Oxthink

If you’re looking for your big idea, that break-through which offers fame and riches, how is the best way to find it? Where should you start looking? What sort of mindset do you need to have?

Or, another way to ask it is, what distinguishes the great, original thinkers from the rest of us? Is it the superiority of their minds or something about the way they work?

Where do those big ideas come from? Do they find those big ideas, or do those big ideas find them?

In searching for that groundbreaking, inspirational idea, one approach might be to develop expertise in your chosen area by focusing on and absorbing as much knowledge and understanding of that subject as you can. The more you know about a subject, the more you concentrate on that subject, the more likely you are to make advances in that subject.

After all, you’re hardly likely to be able to add anything of value if you don’t really know what you’re talking about. And so it makes sense that you study and learn. New ideas and theories have to be built on foundational knowledge.

Yet, to know a subject in depth may make you an authority on that subject, but it does not guarantee that you will be able to offer anything that will progress understanding within that subject area.

Just as an art expert may know the technicalities of painting a picture, it does not mean that they can go on to create a masterpiece. Despite how hard they try, they seem to lack that special creative ingredient needed to elevate their work.

And what happens to these unoriginal experts? More often than not, they become commentators on their subject – the people who review the creative output of others. It’s the difference between reproducing or rehashing what is already out there and taking it to a new level.

There are, of course, no certainties that anyone, however hard you try, has that genius spark, but you can, at least, take measures to ensure that you give it a chance to reveal itself. Too often, that chance to shine is lost through behaviours that can potentially dilute any creative brilliance.

• The danger of knowing your subject matter completely is that you can become so engrossed in it that it can overwhelm you. You can be effectively suffocated by it, unable to see the wood for the trees. Many a scientist has been close to making that ground-breaking discovery, only to miss the final link in their analysis and to have their work superseded by others.
• You can also, in this age of universal access to knowledge and thought, get so bound up in the subject area that you have no time or energy to develop any of your own ideas. There is just so much to know. As with some aspiring authors, there may be so many books that they want to read that they never actually get a chance to put pen to paper themselves.
• And of course, there is even the possibility that you can become too insular, too locked within your subject. It’s what geeky scientists are often criticised for. How does a nuclear scientist not know how to boil an egg? How can such an expert have not read any of the works of Dickens?

Inspiration, the lubricant of creativity, may be required from elsewhere. It doesn’t always dwell where you would expect to find it.

That’s why the key to any great discovery is to try to lead your life with a more open mind. You must know your subject area, but you should also be receptive to external influences and ideas. You should spread your learning and inquisitiveness across different areas so you can learn from this broader knowledge.

Newton postulated his gravitational theories after observing an apple falling from a tree. If he had been in his laboratory working eighteen hours a day, totally focused on his research, he would have missed this insight.

Or George De Mestral, a Swiss engineer, created Velcro after going on a hunting trip with his dog and seeing how the burdock burrs, by using a latch and hook mechanism, kept attaching to his clothes and his dog’s fur.

These progressive thinkers recognised that there were lessons to be learnt from nature and the world around us. It is by observing and cross-referencing ideas that we can advance our wider understanding of life.

In fact, some consider the best source of problem-solving ideas is nature, to see how it has resolved issues. After all, nature has had billions of years to evolve solutions. Nature’s methods are tried and tested. Evolutionary development – life’s laboratory – is a valuable resource for learning.

Having this worldliness and the ability to interact with others on a wide range of subjects opens a person to fresh, stimulating thoughts, which can be invaluable for creativity.

Of course, doing this comes with dangers. You may undermine or weaken your perceived expertise in a particular subject area. You may also get lost in your journey – without limitations on where your learning may roam, you may lose track of where you want to go. There has to be a limit to how curious and free you allow your mind to be.

The solution is to trust in your subconscious. You should maintain your subject focus, but within reason, also be prepared to step back from it and open your mind to other forces and influences.

That is when discovery and insight are most likely to reveal themselves; that is when your big idea will come to you.