I am an idea hoarder. I love ideas. Duh!
I especially like my own ideas. I wonder if that makes me a cognitive narcissist. Probably. Heck, I made a blog/podcast where I can report and blather on about my ideas on having good ideas. But, I have to admit, I might not be a good listener. I love telling people about my ideas more than I like hearing about other people’s ideas. I bet that is pretty common.
That is a trait I will work on. First, I need to find a way to help me identify when I am not fully present when another person is talking. Then I need a system to help me track whether I am actually making a positive change in my interactions. Don’t get me wrong. I am a decent conversationalist. At least I think I am. I don’t think that I rudely talk over people or interrupt. It’s just that when someone says something interesting, it triggers a cascade of my own thoughts that then trigger other thoughts and then I am lost in my own idea web. Maybe it looks like I am still paying attention to them as they continue to talk.
I have a vague idea of making The Creativity Algorithm interactive. Something that would allow us to share ideas about sales, business, personal fulfillment, and of course, ideas. It wouldn’t be just so I could hoard even more ideas. It would be open source to avoid hoarding and intellectual property issues. It would be a way to track and monitor our progress on improving our relationship with our subconscious and finding the time for relaxed engagement.
I even love my bad ideas, and I keep them around. Even bad ideas. Ever have an idea that disgusts you? Came from your unconscious didn’t it? Maybe we shouldn’t throw such things away. The idea might not be inherently bad. In the book “Aha! The Moments of Insight That Shape our World,” William Irvine, suggests that ideas that disgust you represent a conflict between different parts of your mind. He notes that he doesn’t have the “ick factor” anymore to ideas that once bothered him. I mean young children swear that kissing is gross and certain foods are disgusting. They grow out of it. In that, we can tease out a sophism. Our minds are not meant to be static. No one knows it all. Values that we hold sacrosanct are rarely examined logically. So, here’s a sophim: pick an idea that you hold dear and push yourself out of your comfort zone and find a situation where you would not hold it dear.
Back to idea hoarding. My wife says I’m always on my phone. Like many people, I am probably on my phone too much. But, that is relative. Too much related to what? Of course, I can waste time on social media and short videos as well as anyone. And….. I am going to suggest that might not be bad – within reason. Many of us feel pressure to be productive every minute of the day. Maybe, just maybe doing nothing and being passive on your phone for a short time – emphasis on the short time, is an acceptable way to just rest for a bit.
Whether I am staring at my phone too much is debatable, I do have it with me 99% of the time. When I do have an ‘Aha Moment’ or when a good idea decides to visit, I whip out my phone and write the thought down. Right now, I use a Google doc with a zillion links and notes. It is my Commonplace Book. A Commonplace Book is a diary of sorts where thinkers of centuries past wrote down facts, references, areas to follow up on, and of course ideas. (Commonplace Book, 2023).
There are modern apps that act as digital Commonplace Books. Devonthink is a great example of this. I know I should migrate my Google doc to a platform that was designed for idea integration. But, then I am bumping up against that comfort zone that I mentioned a few paragraphs ago. Which brings us to another sophism. When will your set of ideas be ready to move to a different structure? Notice that the presumption is that your set of ideas should move. That means that the current structure for holding your ideas might not be the best solution anymore. Scary right?
Just as a productive and over-producing tomato plant needs support and structure, so does an imaginative mind. If your immediate response is, No I’ve got it, I’m fine. I don’t need a new structure for my thoughts, then I suggest one of two things. First, maybe you are not producing that many ideas. It is the heaviness of tomatoes(ideas) that creates and necessitates the structure. Second, go back to the first sophism where you pick a valued idea and imagine a scenario where it is no longer valued, like your current way of organizing your thoughts.
What does the metaphor about tomato plants producing juicy tomatoes have to do with helping sales managers increase efficiency and margin?
Is the organization you work for structured well enough to support its growth? Do the employees feel supported and comfortable enough to grow a good idea?
If our minds are like tomato plants that prefer to grow wild but need structure and that prefer to grow as many heavy, juicy tomato-like ideas, will it reach a point where it cannot produce any more tomatoes? That is a scary sophism. Maybe preventing or reversing such a terrifying circumstance is just a function of needing to replenish the soil, proper watering, and facing the sun. The next sophism is to figure out how to replenish the soil of your mind, regularly water your creativity, and keep your emotions facing the sun.
As mentioned in episode/post 10, Plant Another Garden, I am a terrible gardener. The only reason I am writing this episode/post this way is that my daughters recently planted a few tomato plants. I resolutely stood far away and offered no advice. I think they planted too many, but what do I know?
Can a person have too many ideas? Of course, they can have too many ideas if the mind is left to grow unstructured. Can you hear the life-long teacher in me coming through? And the psychologist in me might suggest that a troubled mind might produce too many, non-beneficial ideas. Can a person have too many good ideas?
So what if my daughters planted too many tomato plants? What if the plants produce? What if that many plants produce so much that we cannot use them all? Would the tomatoes die on the vine or fall and rot on the ground? Probably. But I suggest that, at least in the idea-world if not the tomato world, wouldn’t be a bad thing.
For example, when I started writing this episode/post, I had a certain idea I wanted to explore. Well, my tomato vine of thought grew in a different direction and produced something unexpected. I picked the fruit, wrote this post, and left the other one on the vine. What will happen to the other one? Maybe I’ll pick it for the next post. Maybe it’ll fall and decay. But it will not be wasted.
If it decays into the ground, it’s not wasted. Canabilism among plants is normal and good. And, maybe shouldn’t be thought of as bad among humans. What?! Did you just do a mental stutter-step? Disgusted? Want to stop listening? Go back to what I wrote about William Irvine’s idea that upon conscious analysis, some of our subconscious values might grow, evolve, and change. If you never analyze them, then you are stuck with ideas that you don’t know how you got. Note: I am not advocating cannabalism. Rather, I just used the idea for shock value.
When I was writing this post, I cut the part that I started with and wasn’t going to use. But, pasted it back into my Google doc for future use. The new idea was picked and the old idea was recycled. In this, we can see there cannot be too many good ideas as long as there is a structure for them.
Take Away: There are quite a few thoughts in this post/episode, even if they were not planned. In fact, I suggest that the tomato metaphor gave quite a bit of food for thought – sorry couldn’t resist. I invite you to join me in the task that I set for myself earlier in this post to be present when others are discussing their ideas. In this, we’re going to have to depart the usual practice of finding some alone time to think. We’re going to have to be proactive and find, or even create a situation where others feel comfortable discussing their ideas. Like anything else, it might be difficult at first. But, practice makes the difficult easy. Imagine how much richer your or my life will be if we are comfortable letting other people share the fruits of their idea.
Spreading the Thoughts: Ask a coworker, if they could grow a good idea what would it be. Then ask, what would they need? Maybe that is too much for a casual, watercooler conversation. If so, ask yourself.
Next Post: No More Steps on The Ladder
For more information on how to help yourself and people in your organization learn how to access solutions more regularly, please go to:
Website: joeswope-publicspeaker.com
Youtube: youtube.com/@joeswope-publicspeaker
Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joe-swope
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/joe-swope-speaker
References
Irvine, W. B. (2017). Aha! The Moments of Insight that Shape Our World. Oxford University Press.
The Creativity Algorithm 
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