If ideas rule the world, then eureka moments are the king makers.
The search for creative solutions has become a full-time job description for many companies, institutions and people looking to survive in the competitive world our planet has become; and no niche is left out.
Three years ago, I squeezed out all of my creative juices. The painful part was that a few of the “juice extract” was actually made a reality. This happened not long from when I discovered that I could be creative. I moved to a new company that prided itself in its creative atmosphere and solutions. I then began to attend brainstorming sessions. Then it occurred to me that it was possible that these sessions were fruitless, having compared its results with what was obtained where I came from.
I took another approach, and resorted to using questions in reaching a set decisions in the sessions for a particular project. It worked as expected, and saved time that would have been wasted on deliberations and counter-deliberations.
Recently, I came across a write-up that I found to be profoundly true, as it aligned with my ruminations about the best ways to birth ideas; following a weird trend I observed about the locations where my own eureka moments happened.
In the write-up by Gijs van Wulfen, 211 managers and professionals responded to the question, “Where do you get ideas?”. After analysing 348 moments, the following are the top ten situations where eureka moments happened.
- Showering 11.2%
- Sleeping 9.2%
- Driving 8.6%
- Walking 8.0%
- Working out and running 7.2%
- Before sleeping 6.6%
- Waking up 6.6%
- Talking to others 3.7%
- Alone 3.2%
- Always 3.2%
I guess you would be very surprised that brainstorming was not in the list. From the responses, it was observed that only 0.6% happens ‘in a brainstorm’ or ‘at work’; and that the best ideas pop into our minds when we stop thinking. So if you really need a great idea: Stop Thinking!
Well, I have always disagreed with the practice of brainstorming and it’s limitations. I also get eureka moments almost every time and everywhere.
Where do you have your eureka moments?
Image Credit: Desmond Downs
