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It’s college, your professor has just given you a term paper which you have 1 month to complete.

A month! That’s a world of time. Maybe if you’re particularly diligent you make an outline and plan a little. But if you’re anything like me, and 90% of other college students, you’ll likely put the paper off.

A couple weeks go by, you glance at the calendar and realize your paper is due in a few days. At this point your brain jumps into hyperspeed. Through a mixture of sheer will and copious amounts of caffeine you finish the paper just before the deadline.

Sound familiar? For most of us, this story has played out countless times in our academic and professional career.

Why is this?

A phenomena known as Parkinson’s Law explains the situation.

The Law states that the importance and time it takes to finish a task expands and contracts depending on the amount of time allotted to the task.

Let me put that in plain English for you.

If you have more time to complete a task; you will use more of that time to complete the task. If you have a shorter deadline, then you will complete the same task in less time.

Usually the quality remains constant. So, the end result for both a long and shorter deadline are about the same.

What does this mean?

It’s comforting to give yourself as much time as possible to complete a project. We justify this by thinking the added time will improve the end product. Giving yourself more time, gives you precious hours to plan and think about the project.

But as Parkinson’s Law shows us, this is not the case. That added time will likely be used inefficiently. You will either spend an unnecessary amount of time on unimportant tasks. Or simply procrastinate by enjoying your favorite digital vice.

Worse yet, you are probably still thinking about your assignment when you’re not doing the work. The uncompleted task takes up some space in your brain, even when you’re not working on it. This is a double whammy! You’re not making progress on your project, and you get less enjoyment out of your free time.

3 Ways To Use Parkinson’s Law To Your Advantage

1: Give Yourself Deadlines.

I like deadlines about as much as I like bee stings and tetanus shots, but they are necessary to get anything done. Without a deadline, a task won’t be completed. It is as simple as that.

This is especially important when you’re working on a personal project. School and work naturally impose deadlines, but when it’s a project we’re doing on our own we’re more likely to give ourselves leeway.

Plus, if it’s a personal project, it’s likely something you care about. This makes it even more important to set a deadline. Why let your boss or professor hog all your productive time!

2. Make Your Deadlines Ambitious. But Realistic

If something takes a month to complete, don’t cram it into a weekend. This will just frustrate you. But when setting a deadline, lean towards a more ambitious one.

Even if you don’t hit the deadline you will likely make more progress than if you pushed your due date into the future.

3. Add Accountability For Extra Credit:

Just setting an ambitious deadline will ramp up the urgency to complete a task. If you want to move the notch up another dial, add accountability.

A simple way to do this is telling a trusted friend you are going to complete something. Just telling them will add social pressure to finish on time. No one wants to look stupid in front of a friend.

If you feel comfortable, make a public proclamation about your goal. Post about it on social media or your blog. The more people who know about it, the harder you’ll focus to meet your deadline.

Over the past month I set the goal of doing 50 pushups first thing in the morning. You may be asking: why subject yourself to this torture at such an early hour?

I asked myself the same question when I started. And I’m embarrassed to admit during the first week I missed my mark of 50 pushups on most days. That was until I discovered an easy process for completing the pushups.

The weird thing about this process is it is completely psychological. It has little to do with getting stronger, or even how I felt in the morning… I actually did the best on days I was groggy and hungover.

And it definitely works if you can’t do 50 pushups… or if you can do way more than 50 pushups. The number of pushups can be adjusted to your fitness level so long as the amount is just below your point of failure (ie you can complete the repetitions; but just barely)

The number of pushups is unimportant because while this 3 step process will help you do more pushups, it’s not really about pushups…

It is about breaking seemingly difficult tasks into manageable steps, and getting over the mental hurdles that prevent you from completing them. It can be applied to anything from a tough workout, to learning a new skill, to completing a demanding project.

Check it out:

Phase 1: The Beginners Rush

It’s About The Pushups: This is the rapid fire phase I call “The Beginners Rush”. For pushups this applies to the first 20 to 30 reps. Because your muscles are fresh these are the easiest to do. So I recommend doing around half of the reps as fast as you can. The more the better!

The goal is to do as many pushups as you can before your muscles get tired. And more importantly, before your mind starts coming up with excuses to stop.

