{"id":2282,"date":"2008-07-31T13:38:57","date_gmt":"2008-07-31T13:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bob.ryskamp.org\/brain\/?p=2282"},"modified":"2012-03-09T11:09:19","modified_gmt":"2012-03-09T11:09:19","slug":"notes-from-a-technique-for-producing-ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bob.ryskamp.org\/brain\/notes-from-a-technique-for-producing-ideas\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes from A Technique for Producing Ideas<\/cite>"},"content":{"rendered":"

[A tiny book](http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Technique-Producing-Advertising-Classics-Library\/dp\/0071410945\/ref=ed_oe_p) lent to me by a friend, which can be summarized in far fewer words still. The insights, however, are as strong as any.<\/p>\n

The book is a 20-minute read, and someone even [typed it out online](http:\/\/tech.moosaico.com\/docs\/getting-ideas\/). It’s worth reading for the examples, though most of the content can be summarized as below.<\/p>\n

My main takeaways were 1) the value of life-long general knowledge in eventually bearing fruit, and 2) the importance of stepping away from the work to wait for the ‘a-ha’ moment.<\/p>\n

### Notes<\/p>\n

The two principles for producing ideas:<\/p>\n

> 1. An idea is nothing more nor less than a new combination of old elements. (15)
\n2. The capacity to bring old elements into new combinations depends largely on the ability to see relationships. (16)<\/p>\n

And the five steps for producing them:<\/p>\n

1. Gather raw material – Both specific (related to your project) and general (anything interesting at all), as much of it as possible, over your entire lifetime, preferably with a cataloging system to look it up later. My blog forms this, I think.<\/p>\n

2. Chew on it – Mash up all the material you have, and spend some time looking at it in different ways.<\/p>\n

3. Take a break – Stop trying to solve the problem, and go to a concert or something. Let the idea incubate.<\/p>\n

4. Have an ‘a-ha!’ moment – Really, it just happens. But write it down, eh?<\/p>\n

5. Make it real – the follow-through, and where most ideas die. But if you share the idea with others at this stage, it might just have “self-expanding qualities” where “it stimulates those who see it to add to it.” (39)<\/p>\n

The value of the general knowledge:<\/p>\n

> In advertising an idea results from a new combination of _specific knowledge_ about products and people with _general knowledge_ about life and events. (25)<\/p>\n

> There are some advertisements you just cannot write until you have lived long enough – until, say, you have lived through certain experiences as a spouse, a parent, a businessman, or what not. The cycles of the years does something to fill your reservoir. (44)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[A tiny book](http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Technique-Producing-Advertising-Classics-Library\/dp\/0071410945\/ref=ed_oe_p) lent to me by a friend, which can be summarized in far fewer words still. The insights, however, are as strong as any. The book is a 20-minute read, and someone even [typed it out online](http:\/\/tech.moosaico.com\/docs\/getting-ideas\/). It’s worth reading for the examples, though most of the content can be summarized as below….more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9wjHJ-AO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bob.ryskamp.org\/brain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bob.ryskamp.org\/brain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bob.ryskamp.org\/brain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bob.ryskamp.org\/brain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bob.ryskamp.org\/brain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bob.ryskamp.org\/brain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2301,"href":"https:\/\/bob.ryskamp.org\/brain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2282\/revisions\/2301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bob.ryskamp.org\/brain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bob.ryskamp.org\/brain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bob.ryskamp.org\/brain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}