Ditkoff opens the article by describing how business people want to see innovation because they recognize that it'll bring in the money. It then goes on to compare how there are two main thoughts as to where ideas come from: the Western frame of mind emphasizes thought while the Eastern emphasizes feeling. Ditkoff then asserts that both of these claims are legitimate. What comes next, justifies the article's title: a list of 14 methods to aide you in becoming the next Leonardo da Vinci! Since the remainder of the article is in an internet-friendly list format, which is very convenient for those of us who like to switch between browser tabs in an ADHD fashion, despite being midway through an article. So, there's really no need for me to summarize the rest, however I suppose I'll just transcribe a compact list here so my "summary" doesn't just cover the introduction.
- Follow Your Fascination
- Immerse
- Tolerate Ambiguity
- Make New Connections
- Fantasize
- Define the Right Challenge
- Listen to your Subconscience
- Take a Break
- Notice and Challenge Existing Patterns and Trends
- Hang Out with Diverse Groups of People
- Brainstorm
- Look for Happy Accidents
- Use Creative Thinking Techniques
- Suspend Logic
Now, I'm going to take a closer look at three of these methods. The very first item on the list, "Follow Your Fascination" makes complete sense to me. If you allow yourself to pursue what you're interested in you're much more likely to stumble upon something brilliant than if you half-heartedly go along with something that you're apathetic about. This is simply because when you feel compelled to complete a task, you're going to work a lot harder at it than if you could really care less.
Number four: "Make New Connections" I find to be the most important on the list. In order to make new connections, Ditkoff advises us to go past the confines of what we already know. This is imperative when trying to come up with new ideas, because how could you possibly come up with something new by only exploring paths of thought you've already explored? To quote Einstein again, "Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results." You have to leave your pre-established comfort zone in order to discover new ideas. This brings me to the next method I would like to point out: Number ten: "Hang Out with Diverse Groups of People".
In order to make the new connections of number four, it's essential to practice number ten as well. If you only interact with a specific group of people, new ideas won't be introduced to you all that often. The more diverse your social interactions are the more ideas you'll expose yourself to and the more perspectives you'll familiarize yourself with. Even in the realm of creativity, we draw from what we know, so you should try and experience a wide array of things in order to bolster your creativity. This is why I find the internet to be such a brilliant place, since it makes it possible to interact with people from different walks of life, from all over the world.
This exchange of information and ideas across the internet brings me to an observation that correlates with the questions of method number nine: "What trends in the marketplace most intrigues you? In what ways might these trends shift in the coming years-and how might your most inspired idea be in sync with this imagined shift?". What I find interesting is the ongoing development of advertising and promotion of products on the internet. It's been more-or-less a recent phenomena for corporations to try and tap into the viral-nature of internet culture. From the Old-Spice guy responding to comments on the internet to Honda's rube Goldberg machine to Friskies using the population of the internet's obsession with cats to their advantage to an endearing online game for Shaun the Sheep to the intriguing website for Donnie Darko, companies are competing to capture the attention of internet users. What I like about these online campaigns is that advertisers are forced to make a video, game, etc. that is good enough that people are willing to go out of their way to watch or play it, and then tell their friends about it, otherwise it'll be a complete flop. Never before had I wanted to see a movie so bad courtesy of the marketing, than after I visited the website for Donnie Darko.
This leads me to believe that the online marketing trends are going to lean more towards the interactive multimedia in the future due to its effectiveness and the increase in casual gaming. There's certainly many interactive advertisements on the web, but the emphasis is currently on videos and banners, and I believe that's going to change. I acknowledge that this might be wishful thinking on my part, since I love both video games and the internet, and if the merging of the two became more prevalent, there would be more career opportunities in the field, giving me a better chance of landing my dream job in the industry. My most inspired idea would be in sync with this shift because it would be founded in it. Sorry to keep raving about the Donnie Darko website, but I just love how it adds on to the movie-verse, and to help with the development of an awesome supplement such as this would be amazing. To go back to the first method of the article, I'm fascinated by this, so it wouldn't be too surprising if my most inspired idea derived from this.
Number four: "Make New Connections" I find to be the most important on the list. In order to make new connections, Ditkoff advises us to go past the confines of what we already know. This is imperative when trying to come up with new ideas, because how could you possibly come up with something new by only exploring paths of thought you've already explored? To quote Einstein again, "Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results." You have to leave your pre-established comfort zone in order to discover new ideas. This brings me to the next method I would like to point out: Number ten: "Hang Out with Diverse Groups of People".
In order to make the new connections of number four, it's essential to practice number ten as well. If you only interact with a specific group of people, new ideas won't be introduced to you all that often. The more diverse your social interactions are the more ideas you'll expose yourself to and the more perspectives you'll familiarize yourself with. Even in the realm of creativity, we draw from what we know, so you should try and experience a wide array of things in order to bolster your creativity. This is why I find the internet to be such a brilliant place, since it makes it possible to interact with people from different walks of life, from all over the world.
This exchange of information and ideas across the internet brings me to an observation that correlates with the questions of method number nine: "What trends in the marketplace most intrigues you? In what ways might these trends shift in the coming years-and how might your most inspired idea be in sync with this imagined shift?". What I find interesting is the ongoing development of advertising and promotion of products on the internet. It's been more-or-less a recent phenomena for corporations to try and tap into the viral-nature of internet culture. From the Old-Spice guy responding to comments on the internet to Honda's rube Goldberg machine to Friskies using the population of the internet's obsession with cats to their advantage to an endearing online game for Shaun the Sheep to the intriguing website for Donnie Darko, companies are competing to capture the attention of internet users. What I like about these online campaigns is that advertisers are forced to make a video, game, etc. that is good enough that people are willing to go out of their way to watch or play it, and then tell their friends about it, otherwise it'll be a complete flop. Never before had I wanted to see a movie so bad courtesy of the marketing, than after I visited the website for Donnie Darko.
This leads me to believe that the online marketing trends are going to lean more towards the interactive multimedia in the future due to its effectiveness and the increase in casual gaming. There's certainly many interactive advertisements on the web, but the emphasis is currently on videos and banners, and I believe that's going to change. I acknowledge that this might be wishful thinking on my part, since I love both video games and the internet, and if the merging of the two became more prevalent, there would be more career opportunities in the field, giving me a better chance of landing my dream job in the industry. My most inspired idea would be in sync with this shift because it would be founded in it. Sorry to keep raving about the Donnie Darko website, but I just love how it adds on to the movie-verse, and to help with the development of an awesome supplement such as this would be amazing. To go back to the first method of the article, I'm fascinated by this, so it wouldn't be too surprising if my most inspired idea derived from this.
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