I find if I do this first wave of push ups slowly, my “inner quitter” starts blabbering and coming up with excuses for why I should stop. And it is much easier to listen to this voice when you have 40 pushups remaining.

It’s Not Really About The Pushups: At the beginning of a new activity or project you will naturally have more energy and enthusiasm. Your task is fresh at hand and you have yet to run into the difficulties and fatigue that will creep in during later phases.

Use this momentum to get as much done in the shortest time possible. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but you just have to take as many steps as you can in the right direction. This way when doubt and fatigue kick in you can look back and see that you have already done a good chunk of the work.

Phase 2: The Pain Period

It’s About The Pushups: When I hit 20–30 pushups my muscles begin to show the first signs of weakness. Suddenly pushing myself on and off the floor is not as easy as it once was. This is when my mind starts saying things like: “My arms hurt; why am I doing this”. “It’s much too early to be doing so many pushups.” “Breakfast sounds nice about now”?

The reason we rushed through half the pushups in the first phase is because when the pain starts to set in you can look forward and know that you are over half way there. You may be aching, but there is an end in sight.

For the “pain period” I divide my next 10–20 pushups in sets of 5. I power through a set of 5 and then allow myself a brief reprieve in the upright position. While I’m resting I mentally count to 5 and prime my mind for the next 5 pushups. I usually do this until I have 5–10 pushups left.

It’s Not About The Pushups: After the initial wave of excitement wears off you will go through a plateau or pain period. This is when you start realizing that what you want to achieve is harder than you think. The seeds of doubt have been planted. This is usually the time when people either quit or think about quitting.

This is the most psychologically taxing part of the process. That’s why it’s important to finish a good chunk of the work before this pain period begins.

Like with the pushups, it helps to break tasks down into more manageable chunks. Consistency is key. Even if you’re working less, the work will seem more demanding. To counter this set small but achievable milestones. It allows you to trudge along when you least want to.

Phase 3: Stumble To The Finish

It’s About The Pushups: In this phase your muscles are really worn out and you are reaching your point of failure (ie when you simply can’t do another pushup). Because there are only 5–10 reps left, this is the only part of the process where I focus on the individual pushup.

Your goal here is completion. You’ve done the most difficult work in Phases 1 and 2. Right now you are merely using your remaining energy to complete the task. Your mind should be saying “almost there, one more rep, one more rep.”

Because you are so close to the end it is easy to stop. Your mind can rationalize your failure with excuses like: “46 pushups is good enough.”

Don’t do it! Focus your power on each individual rep. You’re almost done. Will your way to 50.

It’s Not About The Pushups: When you’re completing any task or project you will reach a final hurdle of fatigue and resistance. You’re near the end, but the tail end of the work seems to go on forever. That is why you need to focus on completing the smallest unit.

If you’ve followed the previous two phases there should not be much work left. This final “stumble to the finish” is you pinpointing the last few items that need to be done, and laser focusing on them. It may be a messy stumble, but with this last bit of effort you will cross the finish line.

On May 21st 2005 Author David Foster Wallace addressed the graduating class of Kenyon College. Over the next twenty minutes he delivered what is considered by many the best commencement speech of all time, now referred to as “This Is Water”.

The speech gets its title from a parable in which a wise old fish asks a pair of younger fish: “How the water feels today?” The two bemused youngsters reply with “What the hell is water?”

Wallace deploys the image of the clueless fish to show that “the obvious realities of the world are often the hardest to see.” He also uses the speech to share his thoughts on education, awareness, and how to live a meaningful life.

Unfortunately, Wallace took his own life on September 12, 2008. Although he may be gone, the call for compassion and consciousness in “This Is Water” remains as relevant today, as it was 15 years ago. To honor Wallace’s legacy I want to share 5 timely lessons from the speech:

Lesson 1: Our Brain’s Default Setting Is Solitary, Smug, And Self Centered

“It’s a matter of choosing to do the work of somehow altering or getting free of the natural, hard-wired default setting which is to be deeply and literally self-centered and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self.”

If there is an antagonist in “This Is Water” it is the human brain. Despite his scholarly vocation, David Foster Wallace has a rather cynical view on the mind, in its most unobserved state.

Wallace believes that our minds are naturally self centered. He states that while we find this idea repulsive: “It is our default setting, hard-wired into our boards at birth.”

