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People are afraid of having bad ideas.

They don’t want to look silly, feel embarrassed, or waste time and money.

Of course, we all want to have great ideas all the time.

The thing is…

To get to the great ideas, we need to have a bunch of not-so-great ones first.

Even experienced writers, designers, developers, marketers, and leaders need to get through the bad stuff first…

• Writers don’t consider their work done after one draft.

• Designers don’t create the winning concept in their first sketch.

• Entrepreneurs don’t find the best strategies overnight.

They keep going, generating more.

Dozens of them… hundreds of them.

It’s the only way the best ideas can surface.

Whether we’re writing a story, designing a banner, naming a product, or crafting a growth strategy…

We must accept bad ideas for what they are — stepping stones on our path to brilliance!

Now, how can we get better at having terrible ideas?

Mastering the Art of Bad Ideas

Here are 4 tips for coming up with wacky ideas — for when you need to get those creative juices flowing:

1. Quantity over Quality
   Write more than you think you need to. Don’t erase anything. Instead, just shortlist the best ones later.

   
   

2. Rapid Ideation
   Set a timer and try to come up with as many ideas as you can before the time runs out. Keep doing this with a different framing/lens/theme each time.

   
   

3. Free Thinking
   Encourage yourself to think freely and without judgment or constraints. Explore nonsense and hyperbole. Be sure to laugh at your silly ideas.

   
   

4. Reverse Thinking
   Consider the problem from a reverse perspective. How could you achieve the opposite outcome? This may show you what you must avoid.

The Courage to Be Creative

In the end, it's not about what’s good or bad…

It's about practicing your CREATIVITY.

Giving yourself the freedom to explore, experiment, and make mistakes.

We need to just go at it and generate as many varied ideas as possible…

The good.

The bad.

And the so-crazy-it-might-just-work.

Here’s an example of needing bad ideas to recognize a great one:

Bad Names for My Newsletter

When I was brainstorming a name for this newsletter, I went through dozens of ideas over the course of about a week.

A lot of them were awful.

For example:

• Brandom

• The Draft

• Discovery

• Solo Jam (what was I thinking… lol)

The more names I wrote, the more I realized I needed one that was clear and descriptive.

“Branding for Solopreneurs” was actually one of the first names I thought of.

But I might not have recognized its value without all the bad ideas to compare it to.

I still had to go through all of those bad ideas before going back and choosing it as the winner.

How About You?

Have you had any bad ideas recently? I’d love to hear about them.

🐦 Hit me up on Twitter.

🤖 Robert

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