Ideas, insight, innovation, inspiration & information Like many original thinkers, John Lennon couldn’t explain where his work came from, saying he didn’t actually write any lyrics but that they just came to him from the ether. But there is actually an ‘arguably’ agreed (but little recognised) process of seven steps to creating new ideas that most people don’t even know they are going through but result in what feels like ideas just coming to you from the ether. Since James Webb Young wrote a book on the subject in the 1940’s the process has been updated by a few different writers to reflect fast changing times. Chris Ward is writing an updated book about how to produce great ideas but the essential process boils down to the following 7 basic steps. A new idea is simply the result of an original new combination between two existing things, putting two things together in a way that no one else has done previously. A great idea being that unique new combination that someone creates from his or her own project, mixed with something floating around the ether. It’s the solution to their problem and when executed often appears obvious, which is also often what makes it’s so great. The seven steps to getting to that idea are: Make sure you are fully informed with everything relevant to the project you need a new idea for. Your new idea may stem from anywhere within your existing project and not necessarily the most obvious areas, so you have to be geek like about your knowledge. Make yourself aware of everything with value that is currently floating around the ether. Work hard on creating various new combinations from a mix of information from your project (1) and the inspirations and insights floating around the ether (2). When you feel you’ve exhausted that process, set it aside for a while and go and do something that really inspires you watch a movie, go to a gig, read a book, go on holiday... Wait for new combinations to form as the new ideas in your mind and note them down immediately (like dreams, they tend to drift from your mind quickly). Decide on your best idea and commit to taking it forward we built The Ether Café to aid this process. You need to take the knowledge you have of your project and then use the café’s four areas to complete the process.