This self centeredness comes with a slew of nasty side effects: arrogance, isolation, and the general belief that the world should cater to YOUR needs.

Wallace emphasizes that this default setting is not something that we are conscious of. This makes it an exceedingly difficult issue to address. But as the opening quotes suggests Wallace believes it is possible to liberate ourselves from this unconscious bias with work.

Lesson 2: Knowledge Has No Teeth Without Awareness

“The real value of a real education, has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness.”

One of the platitudes Wallace deconstructs is the idea education teaches students how to think. He questions this idea by pointing out the graduating students could never have been accepted into a prestigious University if they didn’t know how to think.

The ability to think is not what matters, what matters is the choice of what we think about. Being smart or “educated” isn’t merely the ability to process knowledge, it is having the awareness to direct that knowledge. Or as Wallace puts it learning “how to think” means:

“Exercising some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to.”

As we learned in the previous lesson, the unobserved mind defaults to selfishness. Our brains are mine fields of psychological biases and self-serving fallacies. It is its natural state.

Awareness keeps this urge in check and allows us to examine our thought process, and interrogate our self-centered tendencies.

Lesson 3: You Are The Author Of Your Consciousness. You Choose What You Worship.

“In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.”

We all worship. All of us! Not just the raving preacher on the street, or the Hare Krishna handing out flowers at the airport.

Unlike these “fanatical” figures, our secular forms of worship are more subtle. They manifest in silent adoration for things like money, beauty, power, and intelligence.

While they may not be as palpable as their religious counterparts, Wallace believes they are more insidious. Religious relics are inviolable, but we can never acquire enough money and intelligence. Power and beauty will inevitably fade with time.

While modern society venerates these traits, we are not doomed in the matter. Through effort and awareness we can choose new objects of worship. We can opt out of the less savory options and choose to appreciate things that won’t “eat us alive.”

Lesson 4: There Is Meaning In The Mundane

“If you really learn how to pay attention, then you will know there are other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, hot, slow, consumer-hell type situation as not only meaningful, but sacred, on fire with the same force that made the stars.”

The crux of This is Water is a theoretical, but all too real, trip to the grocery store. Wallace depicts the trip in excruciating detail. Describing everything from the terrible traffic, the stampeding crowds, to the bland “muzak” playing on the loudspeaker.

This grocery store is the imperfect world we inhabit. It is the arena for us to practice awareness. The trenches where we choose what to worship. Without it we cannot grow. It is one thing to comfortably learn about ideas as abstractions, it is another to put them through the insipid inferno of everyday life.

This is one reason the speech holds up. While other commencement speeches excite grads with lofty promises of the future Wallace gives them the unsexy, yet necessary, tools to deal with life’s many, maddening inconveniences. Success and sex appeal are transitory; rush hour traffic is eternal.

Lesson 5: Freedom Is Choosing Awareness And Compassion

“The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day.”

At its heart, “This Is Water” is a call for compassion. When left to its own devices the unquestioned mind is short-tempered and brutish. It looks at others as mere pieces in our solipsistic quests. Impediments; things that are in OUR way.

In his initial description of the shopping trip Wallace has nothing but unkind things to say of his fellow shoppers. He describes them as “stupid, “dead eyed”, and “cow-like”.

But Wallace goes on to reconsider the shoppers from a more empathetic lens. From this lens they are no longer “dead eyed cows”, or “assholes in SUVs”, but fleshed out people with their own desires. People who are likely just as “bored and frustrated as he is.”

While Wallace acknowledges that at times this interpretation may be over-generous, the alternative is much uglier. It is to go through life in your default setting, and not considering “possibilities that aren’t annoying and miserable.”

The task will not be easy. It takes effort and discipline. It requires a choice. A choice to be open to the world in front of you. To look at it with clarity and realize that:

This is Water.

Kurt Vonnegut is one of the most celebrated writers and humorists of the 20th century.

In a famous 1994 speech he broke down the mechanics or storytelling using the graph below.

The graph is separated into two axes:

The vertical axis is called the “GI axis” (Good vs Ill Fortune). This axis charts the characters physical and psychological circumstances. As Vonnegut describes:

“Sickness and poverty are on the bottom. Wealth and boisterous good health are at the top.”

