Mitch Ditkoff’s “14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas”

Mitch Ditkoff’s “14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas”-here- is exactly what it sounds like. A list of fourteen ways to cultivate breakthrough ideas. Ditkoff starts off by talking about how innovation is so highly valued these days, especially in the buisiness world. He continues by bringing up the two classical schools of thought on creativity. The western idea, best summarized by the quote "I think, therefore I am" and the eastern idea "I am, therefore I think". Ditkoff's first point is about fascination, what he describes as the process of an idea grabbing your attention. And once you become fascinated by something you need to take the time to let that fascination grow inside you. Point number two was titled immersion. The idea of immersion, according to Ditkoff, is the concept of completely involving yourself with one idea instead of multitasking, this allows you to more fully develop that one idea. The third point was that you have to tolerate ambiguity. What Ditkoff means by this is that ideas aren't always a linear process that falls into place you have to become accustomed to "your ducks not lining up" to have a breakthrough idea. Ditkoff's fourth point is that you need to make new connections. He argues that you won't get breakthrough ideas by associating with the same old people, you need to connect with new people to cultivate breakthrough ideas. Point five is that you have to fantasize. No, not in a perverted way. Ditkoff argues that some of the best ideas come from entertaining the "seemingly impossible" this allows you to innovate because everyone else thinks it cant be done. The sixth point is to define the right challenge. Ditkoff argues that that half of finding the right answer is finding the right question, to have a breakthrough idea you have to answer a breakthrough question. The seventh point is to listen to your subconscious. Ditkoff points out that after awhile, our conscious brain gets wore out and we need to learn to let our subconscious take over and work on the problem, this is a crucial component to developing breakthrough ideas. Take a Break is Ditkoff's eighth point. he argues that the more you obsess over an idea that you're stumped on, the less likely you'll be to solve the problem. You need to take a break and let your mind relax. Ditkoff's ninth point is that you have to notice and challenge existing ideas and trends. He argues that breakthrough thinkers make it big by "challenging old patterns and reconfiguring them in new ways". Point number ten is that you need to hang out with diverse groups of people. You need to associate with people that we usually don't associate with, like people outside our career field. Ditkoff's eleventh point is brainstorming. He argues that you need to brainstorm with a group of people to come up with the best ideas, Ditkoff then cites several famous pairs such as Bill Gates and Paul Allen of Microsoft. Point twelve is to look for happy accidents, to not right off something just because it wasn't the outcome you expected. Ditkoff's thirteenth point is to use creative thinking techniques. Ditkoff compares these creative techniques to jump-starting your car, saying that they may be that little something you need to get going. The fourteenth and final point is to suspend logic. Ditkoff argues that to birth a truly breakthrough idea you have to suspend the concepts of judgment and evaluation because your idea might not always make sense at first but given time it could develop further. I believe that for the most part these are valid suggestion for generating new ideas. Three points that particularly caught my attention were #8 take a break; #12 look for happy accidents; and #14 suspend logic. #8 is especially useful to implement because it helps keep you from burning yourself out, in fact I practiced it during this assignment. #12 is good because it helps you to realize that some of the best ideas come, not just from being thought up directly, but also from someone recognizing that an apparent "accident" is actually a great idea. I feel number #14 is important as well because a lot of the time when an idea is in it's initial phases we are too quick to dismiss because we judge it for what it is, not what it could be. That if it were given time it could become the best idea we've ever had, better even than captain and cola(just kidding). I chose to complete the prompt from point fourteen: What I can do this week to suspend practicality, logic, and rationality in service to birthing my big idea is to entertain those thoughts about it which seem ridiculous at first, that I would normally be quick to dismiss for impracticality, or irrationality and give them time to grow and develop.