Most people have considered creativeness an elusive ability that is born, not made. They look upon a new idea as an accident that descends from the ether and just dangles before the eyes of some fortunate person. But as we shall see, there is no mystery or magic involved. The whole problem resolves itself merely into getting the right combinations of old ideas or parts of old ideas int a new, practical or interesting arrangement.

To be sure, information gained from wide experience prepares one to see a particular subject in relation to other things and to have a proper sense of proportion about values and possibilities. With this sense of relationship closer and sounder analysis is achieved. The widely informed person can do a better job of recognizing pertinent and significant factors than one who is not so alert. So, keep exposing yourself to new experiences. Avoid doing things exclusively by force of habit. Habits have many valuable and profound uses, but we can carry this to extreme. The idea seeker must be flexible, not bound by tradition, the same old thing, the habitual reaction. They should go to different restaurants, go to work by a different route, avoid the same vacation every year, read books in different fields, meet people in different groups or classes, expose themselves to new and different situations and experiences.

It may be said, before considering the various sources of material for particular ideas, that there is present in every completed idea the broad general background of your individuality. Often it is this background of individuality that determines whether an idea is to be a success or a failure. The whole person is always present in every sincere effort.

Therefore, try to know yourself and your real interests, for the enthusiasm which interest begets has great carrying power. To develop a fundamental approach to getting ideas, start by listing your own skills, special talents and experiences. You cannot make the most of your assets in the fields you know best, and permit them the opportunity of being useful to you, if you do not know what they are. Decide whether your skills or interests are primarily scientific, artistic, business, social, mechanical, organizational, visual and domestic. Decide whether you prefer details or generalities, whether you think better concretely or abstractly. After you decide in which you are strongest, list the rest in order of their appeal for you.

In addition, there are certain character qualities which are useful, not only in getting ideas, but in any phase of successful living. These include open mindedness which enables you to judge new ideas or things on their merits, avoiding their rejection because they are strange or unfamiliar. Also planning, which helps you to work out in advance the details of what you must do to achieve the results you want. Without planning, you leave things to chance, to hit or miss, trial and error. Likewise carefulness, which permits you to carry out your work with painstaking effort, thoroughness and cautiousness in avoiding mistakes. Overlook this, and you perform your work in a slipshod manner, which surely cannot reach a result in which you can take pride.

Very important, of which we shall speak later on, is observation, whereby you can pick out the facts of a situation, the facts that count, enabling you to analyze and form sound judgments. Without this valuable trait, the real facts of a situation are obscured, and inconsequential factors loom more important that the essential mater. In addition, there is resolution to stick to the right decision once you have made it, rather than wavering changing your mind and being unpredictable to yourself, not to speak of being unreliable where others are concerned. A valuable asset is patience which enables you to stay with a task which makes severe demands on your attention particularly if the outcome is in doubt and overdue in coming. Without this, you tend to be restless, irritable, causing the haste that makes waste, and resulting in serious errors. From this brief comment it must be apparent that mental efficiency is important to the creative thinker. Those who realize this and work to develop their mental faculties are the ones who stand the best chance of becoming skillful producers of ideas. Ideas can be produced by a process of combinations and permutations, but they are more fun when the spark of individual fire is added.