The Vertical Axis is called the “BE Axis” (Beginning vs End). This simply denotes where the character is at a given point in the narrative.

When put together, the two axes chart a character’s changing circumstances over the course of a story.

Vonnegut goes on to map three of the most common story structures using this chart.

Structure 1: Man In A Hole:

Simply put this is someone getting getting in and out of trouble. The character starts in a good place, but circumstances or malevolent forces push them below the dreaded “Ill Fortune” threshold. The better part of the story is the character digging themselves of this metaphorical hole.

As Vonnegut says:

“It needn’t be about a man and it needn’t be about a hole.” But the character must “get into trouble and get out of it again.

Structure 2: Boy Gets Girl:

In the “boy gets girl” someone is going about their normal business when they see something they really want. The person gets a taste of this thing, but they inevitably mess it up and lose it. The remainder of the story is them trying to regain what they lost.

This structure mirrors the plot of the traditional Romantic Comedy. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins back girl.

Structure 3 Cinderella:

Vonnegut calls this the most “cherished story in civilization. Every time it gets told someone makes another million dollars.”

This is, of course, modeled after the plot of Cinderella… and the droves of stories with an orphan or widow as the hero.

The protagonists starts near the bottom of GI Axis. Over the course of the narrative they claw their way up the vertical axis, until some misfortune shoots them back down.

This momentary descent is a necessary part of the structure. Nothing bores an audience quicker than a character only moving one direction on the graph.

Of course in the end, “the shoe fits” and our lowly protagonist vaults back to the top of the chart and lives happily ever after. Our favorite ending!

Bonus Structure: The Kafka

For those puking in their mouths over the treacly Cinderella Structure, Vonnegut included a bonus structure called the Kafka.

Like the Cinderella, the Kafka starts on the low end of the GI axis. But unlike its cheerful counterpart, this structure plunges its poor character even further into the narrative inferno.

Unsurprisingly, this structure is not a fan favorite. But you’re one of the misfortunate few whose audience consists of cynics, psychopaths, and literary critics; It’s worth a shot.

Once upon a time there was a ______. Everyday, _______. One Day ______. Because of that______, Until Finally ______.

On their list of 22 rules of storytelling, Pixar boiled the structure of most stories to the formula above.

At first it seemed a little reductive. So I tested it out on a popular story:

Thought it might just be a coincidence so I tried to out on another story:

To really give it a go, I even tried it out on my favorite TV Show:

While the formula is deceptively simple you can learn a lot by breaking down each of the parts.

Once Upon A Time There Was A _____

The first line in the formula establishes character; it lets the writer and the audience know who the story is about.

Everyday, _____

The second line marks the starting point for our protagonist. It lays out the routine that the character is in. What their life looks like when we first drop in on them. This is the element that gets disrupted in the following line.

One day ____

The next line signals a disruption of the character’s routine. Some person or event shakes their world up, and they will spend the rest of the narrative putting the pieces back together. It’s what screenwriters call the “inciting incident”.

Because of that ______

The inciting incident in the previous step calls the character into action. They’re propelled on a journey. Usually one to either repair the part of their world that has gone AMOK in step 3. Or to search for a piece that was missing from their normal life.

What is fascinating about this step is while it takes up the bulk of the narrative (pages in a book, or screen time in a movie), it makes up only one of the 5 steps. This tells me that a good set up and strong ending are the most important parts of a narrative.

Until finally _____

The final step of the formula is the resolution of the story. What happened to the character in step one? Did they accomplish what they set to do in part Four? Perhaps they learned a lesson along the way?

In short, how did it all end? And more importantly, what did it all mean?

The formula may be simple; but it gives an overarching view about how to structure a narrative.

Try it out on your favorite story and see how it works.

I have a memory from University I can’t shake…

During a Political Science lecture the professor asked our class to summarize an essay we’d read. The problem was…

No one in the class understood the essay. It read like a 50 page intellectual word salad.

It had all the hallmarks of stilted academic writing: needlessly abstract ideas, page long paragraphs, and an armada of 5 syllable words.

One by one each of us floundered when our name was called. No one could summarize the work.

In a fit of frustration, our professor threw up his hands and said:

“Guys it’s simple; what the author really means is…”

I don’t remember precisely what the teacher said but I do remember a brave classmate raising his hand afterwards and asking:

“Professor. Why didn’t the author explain it simply, like you did?”

