How do techies come up with such innovative ideas? Steve Jobs did it with the iPhone, and Elon Musk did it with Tesla. Reed Hastings did it with Netflix, Mark Zuckerberg with Facebook, and Elizabeth Holmes with Theranos. Every day we read about new companies addressing needs that never existed before.
I bet these innovators didn't come up with their groundbreaking ideas during rock concerts or major league playoff games, or while they were checking email or social media messages. Creativity blossoms when we make time to think.
Whether you're creating a new business or product, or you're trying to determine how to grow sales and revenue, you need a quiet space for focused thought.
What creative thinkers do differently
In our always-connected, tech-driven world, it's not easy to break away and get some alone time. But to see the big picture, we must take a step back and make the time to think. As business writer Paul B. Brown puts it:
"While it is undoubtedly true that superior execution is better than any great idea you can think of, you need new ideas if you are going to stay ahead of the competition. And it is awfully hard to come up with those ideas if you don't have any time to think."