Look to Rituals if You are Lacking Invention Ideas
As inventor’s, not only do we fail to understand rituals but we also undervalue the significance of rituals. When we find ourselves stumped for invention ideas we should look at rituals as a means to enhance our creativity and our innovation capacity.
Set a Time Limit
Set a timer. When you set a time limit, your mind will understand that you have set a definitive start and stop time. Having a definitive stop time is crucial for maintaining motivation when your invention ideas decide to remain hidden. However, on those great days when invention ideas are flowing, you can simply disregard your timer and continue on with the process of inventing.
Set Aside a Specific Time of the Day to be Creative
If you are a busy mom, the only time during the day that you have a few minutes of peace and quiet are usually early in the morning before the kids get up and late at night when you put the kids to bed. Use this time wisely to generate invention ideas. Keep in mind that you will also need to be consistent as to when you will be inventive. Otherwise, there will always be other less productive activities that will fill this time. Remember, when your brain is unencumbered by anything else, you may find that your ability to generate brilliant invention ideas improves.
Get Calm
Take a few deep breaths before you start your invention idea generation session. Clear you mind of distracting thoughts to the best of your ability. If you are thinking about that driver that cut you off on your way to work rather than focusing on the process of being creative, it may lead to some less than ideal invention ideas.
Find a Quiet Area
Whether it is in your office, man cave, garden, or wherever, set aside an area that you can be free from distractions and dream. We often need to deprive ourselves from the distracting technology around us (cell phones, voice mail, emails, etc.) in order to create this quiet atmosphere. Remember, the purpose of the time that you have set aside is to develop invention ideas.
Don’t Get Discouraged
So you set aside some time in your busy day for your invention idea ritual but you still can’t seem to come up with any worthwhile ideas. Now what do you do? The great thing about rituals is that everyone does them. Innovation and invention ideas can come from reevaluating how people perform their daily established rituals.
Examine Tools Used in Rituals for Inspiration and Opportunities
Take for example the often daily ritual of shaving. For most of us, it is a pain and requires concentration in order to avoid getting any nasty nicks or cuts. Shaving also constantly takes time out of our busy days to perform. Savvy inventors have looked at the ritual of shaving for years and have come up with some pretty nifty inventions. Some of these inventions have included:
- Shaving foams rather than powders
- Multiple blades in a razor instead of a single blade
- Disposable razors
- Electric razors
The great thing about inventing for rituals is that no matter how the tools (think ‘inventions’) have changed, the process of performing the ritual (think ‘shaving’) has still remained.
Rituals are Hard to Change
Despite the fact that tools in a ritual have often changed, chances are, that the ritual may still remain. Take for example the Bayer corporation back in the 1980s. Bayer invented a brand new protective coating for their aspirin tablets. Prior to this invention, cotton balls were packed in aspirin bottles to keep the pills from breaking. However, with the invention of the new protective coating, cotton was no longer required. Unfortunately, it took nearly two decades, that’s right, TWO decades, before the cotton balls were removed from Bayer aspirin bottles. Why? Because customers erroneously believed that the cotton balls were keeping the aspirin potent while soaking up any moisture that might cause unnecessary damage to the pills. Both of these myths were false. The mere removal of the cotton balls from the aspirin container had become an unproductive ritual. What does this mean for inventors? Simple, that rituals typically don’t die but they do get reinvented.
Summary
- You don’t need hours set aside to come up with a great invention idea but mere minutes. However, you need to make these minutes count by setting aside a time slot every day (or week) to think creatively in order to maintain consistency.
- Find a calm and quiet place without distractions to focus on creating ideas.
- Don’t get discouraged. Coming up with great invention ideas requires a ritual use of dedication and consistency.
- Look at current products that are being used in rituals (such as shaving or brushing your teeth) for inspiring invention ideas.
- Rituals are hard to overcome. Once you get into the habit of setting aside time in your busy day to just think about invention ideas, the harder it will be to break away from this potentially rewarding ritual.
What are you waiting for? Go out there and incorporate rituals to find that next money making invention idea!
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