Where do ideas come from?

One form of originality is creation. Another form is synthesis.

People often focus so much on creating new ideas that they overlook the value of synthesizing ideas from different sources.

Innovation usually mean connecting previously unconnected concepts.

For an idea to resonate, it needs to do the following:

Something in my subjective experience or previous insight connects to the idea in front of me and gives it potency. The connection between two ideas always carries the possibility of a third, new idea.

It moves me through language. I might find the phrasing particularly harmonious, the choice of... See more

Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything."

—George Lois

Philosopher and activist Simone Weil on the power of sustained, intense focus:

"The amount of creative genius in any period is strictly in proportion to the amount of extreme attention."

“Writing is often the process by which you realize you do not understand what you are talking about.”

"Writing is the superpower of humankind. It is our truest form of magic.

Writing allows you to conjure up something of value where nothing previously existed. It costs little for you to write down the lessons of your life and yet those few minutes spent writing can be life-altering for the right reader. As I once saw it put: "there is someone out... See more