14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas

Ditkoff’s article, 14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas, talks mainly about ways to be innovative and creative. He gives suggestions on how to approach ideas without bias and with a original edge. Ditkoff offers fourteen different ways for people to approach thoughts with in order for one to become an aspiring innovator.

1.     Follow Your Fascination-

Ditkoff suggests that following your fascination is nature’s way of getting your creative attention. If you become familiar with new fascinations they can to an extent inspire to generate new ideas, which in turn, can possibly become your best.

2.    Immerse-

In this section Ditkoff is telling us to stop multitasking and letting multiple activities take over your life. One must find some that’s fascinates them and immerse themselves completely in that activity. Don’t let anything else bother you become one with your project/idea and focus on it until its completed. Don’t give into distractions. Good Suggestion- with all the distractions in college life if is good to pick one activity to immerse yourself in. join a club or organization and focus your time on it. Find something you love to do to help you free your mind.

3.     Tolerate Ambiguity-

Don’t stop to develop your ideas. People may call you out or put you down but if you tolerate ambiguity nothing can keep you from failing.  You will never succeed if you give up so keep going.

4.    Make New Connections-

When creating new ideas never seize to make connections between multiple ideas. Who knows maybe some new idea will come from combining the two or three together. Good Suggestion- Making connections between ideas are a great way to come across new creative thoughts.  Making connections in everyday life can help you understand new complex ideas.

5.     Fantasize-

Ditkoff suggests that fantasy is what generates ideas. After childhood most of us stop fantasizing but we shouldn’t. Sometime by fantasizing we discover something fantastic.

6.     Define The Right Challenge-

Stay focused! Don’t let things distract and frustrate you. Make a game plan and figure out an approach to expanding upon your idea.

7.     Listen To Your Subconscious-

Ditkoff tells us not to give up on our ideas. Sometimes the mind becomes exhausted and when we take a break from our idea in our conscious mind our subconscious takes over. With time our subconscious can offer us a breakthrough, which is just what is needed to keep on developing.

8.     Take a Break-

Sometimes when we become so obsessed with an idea or project in consumes the project and it becomes annoying or difficult. Don’t forget to take a break and walk away. It’s not good to stress yourself out.

9.     Notice and Challenge Existing Patterns and Trends-

Keep your eyes open! Don’t forget that old neglected ideas and create new ones. Just because ideas did not work out for one project in the past doesn’t mean that wont be useful in the future.

10.   Hang Out With Diverse Groups of People-

You need to breakout of your comfort zone. Hang out with a new group of people, maybe the oddballs, and the jocks, the art freaks. This will help you develop new innovative ideas and outlooks on the creative process. Good Suggestion- by immersing yourself in diverse groups it is easier to form non-bias ideas. It is easy to incorporate this into everyday life especially at a college institution.

11. Brainstorm-

Think for yourself. Communicate in your mind. Some of the best ideas come from brainstorming. Whether you do it alone or with others, devoting time to thought helps clear the brain and help if focus on the topic at hand.

12. Look For Happy Accidents-

When creating your project go into it with an open mind. Let go of your expectations and assumptions. You never know maybe some great could come of a simple mistake.

13. Use Creative Thinking Techniques-

Don’t forget to always look at your ideas in a different perspective. Discover new ways to think creatively. There are many great websites that offer fantastic creative thinking suggestions.

14. Suspend Logic-

Ditkoff suggests that we stop taking things so practically and try to feel things. If we open our minds to different emotions and suspend logical thinking when can create abstract creative ideas.

Q10. Make a list of ten people (or groups of people) outside of your traditional “posse” who you can spend some time with this month. Who’s first? When?

1. Elders

2.Thespians 

3. Artists

4. Jocks

5. Runners

6. Hipsters

7. LGBT

8. Musicians

9. Geeks

10. International Students

I chose these groups because I fell it will help me become diversified with my ideas and opinions about my ideas and each group will help influence my creative process in an unique way. I would first hang out with the International students so I could develop an understanding for foreign culture. I feel that me being in college now I have the best opportunity to immerse myself into these different groups of people.