4 Unusual Article Ideas In 4 Minutes

If you’ve ever tried to create on the side, you’ll know that being able to come up with ideas can be a stumbling block. When you don’t have much time, the easiest option is to just pick off the easiest ideas and run with them.

• Focus on your habits, not your goals.
• Money doesn’t make you happy.
• Follow your passion.

It’s why we see the same regurgitations of ideas spilling out all over the internet. It’s why copycat brands exist. Coming up with new, unique ideas is hard. In fact, some argue it’s impossible.

But if you’re here, you want to create content that goes beyond the obvious, content that drives people to think differently, content that allows you to spill your heart out onto the page.

If that’s you, here are 4 ways to come up with killer ideas.

1. Connect the dots

Scottish inventor Alexander Graham Bell invented the electric telephone.

The inspiration? His mother, a musician who lost her hearing, his father who specialised in teaching deaf people and his wife who had been deaf since the age of 5.

It was here, he became interested in sound and had a knack for invention.

Some of the best inventions in the world, and even the best ideas you’ve ever had, likely come from connecting two dots around you. My most viral article ever, came from not knowing what to write about and then 10 minutes later, the postman arrived with a handwritten letter.

If you’re struggling to come up with ideas to market your side project, things to write about, or of ways to create try connecting two seemingly unlikable ideas.

• Riding a bike and writing a letter.
• Reading a book and thinking about cereal.
• Habits and coffee.

Most will lead you to dead ends. You end up with nothing but a rubbish idea to add to the list. Some though, will lead to great thoughts.

Combine to create.

2. Build your idea muscle

​Research has found that when you work by yourself and then with a team you come up with better ideas when compared to just working with a team. AKA, you master the art of ideating by yourself, you add more value to the world around you.

Like anything, the more intentional practice you put in, the better you get. Creating ideas is no different. You must practice coming up with ideas if you want to get better at it and you can do this in a number of ways.

I do it with article headlines all the time:

• Rapid fire article headline ideas
• Sprinkle in some numbers
• Add a time stamp
• Specificity

Here’s how it looks in practice (let’s take the headline for this article):

• Start: Ways to Come Up with New Ideas, Ideas for Coming Up with Ideas, How to Come Up with New Ideas.
• Sprinkle: 4 Ways to Come Up With New Ideas, 4 Ideas for Coming Up with New Ideas, 4 Ways You Can Spark Innovative Thinking.
• Time-stamp: 4 Ways to Spark Innovative Thinking Today, 4 Super-Quick Ways to Spark Innovative Thinking, 4 One-Minute Habits That Spark Innovative Thinking.
• Specificity: 4 One-Minute Habits That Spark Innovative Thinking Alongside Your 9–5.

Do that every morning, with marketing ideas, headlines, articles, branding, or anything and you’ll get better and better at generating new ideas.

*I go more in detail about how to write viral headlines in module 3 of the Medium Blueprint.

3. Notice the world around you

The Harvard Business Review wrote an article about the link between attention and coming up with better ideas. It argued that the best way to come up with ideas was to pay close attention to the world around you.

If you think of some of the game-changing thoughts over the last decade, many of them come from noticing a problem in the market that everyone else overlooked.

• Deliveroo — serving good, local food, quickly to people that wanted it.
• Face recognition technology — because passwords are annoying.
• Netflix streaming — because renting DVDs is painful.
• Uber — because nobody wants to ring up for a taxi.

Real problems, ones that actually need solving, are where innovation is born. Once you find the problem, the actual problem, then you start to build the gaps and build the solution.

Finding the problem is innovation in of itself.

4. Oil the machine

I’m convinced there are several ways you can spark innovative thoughts by just creating the right conditions around you. Building the right environment is critical to building good habits and that is no different for coming up with ideas.

Here’s how you oil your idea machine without spending a penny:

• Go for a walk in nature, feel the fresh air and get out of your own head.
• Read amazing work, books are literally like stepping into someone’s brain. Given the thought leaders that have written books, reading unlocks a whole new world of thinking.
• Rest and relax. The best ideas come from having the space and time to think deeply without pressure. It’s why many cite the shower as being the place they get their best ideas.
• Let your mind flow. Encourage your mind to jump from one thought to the next following its own curiosity.