using this agile methodology and it's proven to be very effective when done right. And I can see it firsthand being very effective at launching the projects, at getting things done, yet no one in the personal productivity world is talking about it. So why don't they borrow this idea of agile? Tech industry from startups, from product development and apply it to personal productivity. At first, I was just doing it for myself, saw the results, and then decided to share. So I looked at what was working in another industry and then adapted it for this industry. And there is a very good book that I highly recommend called The Blue Ocean Strategy. I've read it back when I was at university and it's such an amazing book and it gives you examples of companies and people who did exactly that where they connected the previously unconnected, they created. Industry of one, where they're the only one who is doing it that way. I highly, highly recommend this book. It's one of my favorite business books. So check it out if you haven't read it. It's quite old at this point, but I think has one of the most unique and creative business ideas out there. Another way you can approach creativity is to look at problems from a different lens. Most of us, when we encounter a problem or a constrained of sorts, the first reaction that we have is this. Not this again, or it's so hard, why is it happening to me and all of that. But if we were to look at the problem as an invitation for creativity, for being creative, and we look at constraints as an invitation for creativity, then all of a sudden it becomes like a. So for example, when Covid happened, it was an invitation to be creative and reinvent how you do your business. And as we've seen people who were ready to be creative, they succeeded, and people who were complaining about covid didn't really succeed the same way. For example, if you got laid. Okay, sure it's a problem, but at the same time, it's an invitation to be creative, to be creative with how you approach your next job. Maybe you don't even want to look for a job. Maybe it's time to create something like a business or a service. It's time to get creative with your monthly family budget and see how you can do some things differently to save money while you're looking for a job. And I think this whole budget thing can be a huge, place for you to be creative. can you cook more of your meals at home to save money? Maybe you can go and explore thrift stores and see if you can save money there. Maybe you. create a new form of entertainment for you and your family that doesn't require that much spending. So I think a lot of problems and constraints that we encounter are the invitation to be creative. And when you start looking at this from this angle, as I said, it becomes like a game. It's like, okay, how can I be creative? How can we reduce this budget line by 20%? And if you make it again, and if you have this attitude, it becomes much easier. And I would go as far as to say that you should really embrace limitations and constraints because they make brainstorming much easier. And I'm gonna give you an example here. So let's say you want to start the business and the question that you would ask yourself if you had zero constraints is what business can I start? And like, imagine if you had to ask this question, what business can they. . And when I think about this question, it's like, well, I don't know many things. Well, it's hard to say, right? So it's, it's such a general question that you immediately get overwhelmed and lost. So now let's think that you have one constraint is that you only have a thousand dollars to. And then your question becomes, what business can I start with? Just a thousand dollars, Like now compare the first question, then the second. The second one, you probably have a lot more clarity on what kind of answers you can provide and it results in much better brainstorming. And then what if we introduce the second constraint? Where you only have three months to launch this project, to launch this business, then your question becomes, what business can I start with? A thousand dollars in under three months? Boom. This is a very clear question that can start generating precise answers compared to the question of what business should they. You can see that when you include constraints or limitations, it really helps you to come up with feasible ideas much sooner. Again, I just provided this example so that. , stop avoiding constraints and limitations and think that it's a bad thing. In reality, it's a good thing because it can give you the right answers much sooner. You don't want to live in the world where you have zero constraints. Even though it might sound like an amazing idea, but. The decision fatigue that you will have. If every decision had unlimited options, it would be a nightmare. The next advice I have is to consume better. Consume different from what everyone else is consuming to have the thought no one else is having. So there's probably a magazine everyone else in your industry is reading. Maybe there is a LinkedIn influencer that everyone in your industry is following. Don't follow these people, Don't read this magazine. Consume something different if you want to be creative. How this idea manifested in my life this year is I stopped reading self-help books because I realized that everyone else in my industry, like the productivity time management industry is sharing the same ideas that they've learned from this. . Instead, I decided to start consuming something different so that I can thank different thoughts and generate different ideas. I decided that this year I will read the classics, the classic literature, instead of reading self-help books. And you will be amazed how much, personal advice, you can get from, the classical literature. It's really amazing, especially when you read these books. Not from a place where you just want to understand the storyline, but you read it from a place where you want to learn lessons from this book that you can apply to your. or you can start reading literature from more innovative industries, right? So if you work in a very traditional conservative, old school industry, instead of reading their literature, start reading things from more creative industries. And see if you can borrow some of the ideas, some of the methodologists, how they do things into your industry. Another idea that I have is to keep a backlog of your creative ideas. When you are walking, you can have a great idea and when