Did you ever wonder why some of your best ideas seem to come out of the blue (while you’re in the shower, for example)?
Research has shown that creativity, while seemingly a very vague activity, is actually a distinct process triggered by a few key factors:
- The release of dopamine in our brains. Triggers like exercising, listening to music, and, yes, taking a warm shower, contribute to increased dopamine flow.
- A relaxed state of mind. When we have a relaxed mind, we’re more likely to turn attention inwards, making us able to make insightful connections.
- This gives our brains a break so our subconscious can work on a problem more creatively.
As you read this, you will probably recognise the process. Once we have an idea, the question becomes: “Now you have this great idea, what are you going to do with it?”
For me, what happens most of the time is that I’ll write some scribbles on the damped shower door and maybe take it a step further and make some scribbles in my ‘Notes’ app on my phone. And that’s where most idea’s die…. The few ideas that eventually make it past this point, die in the swamp of assumptions and what-ifs my brain throws at them. So how do we successfully move an idea forward?
Step 1
That’s where you start. With step 1…
It’s too easy to be caught up in endless ruminations: What if Step 4 doesn’t work? or What if there isn’t money for Step 11 or What if people don’t like the results of Step 6?
You don’t know what the answers are to any of those questions. The only thing that wondering and speculating will do is separate you from the present moment. When you begin, the seventeenth step is sixteen steps away. You don’t have to know how to do it, or what it is, or even when it is.
Your ‘Step 1’ may be making a phone call or an appointment or filling out a form — it may be a fairly simple task and yet it may seem like the biggest, most impossibly massive task in the world. This is very normal. It’s only natural that it will feel at times like your shoes are made of cement or that dialling that number takes more strength than lifting a house.
The time for the many subsequent steps will come. You don’t have to get your mind around the whole thing, just focus on the 1st step, learn from it, and go again.
Incubator
So, if you have an idea that you want to bring to life, but you just don’t know how to take to step 1 and then 2, 3, …. Come and join us at Seed’s 2020 Incubator!
Designed to set you up to succeed. The Incubator leads you through Seed’s specially developed Redemptive Design process. You will work alongside a community of participants, coaches and subject-matter experts focused on helping you grow and create an impact for Jesus in the world. The Incubator is a 5-month program that includes three 3-day residential intensives, masterclasses, the Seed Summit 2020, a showcase event and 1:1 coaching for the duration of the program.
SPACES ARE LIMITED
Applications now open for our 2020 cohort. Applications close 30 November 2019.
Visit seed.org.au/incubator to apply.