How your life will change if you come up with 10 ideas every day

In 2012, I became interested in creative thinking and the principles of generating ideas. In the same year, James Altusher published a blog post with a simple creative life hack - coming up with 10 ideas a day. After 5 years from the date of publication, I met this post, read it, felt it and changed my life.

Today I want to give you this life hack so that you become bolder and more creative. It's simple.

Why try

You will say that the idea of coming up with more than one solution to a problem is not new. Of course. But how often do you do this? How many ideas did you come up with for the last task you worked on? How many ideas are there in your “idea bank”?

Intuitively, we understand that many options are better than one. In practice, due to the peculiarities of human thinking (this is well written by Kahneman and Kurpatov), we almost never look for many solutions, being content with the first, previously tested, familiar, stereotyped …

This is a losing model, but it can be changed.

How to change your thinking pattern

All you need is to start coming up with 10 ideas a day on any topic and hold out for at least six months, as the author of the method recommends.

You may have heard that a habit is formed in 21 days, but this is not entirely true. There are three popular studies on the timing of habit formation, one of which is fake.

The first was described by psychologist Jeremy Dean in Making Habits, Breaking Habits. It was an experiment that examined the rate at which amputees became accustomed to their new condition. 20 people took part, the average is 21 days.

The second research is the fake Busting the 21 days habit formation myth. This is a fictional experiment purportedly conducted by the US National Aeronautics Administration to study the habituation of upside-down lenses. Here again 20 people are mentioned and the result is 21 days. This is a fiction, there was no research, but people liked the story and became extremely popular.

The third study was conducted by It takes 66 days to form a habit by a group of scientists from University College London in 2009. The experiment involved 96 people. The goal is to determine how long it takes to form a healthy lifestyle habit (eating fruit, drinking juices, running 15 minutes a day). The result is an average of 66 days (minimum - 18, and maximum - 243 days).

So, to form a stable habit of coming up with 10 ideas a day, you may need from 18 to 243 days. The author of the technique tested it on himself and suggests to hold out for 180 days. I've been jotting down ideas for over 300 days and I still don't know when I'm used to it.

What do you get

First, every month you will have 300 or more new ideas, and in a year you will write down more than 3,000. 80% of the world's population does not have that many in their entire life.
Secondly, for every life or work situation, you can come up with 10 ideas on the fly. And where there are several ideas, there is a choice and a solution.
Thirdly, over time, you will realize that 10 is not enough, and you will begin to invent more, enjoying it.
Fourth, you have no obligations to anyone! You can immediately throw away what you wrote down. Because the most important thing in this practice is to develop a skill and pump the "ideological muscle".
But if you suddenly come up with a cool idea, you can try to develop it. She can bring you happiness, joy, and even money. And for this you only need to take one step.

How to start

James Altusher writes:

When I come up with ideas, I divide the sheet into two columns. On the left I write down ideas, and on the right - the first steps to implement each of the ideas. Remember, you only need to write down the first step. Because you have no idea where he will lead you.

I modified this concept a bit:

For each of your ideas, add one of the tags: now, think, or someday.
If your idea is just a wild fantasy and you understand that it is too early to implement it, write opposite it “someday” and put it in your “bank of ideas”. Over time, you will accumulate a large number of such ideas, and they will certainly serve you well. Sometimes you can take two arbitrary ideas labeled "someday" and cross them, writing down 10 ideas based on them. You will be surprised at the result.
If there is something in the idea, write “think” in front of it and next time come up with 10 ideas that develop it.
All other ideas will fall into the "now" for you. Just take one step to implement them, as James recommends. Write down what needs to be done and do it.

What ideas to come up with

You won't be able to write down “million dollar business ideas” every day, you will just get bored. Therefore, at the very beginning, make a clear heading system for yourself.

You can try this:

On Monday, come up with ideas about rest, on Tuesday - about money, on Wednesday - about family, on Thursday - about work, and so on.
Take any arbitrary topic, for example, interesting or high-profile news, and develop it into 10 ideas.
Watch the tasks of the “10 ideas a day” challenge, which has been running on Instagram without stopping for more than 300 days, and complete them.

As I was preparing this post, I decided that it would be honest to share with you a few ideas that came from this habit. I have been practicing "10 ideas a day" since April 1, 2018, I always come up with tasks myself. And two or three times a month I sit down and write “10 task ideas for the challenge“10 ideas a day””.

"Meditocapsule" is a project concept for small soundproof capsules for short meditations. The capsules are installed in business and shopping centers that are visited by a large number of people. On the way to or from work, a person has the opportunity to be in complete silence for 5-10 minutes, think, calm down and tune in the way he needs. The idea was born when I wrote down responses for "10 Ideas on Silence in the City."
TED Cafe is a small, cozy cafe for inspiration, where the best talks from the TED conference are shown non-stop on the big screen on the big screen during business hours. You can only talk in a cafe when making an order. The idea was born when I wrote down the answers for “10 places I miss in Moscow”.
Agency for the development of Instagram places for offline business - the idea of creating a full-fledged business that uses the trend of the frenzied popularity of Instagram. People see something beautiful and stylish that is worth capturing, take a photo and post it on social networks. Ideal if they do it with your tag or logo. The idea was born when I was jotting down the answers for the activity 10 Unusual Ways to Use Social Media.

What to do if you can't or don't want to

If you can't jot down 10 ideas, you need to come up with 20. I don't yet understand how this trick works, but it really works.

If you don't feel like writing, come up with an alternative: draw something, take 10 photos, dictate 10 rhymed lines - do 10 things that are united in meaning. This counts. Because the most important thing in this practice is to develop a skill.

Is it really that simple

Simple, but not simple. In the first week and a half, it will be very interesting for you, then the week of “losing the fuse” will come - this is the most difficult time, and you need to find motivation. The best motivation is social participation and approval. Show what you come up with and see what others come up with. It's great to start coming up with 10 ideas each in a separate chat with your friends.

At one time, I followed what entrepreneur Igor Rybakov writes on his Instagram. I really liked the parable he published one day. There she is:

All people are “doors” through which ideas come into the world. But there is a main rule: these ideas must be shared. The one who tries to hide the ideas that have come from others, from the world, tries to make "his own" - that ideas get scared and no longer come to him.

I wish you to be the coolest door through which the best ideas come to our world. Come up with ideas, share them and be happy.