you are doing grocery shopping, you might have a great idea. At all of this scenarios, you should have a place where you can capture this ideas. I have a backlog file for my podcast ideas on my phone. It's pinned in my notes file. It's easily accessible. My phone is almost always with me, so I know that every time I have an idea, I can write it down. And the beauty of it is that when it's time to sit down and record a podcast episode, I just opened up the backlog file and just pick one idea that I feel like expanding on that day. I find it much easier than trying to come up with the fresh idea on the spot. It's kind of like, you know when you're forced to be creative or say something smart or, Generate the creative idea. You feel stuck, right? But then if you have 20 to choose from, then it's much easier to just pick one and go with it. Another place where you can gather a lot of interest and then creative ideas is by talking to your clients. If you have an audience, they probably have something to say. But more importantly, they have something to ask. Listen to their questions, write them down. This can be used to create your next piece of content. What are they struggling with? What is stopping them in their journey? A lot of my podcast episodes were inspired by the questions my clients ask me during our one-on-one coaching or during our group coaching. So I just write down whatever they're asking or whatever they're struggling with. Of course, I try to help them during the conversation, but later on I'll take the time to think deep, deeper and provide a much more elaborate response to this question. And it also helps them as well to listen to this episode later on. If you are just starting out and you don't have an audience, go to forums or Reddit communities. Treat those people as your clients. Comment on the post with your advice. A lot of people ask questions there and they share their struggles, so why not go and try to help them through the comment section? And of course, I wouldn't be able to add this episode without talking about time blocking and the definition of done. You should really use those two concepts to produce shippable. So it's one thing to have a list of creative ideas, and it's another thing to actually do something with this creative ideas and create something and ship it out to the world. So right now, when I'm recording this podcast, I am following my schedule for. And at this particular hour, I have a time block that is called Record a podcast episode. And the notes section I have a clear definition of done that says the podcast is recorded and uploaded to. App that we are using for editing. So that's the definition of done and that's something that I'm working towards. And I know that this whole process should take me no more than an hour. I only have an hour to record it and upload it to this specific platform. A definition of done provides your brain a clear instruction on what it is working on the final destination is going towards. If you've listened to my podcast before, we have the definition of done on all the levels for the sprint goals, For every goal, we have a definition of done. For the weekly goals, we have a definition of done and then. All the time. Blogs, we have a definition of done, so it goes through all the levels, starting from the very big ones and going to the very small ones. It's not enough to have creative ideas. You need to ship them, and the best way I found to ship them is to use time blocking with the clear definition of done for each time. So that's my advice here. If you are not ready for time blocking, at least do the definition of done. So if you are following the to-do list for the day, it's fine. But for every task that you have on that list, create a clear definition that how should this task look like when it's the end of the. what stage should it be at? Is it , the file, Is it the draft? Is it the email that you sent to someone? What is it? What's the definition of done for this task for today? Other resources that I want to share with you that will help you generate creative ideas on a consistent basis are books. and some of the other podcast episodes that they've done. So let's start with the books. I have three to recommend. The first one is the Blue Ocean Strategy, something that I've mentioned before. One of my favorite business books. The second one is still like an artist. It helps you beat the perfectionism and it really removes a lot of the drama from the creative process. This book gave me a permission to be imperfect, to get inspired by other people. It really helped with that. So, and it removed a lot of the drama about what it's like to be creative. And the third book recommendation that they have is for people who are producing some sort of content for their business. And that book is, they ask you answer. So as I've mentioned before, one of my recommendations is to listen to your clients, and this book really teaches you how to create this whole content strategy out of just listening to. Clients, and what I love about it is that you don't have to hire this experienced marketing strategist or come up with something ridiculous for your marketing and advertising. It really simplifies it. It just says, Listen to your clients. Answer their questions in the most honest way possible, and then it will generate incredible results. So I really recommend this book. Check it out. I think it's still quite relevant and most of all, I think it's a very ethical way of doing business and doing marketing. As for the other episodes that I've done, I think the ones that would benefit you the most if you're on the journey of shipping something to the world on a consistent basis. I have three posts or episodes that I can recommend to you. The first one is experimental. . The second one is how to be consistent, the rule of 10. And the third one is consuming versus producing ratio. So check this three episodes out. You can find them in the archive. Again, it's experimental mindset. How to be consistent rule of 10. And the third one is consuming versus producing ratio. Whew, that was a long episode. But I had a lot of tips to share. If you are working on launching a project, launching a business, launching a blog, a podcast, stay tuned. I have something very exciting coming up end up coming month or two. So definitely subscribe and stay tuned and you can expect more. Tips and recommendations that will help you along your journey. Have a good week, everyone. I'll talk to you next time. Bye.