How To Become An “Idea Machine” — You Can Solve Any Problem
+ 53 Idea Generation Lists
Ideas are the currency of creativity.
Ideas change lives.
Most people wait and hope for the right ideas to come into their life.
Many people waste energy and time being stuck on problems.
I hope this article changes things for you. Starting today, you no longer have to passively wait for life-changing ideas.
Imagine being able to easily generate ideas that change your life — or someone else’s life.
Imagine controlling the flow of ideas that inspire (breathe life into) you and others—seemingly evoking out of nowhere new strength, creativity, and genius.
Imagine becoming an “idea machine” that can quickly generate world-changing ideas. Ideas that can solve any problem given to you, and effectively utilize any opportunity in your life.
To begin to understand how the process works, I recommend reading the following two articles by James Altucher:
Get started today.
Even for 5 minutes now, try the practice of generating 10 ideas.
You don’t have to get to all 10 today. But get started.
Then tomorrow, generate 10 ideas. And then the next day. And the next day. (It’s fine to take a day or two off, but aim to generate 10 ideas everyday, consistently, for 2 weeks and see how it changes you…)
Before long, you will notice that it has become easier for you to get unstuck from any problem that comes your way.
To help you get started, I’ll share with you my lists for generating ideas…
My Idea Generation Lists
What follows are the lists I’ve already used. Doing this practice has proven valuable in my business & life:
- 10 ways to add more value
- 10 ways to enroll more clients
- 10 ways to inspire more client transformation
- 10 ways to find out what your Ideal Audience wants to learn
- 10 ways you would enjoy earning income
- 10 recent things that show how you are taken care of
- 10 ideas for [an executive in a company you might like to work for.]
- 10 things that would be wise for you to focus on & get better at
- 10 ways you can be better about following your schedule
- 10 ways to generate great leads for your business
- 10 ways to get great results for your [engagement with a client]
- 10 ways to become a thought leader
- 10 blog posts you’d like to write
- 10 ideas to improve your coaching skills
- 10 referral partners to reach out to
- 10 ways to love what you do
- 10 solutions for “What to do if too many things on my to-do list?”
- 10 things you could offer to potential referral partners so they’d say “yes” to bringing your content to their audience
- 10 things to suggest to someone who is feeling financial pressure
More Idea Generation Lists
The following lists were inspired by James Altucher’s postings above and Claudia Altucher’s book “Become an Idea Machine.” When I do my “10 ideas” practice I glance down the list to see what inspires me. If nothing, I generate 10 ideas for questions that would inspired me.
- Come up with 10 ideas that combine biology and marketing.
- Come up with 10 questions that combine 2 different fields of thought.
- Come up with 10 new ways to do [something you do all the time.]
- 10 products that don’t currently exist, but should.
- 10 services that don’t currently exist, but should.
- 10 books you could write.
- 10 books that should be written.
- 10 business ideas that you could probably implement given enough time.
- 10 ideas for your videos.
- 10 things for which you’re a contrarian (that others believe that you don’t.)
- For any of the things you’re a contrarian for, 10 reasons why.
- 10 ways to give your partner a pleasant surprise.
- 10 people you’d love to be friends with.
- 10 things you could do better in your work.
- 10 things you could do to improve your health.
- 10 things you could do to improve your relationship.
- 10 practices to improve your connection with the Divine.
- 10 articles that should be written and in what blog or publication.
- 10 ways you can save time.
- 10 things you learned from the last book you read.
- 10 things you can get better at.
- 10 ways you can get better at [something specific.]
- A problem you have and 10 ways you can solve it.
- 10 quotes you could be quoted as saying.
- 10 ways to exercise often-unused parts of your brain.
- 10 good ways to contact someone on LinkedIn
- 10 reasons people would come to your website
- 10 things that you typically would complain about, but could be reframed as something you can be grateful for
- (without studying the Udemy catalog,) Come up with 10 courses that you would love to teach on Udemy, and a bit about what would be in each curriculum
- 10 of your favorite books of all time, and one thing you learned from each
- 10 of your favorite movies of all time, and briefly why
- 10 meetups you could run in my area
- Think of a hero of yours, whether alive or not (e.g. Gandhi, Susan B. Anthony, Julia Butterfly Hill) and write 10 questions you’d ask him or her.
- Think about yourself 10 years from now. If that future self could share 10 pieces of advice with you, what would they be?
Get started! If you need inspiration to start, or have any questions, read the 2 articles I linked to above.
(On a side note, I noticed typos and imperfect grammar in James Altucher’s blog posts, and Claudia Altucher’s “idea machine” book which is currently #1 on Amazon Kindle in several business categories. Seeing this liberated me to write more. An idea is more important than how perfect the writing is. Just get started.)
If this post has inspired you, I’d love to know!
George Kao is a marketing & productivity coach who values authenticity, service, and personal growth. He has been featured on hundreds of webinars, telesummits, and podcasts. To get his best posts in a single monthly email, subscribe to his free newsletter at www.georgekao.com/email
