What Would You Do With An Extra 300 Seconds?

What would you do if a genie suddenly appeared and gave you an extra five minutes today?

Watch an extra scene from your favorite reality show? A quick game of Madden? Tweet? Sneak in a Lady Gaga track? Me ... I'd think. Again, not in Pooh "Think. Think. Think." mode, but in the way in which I would sit back, unplug and give myself 300 seconds of something I rarely have time to do during the day -- take a break and let ideas come to me. The ideas are swirling around in your head and connections are being made all of the time. But unless you're in a position to receive these gifts, ideas will always be drowned out by the white noise that is the soundtrack of our lives (apologies to the great Swedish band).

We're all in need of an idea -- whether it's a marketing campaign, a thesis topic or a new dish for dinner. Set aside five minutes a day for personal idea time. It can be while driving, walking, exercising or just closing the door at work with a metaphoric back-in-five-minutes sign. It's a small investment with a big upside.

Agree?

An Idea About College

The same son I reference below (I only have one!) is in the midst of selecting a college. We've done all of the homework, visits, talks with baseball coaches and pretty much everything else involved in choosing the next step. Now it comes down to the gut check -- what feels right. The same can be said for selecting the big idea. You can do the right research, hold myriad brainstorms, test the ideas -- and it still pretty much comes down to the gut. Even in the business setting, you have to ask "what feels right?" If you're sure that you have done all the homework, many more times than not, you'll find the right answer waiting for you. Trust yourself.

Social Media and the Customer Experience

I had the pleasure of speaking with Blake Landau of Customer Management IQ about the convergence of social media and the customer experience. It's always a pleasure to work with Blake.

Take a listen! http://www.customermanagementiq.com/podcenter.cfm?externalID=251

Blake can be found on Twitter at @CustomerMgmtIQ

"Wouldn't it Be Cool...?"

I remember being in an agency brainstorm for one of the world's largest sports footwear and apparel companies about 8-9 years ago. We needed to come up with an idea to launch a new brand and products, and win the business. Of course, everyone in the room had their PR hat on, thinking of ideas that we had done before for other clients and how they could translate to this opportunity.

Let me add that my (then) 9-year-old son was in the room. I took him to work that day and told him we were having pizza and talking about sports and one of his favorite stars. I expected him to stuff his face and daydream.

But as we were piling up the ideas, we heard "wouldn't it be cool to invite the best 3-player teams to have a tournament and the winners play in New York City and coached by (the famous athlete)? The winners could win all the new stuff."

The room went silent. Here we were racking our brains to see what PR ideas would work for the client, and a 9-year-old kid cut through the clutter by just asking "wouldn't it be cool...?"

Whether we used the actual idea or not, the lesson was learned. Needless to say, we went on to create the killer idea. And win the biz.

Lesson -- stop thinking about fitting your thinking into the traditional PR (or advertising or promotional) boxes, and challenge everyone to finish the question "wouldn't it be cool if ...?"

9-year-old boys haven't learned to filter or limit their thinking. Why should we?

“Mommy, Where do Ideas Come From?”

As a parent and creative professional, I think it's easier answering the stork question. At least for the birds and bees, there's an actual answer. As uncomfortable as it may be.



Anyway, I often ask myself that very same question ... just where do these ideas come from. Even as they emerge, I'm not all that sure from where they arrive. Sometimes they just do. But that's not to say it's (all) magic.

It's not as if I sit around like Pooh, tapping my head and saying "Think. Think. Think."










For me, developing the killer idea is more about putting yourself in best position to receive it, as opposed to actively seeking it. For more often than not, this happens out of office and away from the work environment. There will always be idea time in the office, but keep an open mind to those opportunities away from the work setting.

Consider:

1. Exercise. Nothing like an hour on the treadmill or three hours on the bike to get the creative juices flowing. Maybe it's the endorphins, or maybe it's just the mind-numbing scenery (or just not having the phone ring for a while), but I've had more aha moments while exercising than any other way (think how successful I would be if I exercised enough!). You don't have to pressure yourself to have great ideas within the next hour; just recognize that you have a great opportunity ahead of you to develop a needed idea or solution to a knotty work problem. Tip: if you're on a stable machine, take along a note card and small golf pencil and jot the ideas down as they come.

2. Driving. Probably for the same reason as above. Whether you need the radio or not, the monotony or while line fever can draw your mind into a well-positioned place to receive great ideas. Tip: pull over before you write!

3. "Active Nothing." Oxymoron? Yes. Effective? Sure. All this means is taking a few minutes to unplug the TV and the computer and "do some nothing." Doodle. Walk. Vacuum. Rearrange the stack of magazines. You'd be surprised how open your mind becomes to ideas when you're engaged in a bit of nothing.

There is always merit for creative and strategic brainstorming, yet by just taking a break from the traditional work setting, you may find your mind in receive mode.

Just my idea ... what do you think? What are your best "idea settings?"