Mitch Ditkoff’s 14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas is about 14 techniques that one can use to help them get past the barriers that block us from thinking of these intivative ideas. Each technique is different than the next, some seem very practical while others are rather abstract but if applied correctly, all of them can be very useful. The idea behind the entire list seems to be mostly to help people not to strain themselves when trying to come up with new ideas or be creative. They can apply to adults in the workplace, or students trying to write a paper or do a project.
The list included basic tips that many of us already do but do not realize how much they actually help us to come up with our breakthrough ideas. They discuss signs that one should pay attention to, immersing yourself in activities that have nothing to do with the project at hand, telling yourself that failure is ok because we learn a great deal from our mistakes. Some of the suggestions have the reader just take a step back from the task at hand like linking things that already exist to come up with a new breakthrough, making sure that we are actually aware of our question before we start looking for an answer, and even to fantasize in order to come up with ridiculous ideas and then realize that perhaps they are not so ridiculous after all.
I would definitely agree that these points are valid. As I mentioned before, some of these are things that I already do without actually realizing how much they help me to accomplish my goals or come up with my ideas. The fifth one on the list says to fantasize, I think that this is my favorite suggestion because I do this all of the time. I will be working on a paper and all of a sudden find myself looking at the ceiling with my mind running wild and flooding with ideas that are sometimes useful. But this idea of fantasizing applies directly to my major where I am learning to develop video games. Everything I have learned in the last quarter related to my major has been to expand my mind and think of how to break down barriers so that there is room for new intuitive games and fantasy worlds that create enjoyable experiences for other players. Fantasizing about things that are not really happening is one of my favorite things to do and it helps me relax. I think that I would go crazy without doing it. It probably helps to explain the reason that I love video games so much, because it allows me to put visuals to and interact with many fantasy worlds that others have created.
Immerse is number two on the list and I am a very big fan of this. I think the idea of giving your employees time during work hours to immerse themselves in things that they find enjoying is brilliant. It keeps them happy while also keeping their mind occupied with hopefully productive hobbies. When I think about this I can’t help but bring up video games again and how immersion is one of the things that my teachers emphasis. Keeping the player immersed and limiting the amount of things that break that connection is key to making a good video game. The more I learn about the production process of videogames the more I find myself getting immersed in them for more than the entertainment aspect, but also because I am able to look at them in a different light and get inspiration form them.
Taking a break is the third method that I find very important. If it was only a list of the methods with no explanation, I don’t think this would be in my top three. But the description really put into perspective how important it is to take yourself away from the main task so that you can come back to it feeling refreshed. I always take breaks; I feel that when I focused to hard on something for too long, my production values go down fast. When I take breaks and do something to take my mind away for a bit I come back to my project feeling very refreshed and have new ideas to add.
The prompt that I decided to do is the fifth one under fantasy. It requires me to think of a challenge and fantasize about a solution. The challenge that I am currently working on is for my game development class where I am the lead engineer on a team that is creating a video game over the next six months. This is very new for the entire team and we know very little at this point, and it does not help that we have only been able to have two class periods because of the weather. As the lead engineer, I am in charge of the bulk of the programming. I love to fantasize about me sitting at the computer cranking out lines of code because I actually know how while the rest of my team is working on their own jobs, and when they help me get some of the programming done, I am able to help them with any questions they have. I feel that this image really motivates me do the extra reading that my professor gave me in order to get a head start and really understand programming and get a good footing for the future.
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