On producing good ideas
With input from Webb Young, Nick Cave and Dave Trott
Coffee order update
How’s everyone doing?
Google algorithms got me good this week by serving me up loads of self-validating content like this archive Malcom Gladwell TedTalk, Choice, happiness and Spaghetti Sauce.
Of course, I only just discovered it and based on last week’s newsletter, I now think of myself as a bone fide social commentator. Gladwell says:
“We can not always explain what we want deep down.
Ask everyone in this room what they want in a coffee. Everyone of you would say, “I want a dark, rich, hearty, roast.”
Most of you like milky, weak coffee but you would never ever say to someone who asks you what coffee you want, “I want a milky, weak coffee.”
By embracing the diversity of human beings we will find a true way to happiness.”
Of course, that’s exactly what I was getting at.
Brief coaster controversy
Last word on hot drinks. I’m told that some people have issues with coasters. The ones you might put a hot drink on.
Don’t overthink the etiquette though. I’ve put in the hard work for you here. It leads you nowhere but questioning your life.
Ideas and how to have good ones
Now onto the good stuff. I’ve recently moved back into my house after some renovations. Cue a dusty hiatus as I pretend to be putting stuff away when really, I’m just sitting on the internet and living out of collapsable IKEA suitcases.
As I dramatically swept away cobwebs The Munsters would be proud, I found the advertising classic, A technique for producing Ideas by James Webb Young.
It was being used as a bookmark in another underused book about creativity - I think maybe it was an Ogilvy one. Meta, huh?
Anyway, I read it again in the bath. It’s less than 50 pages - I got to the conclusion just seconds before I turned into a prune.
If you don’t own the book, here’s the crash course in Webb Young’s protracted 1960s words:
“This then, is the whole process or method by which ideas are produced:
First, the gathering of raw materials - both the materials of your immediate problem and the materials which come from a constant enrichment of your store of general knowledge.
Second, the working over of these materials in your mind.
Third, the incubating stage where you let something beside the conscious mind do the work of synthesis.
Fourth, the actual birth of the idea - the “Eureka! I have it!” stage.
And fifth, the final shaping and development of the idea to practical usefulness.”
In short
Read, listen, observe, research
Write, record
Go for a run, have a shower, get out of your mind (figuratively, natch)
AHA!
Make it tangible, possible to execute
That’s pretty much it.
Active method, new material
But how do you know if it’s a good one?
Unsure if you’ve created something worthwhile? This is where dark agony aunt and literary master, Nick Cave can impart some contemporary wisdom.
His Red Hand Files newsletter and site are a goldmine of guidance and reassurance. Cave says:
“So, we continue to wait. But while we wait we must remain prepared and alert, and one way to do so is to write things down, in order to advance the idea, as this indicates a readiness to receive.
Beware, however, of the idea that comes too easily, as this is often a residual idea and only compelling because it reminds us of something we have already done.”
Still not sure of the value of your idea?
I’d say get it out there. Tell kind friends, write a newsletter, draw it, sing it. Then move on. We are all more than our ideas.
Think of it as an story (that you might unsave) in your insta profile. A footnote in the lifelong novel that manifests in a truth-revealing twist. Fold the corner if you must, but turn to the next page now.
In other links and Mother’s Day
Feeling flush? Gift ideas needed? These from Gather and See are quite nice aren’t they?
Plus, if you’ve got the kind of mother/tastemaker in your life who might appreciate some beautiful recycled gold this Sunday try a bangle from Bar jewellery.
Lastly
Ad mogul @Davetrott retweeted my comment on his blog story for International Women’s Day. It makes a point about good (and original) ideas, but I still can’t believe somebody actually went that far.