Mike Carruthers

So you said that the idea of sitting down and trying to come up with ideas is somewhat counterproductive for many people.

So what does work?

If that doesn't work, do you just wait until...

I don't know, something happens.

I always find, though, that when you generate a lot of ideas, you've got so many things that now you're too close to it and you can't really see the forest for the trees and now you can't really evaluate them.

Yeah, that rings true because doesn't it seem like you're able to look at somebody else's ideas or what somebody else wrote or somebody else made or whatever and evaluate it in a much more objective way, as you say, because it's not yours.

So you have a distance on it that gives you that ability that you cannot do with your own stuff.

One of the things I've always heard about creating ideas, good ideas, is to take two things that are seemingly incongruent and putting them together somehow into something new.

And that's a great way to create something new.

Is that a theory or does that really work?

That seems so random somehow.

Like, because this guy was a birdwatcher and had this idea, I mean, and if he wasn't a birdwatcher, would it have ever happened?

Who knows?

When people think of coming up with ideas, they think about creating something.

But I know you talk about subtracting something, and some examples of that might help, but explain what you mean.

When you look at great ideas, or maybe you look at the people who come up with great ideas, are you able to identify things they have in common, or it's just so varied that you can't really do that?

It's fun to talk about this because we all have ideas.

And you know what I love?

I love when someone else comes up with something, like you see some new product online or something, and you go, wow, what a great idea.

You know, wish I'd thought of that.