I’ve always wanted to start my own business. The problem? I couldn’t think of any good ideas (or so I told myself). I chalked it up to the fact that I was the “Operations Guy”, able to take someone else’s idea, and build and scale it to profitability, as opposed to the “Idea Guy,” the person who can think of a ton of ideas but can’t execute on them.
I continued to press on and stressed over finding that perfect idea that never popped into my brain.
I found I wasn’t alone. Many other people are in the same boat. So, are we Ops guys destined to always be the #2 to the visionary?
Not so fast. James Altucher argues we all have the capability to generate ideas. He calls it the idea muscle. Similar to a muscle that atrophies over time without use, so does the idea muscle. His premise? The more you exercise the idea muscle, the more ideas will flow on a daily basis. In short, write down 10 ideas a day, every day, for 6 months. Don’t worry if they are good or bad. As a result, you’ll find yourself continually coming up with more ideas, seemingly out of nowhere.
Try it. You’ll be surprised to find it works. While I haven’t done Altucher’s method yet, I can see it working on a smaller scale. I’ve only been blogging for a couple weeks and it seems like every day I think of a couple new ideas to add to my notepad. The more you use it, the more ideas will come.
Want to join me in thinking of 10 ideas a day for the next 6 months? Altucher claims once you’re done it will feel like you have a super power. Sounds exciting. Who knows, maybe I’ll become the “idea guy.” Can’t wait to find out.