Universities across the globe falsely equate complicated writing with good writing. The audience bares the burden. If they can’t understand it then they simply aren’t smart enough to comprehend the lofty concepts being discussed.

The thing is, my classmates and I did understand the ideas. They made sense when expressed in a concise, coherent way. We weren’t too dumb to understand the essay; the author was simply unwillingly to write in a way people could grasp.

Writing is communication through the written word. It exists to express and clarify ideas. When done properly those ideas should be comprehensible to your reader.

It is a two way street. There is an author writing, and an audience member reading the work… presumably one who is interested in the ideas you want to get across.

That’s why stuffy writing is so self-serving. It brings attention to itself and its author while ignoring the ideas it should champion.

This is not a call for bland or dumbed down writing. If you have a distinct voice, use it. Give in to the flourishes that make you unique.

But do so in service of your audience. Let them join your journey as willing participants and not as bewildered hostages like myself and classmates.

Be generous. Write with the audience in mind.

Growing up one of my favorite TV shows was 24.

The series chronicled days in the life of counter terrorist agent Jack Bauer. The gimmick of the show was it took place in “real time”. This means each season Jack had 24 hours to thwart a new threat to the country.

The show was widely watched, and heavily criticized. Mainly, for its indirect endorsement of torture. But also for this stranger reason:

During the course of 9 seasons Jack Bauer never once stopped to take a piss.

An omission which seemed unrealistic to a fan base that had no problem believing a 40 year old Keifer Sutherland disarmed nuclear bombs, prevented presidential assassinations, and stopped multiple World Wars.

But really. What gives? Why did Jack Bauer never take a piss?

The reason….

Jack Bauer taking a piss has nothing to do with the story at hand. People tuned into 24 each week to see Agent Bauer catch terrorists, not empty his Urinary Tract.

This fact should be obvious to even the most dim-witted 24 fans; but it’s one that many writers forget.

Even seasoned writers have what I call “Bauer Pissing Moments” in their work.

These are added details that don’t move the story forward. They are the plot lines that never pay off. The auxiliary character who doesn’t play a role in the action. The added space on the page that only bores or distracts the audience.

Storytelling is more than chronology. When we tell a story we are not trying to map out every event that happened in a period of time. We are carefully selecting details that strengthen our narrative. And viciously omitting those that don’t.

In most cases “less is more”. Extraneous details detract from the message we’re trying to get across.

Think of your long-winded friend, who can’t tell a story to save their life. The reason they falter is often because they over-explain. They bore us with details we don’t need.

Their superfluous syllables are akin to Bauer pissing. Yeah, it may have happened, but it doesn’t make for an exciting story.

So forget your wordy friend and take a page from Jack Bauer’s Golden Bladder:

Don’t piss on your work with unwanted details!

Remember Joe Exotic?

He is a former zoo owner, convicted felon, and the central character of the popular Netflix show Tiger King.

In the month of March, Joe and Tiger King were the talk of the town. The series was discussed, dissected, derided, and meme’d on every corner of the internet. You couldn’t escape it; The world could not get enough Tiger King… or so it seemed.

After its initial ascendency there has been little chatter about Tiger King. Joe Exotic may live on in Tabloid headlines, but nine months after its premiere the series and its bleached haired protagonist are mostly forgotten.

I’m not saying this to kick ol’ Joe while he’s down. Lord knows he has enough problems. I say it because Tiger King is precisely the type of ephemera that will be championed in the coming wave of “year in review” lists.

For those unfamiliar, “year in review” or “best of the year” lists are an annual traditional where some savvy critic, likely residing in Brooklyn or San Francisco, tells you what the most important movies, television series, and albums of the year are.

I’m usually an avid reader of these “year end” lists. But this year I’m less enthusiastic.

Do Joe Exotic and his redneck cronies really need more time in the spotlight? Or is there content we can endorse that has proven more enduring?

This year I want to pose an alternative to the traditional “year end list”. I call it:

“The Year End Re-Discovery List”.

It is simply a list of things which once meant a lot to you, that you fell in love with again during the past year. I’m talking about:

The band you adored as a teenager; that still rocks when you’re 30.

