Kristin Savage

The Lemming Conspiracy is a great read. It helps you realise what makes you tick, and therefore what you might do best. Basically it takes you through a number of thought experiments to help you determine what you’ll be most effective doing and why.

You’ll be given the tools to develop a personal vision which will help you know what to say yes to, and what to say no to, when confronted with the need to make a decision about the use of your time, which leads to balance. I find it can be easy to say yes to everything, but when I employ the filter i’ve developed, it helps me to make the right choice.

The definition of a Lemming puts in perspective how we often live our lives when out of balance.

I’d recommend the Lemming Conspiracy. It was a great read!

Ignore the competition. Find a USP and you’re different already.

To quote Alan Kay - “Don’t worry about what anybody else is going to do. The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

Ideas are commodities. “Don’t worry about the competition”.

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” - Mark Twain.

If you’re a person who likes to dream up ideas, you’ll probably be wanting to get feedback from time to time. I choose two parties for sounding boards.

1. Loved ones (family, friends you can trust and who are consistent).

2. Your target customers (whoever it is that’ll get their cheque book out and pay for your idea solution once it’s commercially viable).

Expose yourself to any other sounding boards and the potential is there for you to be either confused, de-motivated, or upset. It’s also difficult to know what someones motivation for advice is. Protect yourself, but in saying that, expose yourself to your target customers… it might hurt at first, but it’ll atleast be beneficial ‘hurt’.

When in ‘idea’ mode, I try and loosely follow the Rules of Brainstorming. The more these rules are followed the better chance there is that something worthwhile creative will come. Why? It’s kinda like that ‘door metaphor’… you need to open one door to gain access to the other doors, no matter how ’silly, strange, irrelevant, or wacky’ the first door might seem as an option, it should, in the end, lead to the door you’re after.

When teaching commerce at Wellington College I can’t remember how many times I had to stress the point during our Young Enterprise workshops [where we'd brainstorm ideas for business ventures based in schools]…. No criticizing or judging others ideas/suggestions during a brainstorm… good or bad. Even myself as the teacher, I had to resist the urge to respond even ‘positively’ while being the brainstorm scribe. “It’s not a discussion or forum”.

I’m not sure what’s harder… the brainstorming itself or the enforcement of the brainstorming rules. Either way, there are some great web 2.0 tools out there to help with the process.

What gets my wheels spinning?

“IDEAS”

I’m going to be writing alot more about my experiences with ideas here. If not simply as a log for me to look back on and possibly notice patterns in relation to idea development. Maybe you can help to tell me what it is you are… doing, thinking, feeling, saying, eating, enjoying, when you come up with your ideas… Good or bad, practical or otherwise.

And as a symbol of this blogs new perspective, i’m changing the css theme to a nice new blue.