Three cheers for the King! hip, hip horay…

At the time of writing, America and Israel are at war with Iran. The Strait of Hormuz is blocked, and oil prices are soaring. Here, at home, the cost of living is soaring along with it.

One valuable commodity that is not affected by conflict is that beautiful, exciting thing we call the ‘idea’.

Ideas are FREE, no AI required!

In my creative journey, I have always held the idea in great esteem. Every brief I have ever worked on in my forty-plus-year career has had an idea as its starting point, whether that be a brand design of advertising campaign. Idea first, execution second, simple.

That said, I do remember early in my career having that dreaded fear of the blank sheet of paper in front of me and worrying that a good idea would not come.

Now, this is a serious affliction if you have a job that demands great ideas on a daily basis!

The good news is that I got over it thanks to Stephen King.

In his book, ’On Writing: A memoir of the Craft’, which I thoroughly recommend, he writes: Stories are found things. like fossils in the ground. The writer's job is to use the tools in the toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground as intact as possible. Sometimes there’s just a tiny piece sticking out of the earth…but you can tell from that fragment that there’s a whole fossil buried underneath. The story already exists - your job is to uncover it.

This really resonated with me, and I took Mr King at his word. 

For me, ideas are translated into stories that are then used to engage and persuade. So, the fossil analogy fitted my creative purpose perfectly.

No longer did I fear the blank sheet, because I believed the ideas were already there, just waiting to be uncovered.

This revelation sparked an interest in how our brains work. I noticed that great ideas more often than not come when you are not trying to have one!

This is because the left brain is not engaged. The left brain is all about logical, sequential processes. 

The right brain is all about free-form random association. A much more productive, creative side of the brain.

Incidentally, left-handers who favour the right brain are often creatively gifted. 

Unfortunately, we sometimes don’t have the luxury of a shower, washing the dishes, or walking the dog while at the office. With a busy work schedule, ideas are often required on demand and within a restricted timescale.

I then observed another useful human trait, which has often come to my creative rescue.

Working through a brief, gathering the knowledge and understanding necessary, is all left-brain activity.

Then, beginning the thoughtful, studious mental process of idea generation, again left-brain. 

When faced with a particularly stubborn problem, often the idea would not flow, your mood would drop, followed by a depressed feeling.

I began to recognise that this was a good thing, because soon the left brain would chuck its toys out of the pram, and pass the problem over to the right brain. Often, seconds later, the ideas would pop into your mind, ready to be born into the world.

An amazing and very welcome phenomenon which is available to us all, and, as I said before, totally and wonderfully FREE.