Ask HN: What would you do if you run out of ideas? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What would you do if you run out of ideas?

2 pointsliuliu5 comments

I consider myself as a man with creativity. But recently I suffered serious drain of ideas. I have no idea what to do to improve the result of my research interest. When read an article, I can get every word of it, but that's it. I cannot derive any thoughtful idea from what I read even the total amount of my daily reading hasn't changed.

Because cannot find any interest idea to implement, I didn't write serious code (> 100 lines) for half a month and I don't feel comfortable about that.

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I did run out of ideas, and I ended up taking a job at Google as a result.

If you're really out of ideas, I'd suggest you permute your life as heavily as possible. Take a different job. Move to a different city. Hang out with a different group of friends. Get interested in topics that you've overlooked until now.

Most good ideas don't just spring fully-formed from someone's head. They come from the random recombination of a bunch of strains of experience. You're doing something, and you're doing something else, and you think they have nothing to do with each other, and then suddenly they kinda juxtapose and you realize there's a really good third idea hiding in there.

I get like that when I'm in the same environment day after day. I got over the ideas drought by taking a notebook (dead tree variety) with me on walks, dallying in art galleries, coffee shops, park, etc. When I'm in a "different space" the creativity flows again. I then take my notes and return to the computer and implement the ideas. Rinse and repeat ;-)

Talking to people and hearing about their problems / challenges is another great source of inspiration.

One thing that I've found is that a change of environment and work helps dramatically. One TED Talk I enjoyed discussed why he tales every 7th year off at his consulting business- It lets him recharge his mental battery of ideas for the next 6.

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/649

I came up with the best ideas just talking with friends. I think "evolution is a result of contamination", so the more your thoughts are "contaminated" by conversations with other people, the more are the chances that they sparks into real ideas.

Go for a bike ride! I find exercise is a great way of clearing your head. Long walks and bike rides and things like that do wonders for letting my mind wander.

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