the idea: project-specific idea cans (make your own)

As silly as this may seem, the idea of the idea can itself has sparked a lot of new ideas.

I guess this is the problem when you’re an idea person and you start actually naming things “Idea _____.”  It adds up fast.

Ah well, as I was saying, new ideas from the idea can.  My mind, of course, went into hyper drive when I first thought of it.  I pushed it all over the internet and have been posting to it everyday (we’re on day five now of the official Behance Idea Can and going strong).

One of the many off shoots of this idea was to create a way for other people to create their own idea can.  Either by actually making the physical cans, making a high-tech website where people could post and share their ideas, make an idea can-shaped notebook, etc. etc. etc.

In a conversation with my sister the other night I found the perfect solution to this wandering idea fragments.  Instead of actually trying to start major project number 249, I made a minor version of it.  My sister is currently in what Scott Belsky calls the “project plateau” meaning the excitement of the inception has worn off and the pressure of completion isn’t there yet.  Basically, the drive is gone but the work continues.

In my usual overly helpful way I started throwing out ideas about things she could do.  But, like most sisters, we tend to work very differently.  Strategies that have been proven to get me through difficult idea areas have been proven to not help my sister.  Because family wouldn’t be fun if it were easy.

Finally, one stuck: The Gay History Idea Can.

That’s right.  Read it again.

My sister is a budding historian who is interested in reinventing gay history.  She’s explained a lot of this to me (she even wrote a brief post about it here).  I would try to explain it but it’s 1:15 in the morning, I’m churning this out while crouching freezing on my bedroom floor, and I’m sure in the best of conditions I wouldn’t be able to do her passion justice.

What I recommended was that she create an idea can for her passion so that even when she’s in the project plateau she’s still building ideas.  Implausible, silly, noteworthy, mildly significant, and all other sorts of ideas get put in the idea can.  There’s no censoring and no judgement except whether you do it or not, which is why I’m here writing despite the hour and the temperature.  The point is to keep the excitement and the drive going without derailing the current project.  Ideas made for the idea can should go straight in.  In the future, when you’re at another project plateau, you can go back through and find something interesting to inspire you.

But, while you’re working, come up with a brilliant idea.  Get excited about it.  Write it down, store it, post it somewhere, whatever your medium is (my sister and I have started a long email chain where we send our ideas to each other every night).  Then, use your excitement to finish whatever you need to get done.  That tasty idea, that carrot at the end of the stick, is waiting with a bunch of others in your Idea Can for you to dance around in once you’re finished.