14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas

All anyone has to do is go here :  http://changethis.com/, than search "14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas". It's quite an interesting piece of literature.  Mike Ditkoff made several good points to almost motivate people to get out there and do what they want to do. The only problem with it is the fact that it proves a point of some one with an actual good idea.

For instance, he states to follow your fascination, and believe your idea is a good one. The only problem is with the way things are today, more often than not, your idea is actually a quite bad one, and there is a chance you didn't come up with the "original" idea. So many times have I seen companies go after one another over some copyright infringement or any copyright issues, just because something is similar to theirs. It's getting to the point where it's the first person to obtain rights on the idea is the winner of it all. Examples : Apple's copyright of the "App Store". How can something so generic and thrown around be copyrighted, I'm not sure. Paris Hilton tried to copyright "That's Hot", but was denied, thankfully, but somehow Apple got away with it.  Honestly, I don't believe just believing your idea is a good one will help anything.

Ditkoff continues on his list with how people should immerse themselves in their work that they love, that it's beneficial to themselves. From there, he states how everyone should be able to tolerate failure. This is a good point to make. Every single time you fail, it is always a learning experience. Even though everyone hates to fail, you have to be able to pick yourself up from the wreckage, and learn from each mistake. Failure is not failing. In my own life, if I had failed multiple times, I normally would just be dejected, and not want to do anything more with the idea. This is not how I should go about this, because no matter how many times you may fail, you are only going to learn something more valuable than if you succeed in the first place. I must tolerate the ambiguity just like Ditkoff says, to learn what works, and what doesn't.

As you dive deeper into the list, Ditkoff continues on what he believes will help people by stating how they should make new connections in the world. How something so simple could put together with something else simple, to create an amazing idea. This idea to think of ideas leads into his next point of how we should all fantasize about what we want. It's something we have lost as we grew up, that we need to reconnect with to create ideas.

Of course, another great idea Ditkoff has, is the point to define the right challenge. We must all understand that to get breakthrough ideas, we must find a problem in life, than look for a solution. We cannot just look for a solution because what are we solving when we don't even know it ourselves? Every person in this world knows of something they have a problem with, and they even want to solve it themselves. I say go for it! I, myself, need to realize that instead of just seeing the problem, I must realize why and what it is exactly, than create a solution.

We can't always just assume we are going to find those problems just like that. We sometimes have to reach into our subconscious to find a problem and solution, which is the next point Ditkoff writes. He gives examples about how many people have developed something that helps them reach into their own subconscious and pick out the answer. This point goes along into Ditkoff's next one: take a break. We must all realize it is indeed hard to work all the time, even if we sometimes enjoy it, but we can't keep doing the same exact thing forever. He states that we must trail off the beaten path when we get stuck to keep everything going.

As we delve deeper into his fourteen points, Ditkoff's next is to define and challenge existing patterns and trends. He says we must find already existing patterns in life, than reconfigure them. From there he goes on to state how we must hang out with diverse people. We must delve into the diversity around us, gain knowledge from them, than use that to create bigger and better ideas.

Number eleven on his list is brainstorm. He states how we must be able to brainstorms with others and not be afraid of it. We must not think of it as group think, but only furthering the creative process. A common theme of this list seems to be accidents. It's almost like no idea happens on purpose. This is his twelfth point on this list, to look for happy accidents. He states the normal accident turned amazing idea of penicillin by Flemming, although I'm allergic to it, so it doesn't help me too much.

He moves on to say we must use creative thinking techniques to delve into new ideas. Make sure to check out this point to see links he gives us to help out with our thinking process. Last but not least, we must suspend logic according to Ditkoff. We almost have to return to our childhood. We don't necessarily need everything to make sense, and he states that will help with creating breakthrough ideas.

I think now I should put into place one of his questions he puts after each point. For instance, "What is the topic of your next group brainstorm? Who will you invite? Who will facilitate? When?" is at the end of his topic of brainstorming. So let's begin. The topic of my brainstorm? I would have to say the commonality of the increasing amount that is spent on films. I would invite head leaders of film production groups, and some members of the actors guild. The facilitator would be me, because I don't want two groups to go head to head, and not want anything to get out of hand. I would do this as soon as possible, although i know it is very hard to do, but within the next month for sure.

Most of these questions are quite easy to answer, so no problem should be faced with any questions at the end of one of the ways. So go ahead and try it. You may be able to find the next solution to one of the many problems that exist in this world.