Credit: Presentation Magazine
In February 2014, I read a book which changed my life.
I am a longtime fan of James Altucher, a writer, entrepreneur, and former hedge fund manager, who has written several books, and hosted a popular blog, as well as a podcast, where he interviews a number of influential figures, from many different walks of life.
Through these various mediums, Altucher shares his insights from a life filled with more than it’s share of incredible highs and excruciating lows, including multiple occasions in which he sold a company he founded, earning millions of dollars, only to subsequently found himself dead broke, and at times mentally and spiritually shattered.
In Choose Yourself, Altucher explains how he altered this destructive cycle, transforming his life, which allowed him to gain tremendous personal happiness, along with creative, professional and personal freedom. He also draws upon the insights and experiences of others, to most effectively illustrate these points.
While there is much useful advice to take away from this book, I learned something which has stuck with me for every day since I read this book: The importance and impact of idea generation, as a key for finding fulfillment and success in today’s world, and more specifically, one’s personal life.
Altucher argues that we are living in a time of great disruption, as technological change, along with increased productivity, means that companies hire fewer people (and retain them for a shorter period of time), while ideas and individual creativity matters increasingly more often; i.e. there is:
“more disruption in employment, but also greater efficiencies and more opportunities for unique ideas to generate real wealth. You can develop those ideas, execute on them, and choose yourself for success.” (emphasis mine).
As Altucher explains it, we each possess a mental “idea muscle”, that is, a capacity for generating ideas, which will allow us to manifest the sort of creativity that will empower us to succeed in the “choose yourself” era; that is, to become an “idea machine.” However, this muscle, must be exercised and strengthened consistently, to function in it’s optimal state.
How does one ensure that the idea muscle becomes, and subsequently remains, as powerful as possible? Altucher offers a comprehensive workout regimen.
As with so much life advice, however, there are unique portions which work well for each of us. I varied his program to suit my own learning style and personal needs.
In his FAQ on becoming an idea machine, Altucher advocates generating 10 ideas per day, usually around a particular theme. For example, in the past, Altucher has put together idea lists around themes like “10 businesses I can start” or “10 books I can write’ or come up with 10 ways that AirBNB could be improved.
Altucher argues that such intensive idea generation, around a particular theme, pushes us to expand and strengthen our idea machine, or, as Altucher puts it “make my brain literally sweat.” Since the first few ideas are relatively easy to come up with, and subsequent ideas somewhat harder, you will find your brain is vigorously challenged.
As Altucher sees it, after 6 to 12 months of engaging in vigorous ideation, we are able to formulate effective solutions to the situations and problems that we (and those around us, including our family and friends) face, turning one into a “fountain of giving.” This ultimately allows us to contribute more, becoming a “mutant superhero” who lives a life that is “worth remembering forever.”
Not all of these ideas will be good, Altucher notes (most probably won’t stand out as anything special), which is why we must generate a large amount of them.
In forming positive new habits, I find it most effective to start off modestly, but strive for great consistency. Unless I am up against an imminent deadline at work or school, I typically do best when I work on intellectually rigorous tasks, only 5 to 6 days per week, rather than each and every day. Attempting to do something every single day, often creates a feeling that reaching a goal was impossible, which ultimately leads to fatigue and discouragement.
I also decided to write down 2 ideas per day, rather than 10. Why? Simply put, a lack of time. When I began to work on improving my skills around idea generation, I was also waking up early in the mornings to write, learn basic coding (Java, and then Python), read, and meditate, all while working full time. Eventually, a running program was added as well.
I could either attempt to unwaveringly follow Altucher’s exact prescription, and quite possibly fail, or work towards something which could bring real improvement to my life. I chose the latter approach.
How does one go about generating lots of novel ideas? Altucher offers a range of approaches. He argues in favor of regularly skimming chapters from books on several different topics (exposing one to a range of ideas), and actively combining together various existing ideas to form new ones (after all, many ideas are simply the “idea children” of various other concepts, brought together, as Altucher notes was the case in the founding of Google).
