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1. Ideas Come From? - There was once a young preacher who boasted that he could make a sermon out of anything anyone would say, and urged the members to send up their slips with suggestions. A tease among those present sent up a blank slip of paper. The preacher looked at it, turned it over and said, "Here is nothing and there is nothing". He paused for a moment, considering what text he could get out of this. Then his face brightened and he was off. "Out of nothing, God created the world", he said.

2. An Idea - What most of us call an idea is merely an impulse. It's the beginning or germ of an idea, with many possibilities but only if we add to it the factors that give it value.

My father was an inventor, and sometimes people would say to him, "I have an idea . . . the desert needs water . . . let's go in business together." Eight times out of ten, what these people had was not an idea at all-it was an impulse.

3. Expert Stumped - What do you do when you decide to think of an idea? Sit down at a desk, look out of the window, chew a pencil, doodle on a pad, worry about the bill from the insurance, mope about that girl you saw in the streetcar. In other words, you think of everything but producing an idea. Result, no idea produced.

You have two ways to go about solving your difficulty - the wrong way or the right way. Here is the too familiar picture of the wrong way. You neatly set before you some blank paper. You sharpen your pencils.

4. Imagination - Most persons whose lives fall short of their great possibilities do so for lack of imagination. Imagination is the power of the mind to create mental images of objects previously perceived; the power to reconstruct or recombine the materials furnished by direct apprehension; the power to recombine the materials furnished by experience or memory. It should be for the accomplishment of a worthy purpose; the power of conceiving and expressing the ideal. Producing ideas is an art.

5. "Thinking Up" - The phrase "thinking up an idea" is a common one. It is certainly fair to say that thinking, to most people, is the chief, if not the only factor that occurs to them when the job of producing an idea presents itself. How then, should one think? Have you ever thought about thinking? Surely a subject on which so much depends, deserves at least a very brief survey of some common pitfalls before we get down to actual idea production.

6. The Formula - The business of producing an idea is not magical. It is in no way hopeless or erratic. It follows a certain procedure. But it does take a degree of effort. That is why I can safely hand over a formula as valuable as this. People are glad to read about it, but many will not annoy themselves to work it.

At the same time, that is what you get paid for. If everyone could have an idea merely by putting his feet on the desk and wishing, it would be of no value. It should certainly be a comfort to know that if you follow the procedure you will get the result.

7. Question Technique - One of the handiest bits of "equipment" to the idea searcher may be an inquisitive child. The best place for him may prove to be, not the quiet spot on a mountain top he dreams of, away from people, but in a battle of wits with his children. The number of questions a child can ask is astonishing and often stirs the "little gray cells" of the "quizzee".

8. Improvement Urge - It is paradoxical that much as new ideas are wanted, nothing in this world is more resisted than a new idea. The clergy itself opposed many forward advances-even such a commonplace of today as forks. Fingers were made before forks, they said. Even educated persons for a long time discouraged bathing, on the assumption that the body was mortal and to be despised and that this life was only a preparation for the life to come.

9. The Secret - People often want change merely for the sake of change, whether they are changes for the better or not. The human animal is easily bored. Furthermore, change is necessary for those in business, as it is the best aid to replacement and profit.

We have also been made aware by such books as Vance Packard's The Waste Makers, that obsolescence is built into much merchandise to make it wear out long before its time.

10. Nature Ideas - No one should underestimate the importance of observation as a source of constructive imagination and idea suggestions.

As we stated earlier, everyone in search of ideas should cultivate first of all the habit of careful observation. This habit is essential to clear thinking. Ideas gained through observation are usually of the most vivid kind and appear to be much more definite and specific than those acquired by other means. Observation has been the source of good ideas ever since man arrived on this planet.

11. Wish to Invent - The inventor does not differ markedly from any other idea producer. Merely in some cases his work is more complex, his risks often greater, and so some practical comments concerning his procedure may be appropriate.

It has been said that the greatest room in the world is the room for improvement. It is probably this fact that motivates inventors. Not that they are averse to making money from their ideas, but they do seem to go about it the hard way.

12. Abstract Ideas - The achievements of men which we enjoy today-diseases stamped out, pain silenced or relieved, span of life lengthened, sanitation supplied to multitudes, knowledge made popular, comforts and conveniences established, all started as ideas. Ideas show us how mankind, by making use of his knowledge and ingenuity, can progressively emancipate itself from plagues, famines and social disasters, and subjugate the materials and forces of the earth, here and now, to the purposes of the good life.

13. Research - A far too common mistake made by idea seekers is that of depending almost entirely upon such information as they happen to possess by accident upon the subject that engages their interest. No matter how learned one may be, this casual fashion of proceeding is bound to be ineffective. Professional writers and professional idea-men become expert in building up their working material by systematic, thorough research.

14. Filing Notes - Reference has been previously made to the taking of notes on index cards. This will now be elaborated as it is of much importance.

Actually the first step in creative thinking is note taking Let us see why it is such a vital procedure.

It is impossible to visualize ideas in logical sequence unless you write them down. As all of us know only too well, ideas are very tenuous affairs. Writing them down is the only effective method for the idea searcher to clarify his contributing elements.

15. Inspiration - We have now, under various chapter headings, discussed the first three formula points: Gather Your Ingredients; Classify Your Ingredients; Preparation. We shall now take up Inspiration, and in this, the subconscious plays a major part.

Romantically, perhaps, you picture Inspiration as a benevolent goddess, suddenly appearing from nowhere, filling your dreams with visions of delight and presenting you with a ready-made masterpiece.

16. Intuition - Intuition has been somewhat discredited ever since Hitler trusted to his and failed. People have assumed that Hitler did use intuition; that he trusted to it rather than to his reason; that he knew how to do it; and that one notable failure condemns the system as a whole. All of these assumptions are without proof.

There is no need to choose up sides and elect to work either by intuition or by reason. Both should be used at the same time. They supplement each other. The conscious and the subconscious mind are as two sides of the same coin.

17. Relaxation - We have seen by now that in addition to the ideas you may get from the outside, there are those you get from the inside. There are certain ways of getting these, as they are based on information which you already have on hand or in your mind. What we do not always realize is how much we really know. This is why we stress all through this book the importance of asking ourselves questions that will bring out of us what is within.

18. Idea Energy - There is an interesting fact about an idea, and that is the way it can grow. Haven't you ever watched your own ideas grow? Doubtless you can remember having an idea, and then, a little later, having another that added something to the first and seemed to fit right in with it. Often in the course of time this little idea that began as a tiny bit of an embryonic thought developed into a full-sized grown-up plan.

19. Verification - Solving a problem or producing an idea may be entirely different from putting your solution across. It reminds me of the effort of a certain student who had to work out a mathematical problem which his professor had given him. Handing in the work, he complained about the difficulty of the example. He'd gone over it six times, he said, to be sure he was right. "That's fine, my boy," the professor said, much pleased at this diligence. "That's the way to do it when you want to be sure." The boy replied, "Yes, Professor, here are the six different results."

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