Where do great ideas come from?
The best are always learning.
Read like crazy.
Think alone.
Keep a journal.
Write stuff down the moment you see it.
Review regularly.
Memorize the big ideas to fluency.
Attack your best ideas.
And never get high on your own supply.
You don't have to be gifted. You do have to be deliberate.
FS Blog
Michael Nielsen writes about this in an essay where he describes the experience of pushing himself to go deeper than usual in understanding a mathematical proof:
I gradually internalize the mathematical objects I’m dealing with [using spaced repetition]. It becomes easier and easier to conduct (most of) my work in my head. [. . .] Furthermore, as my... See more
Henrik Karlsson • Being Patient With Problems
Expression is compression
It takes 50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. So whenever I feel like I don’t have enough ideas to create something meaningful, I go collect more experiences and spend time processing them by writing and talking to friends.
Even writers who work full-time spend most of their hours away from the keyboard. Full-time
... See more“Mosaic’s story illustrates an important lesson about founders who create a breakthrough: they’re almost always living in the future, immersed in the process of cultivating new patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting through ongoing interaction with new, empowering technologies and with other people who are also living in the future.
Most people
... See more