Generating (Un)original Ideas
I’ve always been told to produce original work. To come up with original ideas. Never to plagiarize or steal someone else’s work.
After watching the “Steal Like An Artist” TED Talk by Austin Leon, this idea is still enforced, but with a new meaning.
While I never steal my ideas from others, I never quite put thought into how I generate my ideas. Leon refers to humans as selective collectors. He goes on to explain that nothing is really original, and everything is built off of work that has been created before.
To make his words credible, Leon quoted some of the most talented artists and inventors about their thoughts on the subject. I was surprised to find out that Steve Jobs, David Bowie and even Picasso all borrowed from other works.
The quote that stuck out to me most was by T.S. Eliot, which stated that what’s stolen must be turned into “something better or at least something different.”
That is was makes a new piece unique.
In “Lessons Learned from ‘Steal Like an Artist,’” Melyssa Griffin discusses her key takeaways on the subject. One of these points was “you’re only as good as the stuff you surround yourself with.”
Think about it this way. As you grew up, didn’t your parents tell you that you will only be as good as the people you surround yourself with? For example, be friends with people who study hard, and you will do well in school. I think the same principle applies here. If you surround yourself with books, art and experiences and take in all of the information around you, then you will be more successful in generating ideas.
She provides more tips from her takeaways, which include to write down everything, Google things when you have questions and to come up with more questions based on questions you have.
Steven Johnson also discusses how to generate ideas in his TED Talk “Where Good Ideas Come From.” He asked valuable questions such as “What are the environments that lead to unusual levels of innovation, unusual levels of creativity?”
To answer this question, Johnson said the most innovative environment is where people come together to discuss ideas from different backgrounds and different interests.
For a more business-based approach to create profitable ideas, Candice Landau shares tips in “How to Come Up with Hundreds of Business Ideas.” She discusses creating things that will solve problems, save people money and make tasks less unpleasant.
While Landau’s approach is definitely a successful way of generating ideas, I was more invested in the other articles. The approaches that involved having diverse discussions and analyzing other works sparked more inspiration and motivation in me to create more ideas.
So many ideas have already been brought to life, but in order to keep creating, people must use their experiences to build off of ideas that already exist and create even better ones.
