21 Days To A Big Idea Summary

 

1-Sentence-Summary: 21 Days To A Big Idea is all about how to blend your creative and rational sides of your brain in order to come up with fascinating new ideas and fun ways to apply them in as few as 21 days. That's what 21 Days To A Big Idea is all about.

The line between the two points is razor-sharp. In other words, the middle ground when there aren't enough options. The vast majority of people fall into one or the other of these two categories. They either think they have too many ideas and can't possibly implement them all, or they don't know how to prioritize them all. Or they think they have no ideas at all and can't come up with a single thing.

Every now and then, "Yeah, I've got a few good ideas, just enough when I need them!" is uttered. Either/or is the only option.

As it turns out, shutting our creative crazy minds off most of the time is probably the wisest course of action for those of us in hyper-idea-hibernation mode. Alternatively, if you're on the other side, this book is for you.

For those of you who want to come up with big ideas, here are three lessons from Bryan Mattimore's 21 Days To A Big Idea that will help you do just that. 

1.  Think about what you wanted as a child to help you identify areas of innovation. 
2. When brainstorming, use the "and" method to generate ideas quickly.
3. Billboard is a good way to test out company concepts.
   

You're ready to take your brainstorming to the next level? See what materials ideas are composed of.

Lesson #1: it is through the wishes of children that you will get to the nexus of creativity and reason.

After developing a test for NASA in the 1960s to gauge a person's level of creativity, George Land decided to administer it to schoolchildren in 1968. Even youngsters could do it because it worked so perfectly. He was spot on. And they got all A's on their exams.

In a group of 1,600 five-year-olds, the level of creativity was astronomical. A whopping 98% of them were deemed to be among the most imaginative members of the group.

The test was given to the same children five years later because he wanted to see how they'd grown as artists. Fewer than one-third of children had retained their originality by the time they reached the age of 10, a precipitous decline from the previous two-thirds. As if it wasn't bad enough, things just got worse. Only 12% of 15-year-olds remained creative.When you give the test to adults, the same thing happens: only 2% of the population has the same level of creativity as five-year-olds.
To rekindle your creative flame, it makes sense to rekindle your inner kid. That's actually true, as well: Think back to when you were a kid and all the things you wanted to do.

These dreams may have already been realized, but there are likely many more still to be conceived. Suppose you wanted to fly an airplane? No problem. For those who wish to travel to a whole different world, virtual reality is making its way into the mainstream.

It all began as a weird childhood fantasy, but as sensible adult minds began to tackle it, it became a real-life thing.

Lesson #2: Use the "and" strategy to generate ideas in under 30 seconds.

The next 30 seconds are yours to come up with a mind-blowing new invention. Without a doubt, you'd go into a state of terror and freeze. A little help? Alright, alright, here we go.

A noun and an adjective might be combined before you even begin to think about your notion. I call this approach "the and," and it's designed to get your brain thinking in other ways.

What happens when you pull a noun and an adjective from two separate piles of cards? You'll get an abundance of new ideas. As an illustration, consider the case of the "garden" and "loud" cards.

When you throw a party, you might consider constructing a music box that can fill the entire garden with sound. In other words, how to make your lawnmower sound quieter so your neighbors aren't disturbed when you run it in the yard. There are now two!

However, it's not simply new ideas that can benefit from this method; you can also utilize it to come up with a great idea in a given area. Fix the noun, such "pizza," in place, and then try 20-30 various adjectives to describe it.

In little time at all, you'll be flush with fresh concepts.

Lesson 3: Use billboards to come up with new company concepts.

However, not all ideas will last. Real-world feedback is essential to determining which products are the best. It's a good idea, however, to come up with a concise means of presenting your idea before you do so, so that you don't end up giving a 30-minute talk to each potential customer.

As a result, billboards are needed. There are three steps to this process:

• By precisely articulating what your idea is and what problem it addresses for your clients, you can come up with a catchy name for your product.
  

• If you're selling a product, make a list of all of its advantages.

• Create a tagline based on the strongest of all the advantages.

Using the lawnmower muffler as an example, you could refer to it as "Silawn" or "MuteMower" or "MuffleMower" to convey the idea that it will make mowing your lawn a more pleasant experience. If your slogan is "Never argue with your neighbours, ever again!", people will know right away that this isn't going to be a contentious issue.