14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas

In Mitch Ditkoff’s Manifesto entitled “14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas” he addresses a difficulty most of us have at some point in life: where to get creative ideas.  He begins by explaining what the new important thing in business is: innovation.  He breaks down innovation to people and then explains how people get innovation from creative ideas.    He then dissects the origin of creative ideas into fourteen distinct points and encourages the reader with little challenges to further help the reader understand the point.  Out of the fourteen points I found three to be particularly useful to myself and my career choice.

The first point that I chose was the first, to “Follow your Fascination.”  This was the first point in Ditkoff’s Manifesto and is one of the most important, whether in media or any other field.  Fascination is the easiest way to develop creative ideas, as it allows the creator to take an idea or interest in their head and use it to develop something new. Fascinating things make us all think, and in turn takes our brains places they would not go otherwise.  Fascination leads to curiosity, which leads to understanding, which leads to innovation and inspiration. Without fascination there would be no inspiration and in turn no creation.  Whenever I create something new, it is always based on something that interests me at the time.   The hard part in this, however, is trying to create something new off of the old idea and not plagiarizing.  If this can be done, then fascination is a great place to start.

The second way to get ideas that I found interesting was “Immerse.”  For me, this a point that I wish to use more.  It is usually easier to build on an idea if you take the time to sit down and think it over.  I cannot tell you how many times I have thought of a movie idea or a hook to a song in my head, but have become distracted and then completely forget it.  I find myself thinking that if I had just written it down or kept building upon it then the idea would probably not have been lost.  Concentrating on an idea is a wonderful way to create new ideas based on an old idea and in turn make one a more creative person.

The final point I chose to discuss is “Fantasize.”  This point is a great one as well.  I get all of my greatest ideas from just sitting and creating stories in my brain.  Taking those stories and taking them into the real world is exactly how I get all of my real world ideas.  Taking the last step of immersion and mixing it with this idea would be perfect, as it would give me time to focus on fantasies and then pump out ideas based on those fantasies.   Fantasizing allows the brain to do whatever it wants, to break the barriers of logic, and to just run wild.  This is especially important in a field that almost completely relies on creativity and the ability to think differently than everyone else.  In my particular interest, film, there is even a whole genre dedicate to fantasizing: fantasy.

I have recently (within the last two years) become fascinated with independent films.  I am not sure where this fascination started, but I suppose that is just the nature of fascination: it comes from within.  After coming to Ohio University and learning of the various clubs and activities I could become involved with I decided to pursue this fascination and try to work on independent films.  I have worked with Film Club and am currently working a short independent film entitled Getting There, but recently the possibility of making my own film came up when my friend in Media Management said that he was interested in me and a couple other students making a movie based show for Athens Video Works.  This has been an exciting thought for the past few weeks, but tomorrow is when my group will pitch the idea to the AVW Productions board.  Tonight I can honor this by working on my presentation for the board.  I plan on doing a PowerPoint and developing a schedule of the show’s airing times and shooting schedule.  Everyone on the team is meeting tonight and it is going to be a long night to get everything together.  Hopefully the idea gets picked up, and I owe the whole process to my fascination in independent movies.