This week, we asked our friend, Nix Nolledo, for some insight into his successes and how he achieved them. Nix is a digital entrepreneur with businesses in the mobile and online community. He is the CEO of Xurpas Inc. and is involved in many other entrepreneurial ventures.
In this article, Nix focuses on ideas — how to create them and more importantly, how to cultivate them when they come and how to maximize them by developing habits of curiosity and discovery.
“I have an idea“ — Such empowering words.
Whenever an idea comes and I know it’s a good one, I enter a state of elation. My mind immediately zeroes-in on it and I become unable to think of anything else but that idea.
This is then followed by a flurry of actions: I scribble notes on a piece of paper, collar a colleague to share my thoughts, grab a piece of chocolate from the fridge — binge thinking and eating all at the same time.
GOOD IDEAS HAVE A WAY OF TAKING OVER — THEY ARE ALL-CONSUMING AND THEY SHOULD BE NOTHING LESS THAN THAT.
But what is a “good idea”, really? Even simpler: what is it at all? How does one define it? More importantly, how does one make idea generation a habit?
An idea is two things previously known, combined to form something new. Simple as that. If you accept this definition, it then follows that the more things you know, the more things you can combine to form an idea.
THE BEST WAY TO EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE BASE IS TO HAVE AS DIVERSE A SET OF EXPERIENCES AS POSSIBLE.
Try new things. Get out of your comfort zone. Meet as many people as you can. Mark Twain said, “twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.” Travel. Listen. Observe. Strike out for every horizon every day. Look at the world with the eyes of a child, always with a sense of wonder. You find that the more meaningful moments you’ve had, the more you’ve listened, the more magic you’ve found, then the more things you have to throw together to form something new. Whether it’s a solution to a problem or a new food recipe. An invention, a business opportunity or a way to make the world a better place.
Make idea generation a habit simply by living a magical life. A life where every moment is lived to the fullest.
Connect with Nix on LinkedIn.