The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas


 The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas. This advice

came from a man named Linus Pauling.  He was a chemist, chemical engineer,

botanist, writer and activist. His credentials are 

proof that creativity is about connecting different regions of the brain. 

His tip to generate a lot of ideas has these implications:

1.Don’t stop thinking after one idea. The next one you’d come up with

    might be better.

2. Every problem has many solutions. It’s best to have the luxury of

     choosing the best one considering all things.

3.  Don’t kill bad ideas on the spot. Just write down all thoughts because

      some great ideas sound stupid at first.

In brainstorming or thinking by yourself, just pour out what’s on your

mind. If you keep censoring yourself or weeding out at an early stage,

you will stall.

Also, don’t tell the other people in the team that their ideas suck. If

you do, they will stop thinking. What if the world’s next big idea would

actually come from them?

In the early 90s, we were working on a campaign being led by my boss,

Melvin Mangada. I had a thought that I was reluctant to share because it

might be corny.  But I had not contributed any idea yet. So, I finally

shared the one and only joke my father ever told me.

Melvin was (and is) great at spotting ideas. So, he chose mine to be the

campaign’s anchor and he further developed it. It wasn’t the world’s best

idea but “Donut, Bay” became part of the popular culture of that era.

When brainstorming, my former boss Ramon Jimenez Jr. would

say “let’s cut the lumber first and put the pieces in one place.

We will sand them later.”

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