The black and white movie; that holds up 50 years later.

The classic book that gets better with each read.

Why rediscovery?

We overvalue discovering something “new”. We’re tantalized by the fresh single, the viral blog, the sticky meme. This phenomena is so common, psychologist have a term for it: The Appeal To Novelty Fallacy.

There is nothing inherently wrong with valuing new things. However, this bias towards “newness” can cause us to overrate things that seem relevant or entertaining at the moment but have little to no lasting value.

I believe that “re-discovery” is the antidote to the “Appeal To Novelty”.

A piece of art you “rediscover” is one that endures after its novel luster has worn off.

It’s something so exceptional that it begs for a revisit. Something that aces the test of time, and inspires long after its initial release.

Works like this are rare. But that is precisely why they mean so much to us, and why they are worth sharing with the world.

2020 was a year that reminded us of our volatility. I see no better way than to cap it off than a celebration of the forces that continue to fuel us, in good times and bad.

Getting listing my friend!

Ideas hold weight.

A great idea captures someone’s attention. It can solve a common problem in a remarkable way. Positioned correctly, it can change a mind. In the right hands it can change the world.

But where do great ideas come from?

This question invites a slew of fluffy responses. Images of lightning striking. Strategies to coax an ever-elusive muse. Talk of inspiration… as if it were a form of divine intervention.

This talk mystifies the relatively straight forward process of generating ideas. That’s why I want to share 10 clear-cut strategies to help you come up with great ideas.

Strategy 1: Seek Out Great Content

In order to come up with exceptional ideas, you must first become a consumer of exceptional ideas. This starts with seeking out good sources of information.

What is a good source? These are publications who consistently put out interesting content. Organizations who posit fascinating ideas. People who you would like to replicate.

Once you find these sources; become a voracious consumer. Devour articles, books, and podcasts from them. Doing this will feed your mind with the raw materials it needs to create awesome ideas of your own.

Strategy 2: Put Your Spin On Someone Else’s Idea

Want to know a secret most “creatives” are afraid to admit?

There is no such thing as an original idea.

This fact may disappoint people with rigid notions of creativity; but it shouldn’t! It simply means that most ideas we consider new or groundbreaking are often older ideas repurposed for a modern audience.

If you stumble across an idea you like, use it. Put your spin on it. Ask yourself if there is something you can add? A different angle you can use to examine it.

This isn’t an invitation for plagiarism. Cite your sources; give proper credit to the people who inspired you. But don’t be afraid to use other people’s ideas. Timeworn stories take on a new life when they are told from a fresh perspective.

Strategy 3: Come Up With A Lot Of “Bad Ideas”

The path to a “great idea” is paved by a trail of “bad ideas”. There is no way around it. If you want to come up with great ideas you need to come up with many bad ones first.

Wrestling with bad ideas is part of the business. It is something that every creative person deals with. Even the pioneers of a field, the ones that seem infallible, likely had more bad ideas than good ones. But as an audience we only see their best work.

If you’re particularly self conscious about your ideas, it can be helpful to lower the stakes. Find ways to embrace your suckage! Bad ideas in large quantities birth great ideas.

Which brings us nicely to the next point.

Strategy 4: Give Yourself An Idea Quota

Writer and Entrepreneur James Altucher challenges his audience to come up with 10 ideas a day. This challenge is an excellent way to flex your idea muscle, I suggest you give it a try.

Or better yet, come up with your own challenge! The details don’t matter much. What is important is that you commit to developing a specific number of ideas every day. It can be 7, 12, 25. Whatever works best for you.

Will most of them stick? Of course not. But there may be nuggets of gold in the masses. To reach them you have to start digging.

Strategy 5: Ask A Lot Of Questions

Remember that annoying kid in school? You know, the one who always had their hand up? The one who bombarded your teacher with questions while you and your classmates sniggered and rolled your eyes?

I want you to be that kid!

Yeah, that person might have annoyed the hell out of you in high school, but I’d bet they were the most knowledgeable person in your class.

At the heart of great ideas is curiosity. The curious mind wants to know everything it can about a subject. And how does it do this? By asking questions… A lot of questions.

Interrogate the subjects you’re interested in. Get to know them from every angle. Ask the silly questions that your loudmouth classmate would be proud of!