One can also engage in activities which activate a different, less frequently used part of our brains (in one instance, Altucher accomplished this by attending a watercolor painting class). Interestingly, Altucher even sees merit in surfing the Internet, and simply being exposed to a range of ideas, which can “plant seeds” for future creativity.
From my end, I would first look for problems in my own life. That is, I would consider something that I found at least somewhat inefficient or challenging, and write down a solution for that particular problem. For example, a few years ago, I was receiving a distractingly large volume of (often irrelevant) work and personal emails; why couldn’t my phone vibrate or ring only when it was an email of importance, rather than, say, Netflix or Amazon? (This was an idea from July 19, 2014).
In other instances, I tried combining concepts I knew of from various areas/disciplines (that is, birthing the “idea children”, whom Altucher wrote about). One instance: Why don’t we utilize shared/crowdsourced knowledge (as found in Wikipedia), to improving people’s spending habits? Perhaps we could arrange for people with similar income levels, anonymously post their monthly spending and saving habits, and thus learn from each other? (This concept dates to June 16, 2015).
Browsing through a range of books and websites, and thus gaining exposure to a variety of ideas, also proved quite helpful in expanding my creative output. Additionally, after I formed a consistent habit of reading 20 minutes fiction, and 20 minutes nonfiction, 4–5 days per week, I saw a spike in the ease and quality of my idea generation.
Case in point: Recently, I read a few articles about discovering and classifying fossils, as well as several pieces around the mechanics of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and big data. I paused and wondered: Perhaps we could apply these techniques to improved classification of fossils? (I conjured that one up on August 2, 2016).
What have I learned, and ultimately gained, from this entire experience?
First off, I now understand that generating new ideas, let alone quality ones, is not easy, especially at first. While some of the concepts I came up with above are at least halfway decent, each useful idea was sandwiched between lots of half-baked, minimally useful musings, which was often the best that I was able to produce on a particular day.
However, as Altucher explains, this is neither unusual, nor in any way a negative outcome. Very few people can realistically be expected to produce mostly exceptional ideas (by definition, most ideas can’t be unusually brilliant). We must generate a substantial volume of material, much of it mediocre, in order to produce a smaller subset of useful material. I’ve come to accept this as a part of the process, and feel neither regret nor shame.
What’s more, as Altucher predicted, the effort which one applies towards becoming an idea machine, helps us become more solution-oriented, in many aspects of our lives. Within just a few months, whenever I ran into challenges, at work or elsewhere, I was certain that some sort of resolution was close at hand. When a client requested that we renegotiate something which had already been agreed upon, or I found myself gaining weaker results from my exercise and diet plans, than I had hoped for, I didn’t panic, or subject myself to additional stress.
Instead, I utilized a calm, methodical approach. First, I asked myself what outcome was ultimately desired, and secondly, what stood in the way of obtaining those results. Lastly, I forced myself to name multiple approaches which might allow me to get to that point. This forced me to break down and actually understand the matter at hand, and in doing so, solutions became increasingly apparent. This methodical but creative approach, was a direct product of my daily idea generation.
I also began to feel both more positive, as well as increasingly confident, in my personal life. As I came up with more ideas, my identity began to shift. I increasingly thought of myself as a capable, creative person, who had solutions, and could bring something of real value to the world. I became more comfortable in speaking out, and offering advice to those who requested it, whether at work or in their personal lives. I adopted the mantra “It will work out. We will find a way.” Simply put, I believe in myself more, and worried less.
When I look back on that day in 2014 when I first read the chapter(s) in Choose Yourself which covered idea generation, I feel an immense sense of gratitude. My decision to internalize Altucher’s advice, on my own terms, and work towards becoming a conscious producer of ideas, has markedly changed my life for the better. I unhesitatingly encourage each of you, to implement your own version of this program, and watch how you transform as a person.
