What Ideas Are You Playing With?

Play Ideas Question Innovation Working Memory

Have you ever “played with ideas?” Sound crazy? Not at all. Most people can memorize a body of knowledge, learn all kinds of strategies, and talk to others about what they know and understand, but only a very few are capable of going beyond that to “play with ideas” and take a first new ride on a magic carpet.

Why not play with ideas using a “topsy-turvy” approach? By so doing you would tip conventional business wisdom upside down. Well known blogger, Seth Godin, continually pulls this off as he approaches business conventionalities in ways most folks never consider. For instance he says that awkward is his favorite word and that good enough might be the “next big idea.” Check out Seth’s new book, Small is the New Big to learn even more!

What if you ask new kinds of questions as Ellen Weber does? Ellen “plays with ideas” by asking questions to quench her curiosity. She shares, “questions should have two feet – one foot in peoples’ curiosity and the other foot in knowledge on a topic.” To sample a few intriguing questions Ellen recently asked, how would you answer:

What do you do to “come back” when you feel more like running from losses in life … than running a successful business?

Could music add fresh marketing ideas to reach new clients where you work?

Would you do anything different today … if you changed just one belief about business?

Start and end your day with a question such as … “What if…” and watch the new discoveries you’ll make by evening.

OK, your answers? Questions like these help you play with ideas that lead to new actions and new approaches. Ellen left her comfort zone long ago. You?

Ever combine a couple of simple activities to come out with something new? Blogger Tammy Lenski hopes to write a “blook,” which is the combo of a book and a blog. She describes doing a blook as a “plunge into a void” since she has never done this before. Interestingly, Tammy will begin writing the blook using daily blogs. “ I’ll work from an outline of chapters/sections because I believe the structure will help keep my thinking and writing organized into topics that make some sense to the reader,” She anticipates the draft of chapter topics will change organically as she works through the book and that feels ok to her. Stay tuned to this blook, or best ideas brimming from Tammy’s brain.

Because Seth Godin, Ellen Weber and Tammy Lenski play with ideas, they engage the working memory which takes brand new bits of wisdom, high energy and great focus and noodles it around. How about you? What ideas are you noodle-ing today?