Strategy 6: Borrow Ideas From Other Disciplines

I consider myself a serial dabbler. On a given day my curiosity may be piqued Astro Physics, Football stats, and French Films. While some may consider this a form of absent-mindedness, I believe it is a great tool to discover new ideas.

We’re often pressured to stay in one lane, but many of the best ideas are interdisciplinary. They borrow from one subset of knowledge and apply it to another. They find connections between seemingly contrasting fields.

To apply this to your own life, do a survey on the things that interest you. Think of ways that you can apply an idea from one subject you like to another; no matter how unrelated they may appear. You’ll be surprised how often knowledge intersects.

Strategy 7: Seek Out Opposing Views

We live in a world with an abundance of information; and a scarcity of opinions.

Having an internet connection should expose us to a wider variety of ideas. But this wealth of information is often used to affirm our deeply held beliefs and insulate us from different points of view.

While this is unfortunate, it can be a strategic advantage for those brave enough to step outside their self imposed Matrix.

You may not agree with everything you hear, but you’ll be better for hearing it. It gives you a glimpse into the psychology of those you disagree with. And connects you with a wider spectrum of beliefs.

Strategy 8: Look For Ignored Or Unusual Areas In Your Niche

If there is a silver bullet question that will help you come up with great ideas it is this:

What is something important about your subject that you think is ignored or underappreciated?

No matter how much blood or ink has been spilled in your niche, I guarantee there are dark corners that have gone unexplored. Finding them may not be easy, but because few have treaded in the territory it is a great way to find novel ideas.

Strategy 9: Get Feedback From Supportive People

Feedback fortifies ideas. It is the secret ingredients that makes an idea leap from good to great.

Today there is a wellspring of resources online and in person to receive quality feedback.

If you have a friend who you trust share your ideas with them. If you don’t, there are dozens of meetup groups in your area where you can mingle with like minded people.

If you feel more comfortable online, join a forum or message board about an area of interest. There may be some bad apples, but these can still can be a valuable resource to bounce around ideas and get feedback.

Strategy 10: Rediscover The Lost Art Of Observation

When was the last time you put your phone on silent and paid attention to what was going on around you?

You’d be surprised what the world reveals when you care to look.

Observation is the author of many great ideas. Yet it is a dying art. In our distraction fueled world moments of stillness are often avoided.

I encourage you to leave your desk for a couple hours and take a walk. Go to the cafe and people watch. Head to the park with a pen & pad and sketch what you see.

Make idle time on your schedule. The best ideas come when you’re not trying to find them.

Tim Urban, writer of the phenomenal Wait But Why blog, tweeted the following advice about finding an audience:

If you create art/content — songs, YouTube videos, articles, podcasts — think about people who come across your work as 4 categories of reactions:

1) Didn’t like it

2) Thought it was solid / fine

3) Really liked it

4) Absolutely loved it

1s and 2s are gone forever. 3s might come back. 4s will subscribe and evangelize your work to everyone they know. 4s are what make your work take off, not 3s. A piece of work that yields 4s at a 20% vs 5% rate probably ends up with probably 10X (or 1,000X) the spread.

The thing is, content that yields a lot of 4s also usually yields a lot of 1s — more 1s is the cost of going for more 4s. Likewise, creators trying to minimize 1s also usually minimize 4s. So it’s really two choices: the 1–4 strategy or the 2–3 strategy. 1–4 beats 2–3!

I love this quote! It’s a reminder that “good” content placates an audience, while great content polarizes.

Most content creators are slugging it out over the fickle attention of the 2’s and 3’s, while ignoring the 4’s that will gleefully evangelize their work.

Why is this?

Most of us our deathly afraid of “polarization”. Something that polarizes has a distinct point of view. It forces your audience to have an opinion on your work.

This shouldn’t be a bad thing. It is the quickest way to building a following. People are either in for the ride or they aren’t, it weeds out the ambivalent hangers on.

Conversely, there is less competition for polarizing work. Most content is designed to be disposable. It’s meant to momentarily wrangle someone’s attention until they swipe along to the next shiny object.

Avoid the echo chamber. Dare to write with a unique voice. Veer in the direction your competitors won’t dare to go.

It may fly over the heads of the masses, but it may also glide into the hands of the people who want to hear it.