ADOI Blog

If an idea seems so obvious, how come it’s so hard to find?

nick_morgan on 07 21, 2009

Idea

–noun

any conception existing in the mind as a result of mental understanding, awareness, or activity.

a thought, conception, or notion: That is an excellent idea.

an impression: He gave me a general idea of how he plans to run the department.

an opinion, view, or belief: His ideas on raising children are certainly strange.

a plan of action; an intention: the idea of becoming an engineer.

a groundless supposition; fantasy.

a concept developed by the mind.

a conception of what is desirable or ought to be; ideal.

It’s no wonder we find great ideas hard to find. Above is just a sample of explanations of what an idea might be. If it’s really so hard to define, how then are we supposed to go about finding it? It’s hard to think of many people that would even attempt a search without a clear picture of what they’re searching for.

Searching for an idea is a bit like landing on the moon for the very first time. It’s there we’re sure of it, but we don’t really know what it looks like, where we’ll find it, when we’ll get there and so on. But that doesn’t stop us from trying.

James Webb Young, who before WW2 would establish J. Walter Thompson’s international network, is often famously quoted when he explained “an idea is nothing more or less than a new combination of existing elements”.

I particularly like this definition for two reasons. Firstly, it means anyone can have ideas. You don’t need to be a creative genius, rocket scientist, biogenetic freakoid, or even have a degree.

Secondly, it provides us with clear direction that ideas can come from anywhere. We’re totally surrounded by “existing elements”, our life is jammed full of them. From the moment we wake up to the time we close our eyes “existing elements” are 99.999% of everything we see.

Therefore, to find ideas we simply need to create new (unexpected) combinations of the existing elements, already existing in every aspect of our daily lives.  And to do that we only have to look, and all of us have the ability to do that.

Nick Morgan.

e. thinkbetter@musthaveideas.com

Nick is an ECD with 20 years industry experience, and a Cannes winner. He provides “in-house” training/mentorship and has inspired countless creatives to perform way beyond their own boundaries and expectations.

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