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[NT] How you got your ideas

Maverick

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In what moments and how did you get your best ideas in life?

For me, I find that my best ideas came from moments of strong introspection. Being alone from time to time was important as it allowed me to envision possibilities more easily. Another way I got good ideas was simply through debating with people about things... to the point where I would feel an "a-ha" moment and things would get clear.
 

Rajah

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Usually, I get them a while after I've thought some issue deeply. I'll be doing something mundane, like the laundry, and have a flash of insight.
 

Xander

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I get better ideas the more I listen and the less I talk :blush:
 

Rhu

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Everybody knows that the best ideas always end up popping into one's head on the toilet. Since the invention of the wireless laptop, I've come to imagine most of you Internet people posting from atop your thrones of ceramic.

And if you are using your toilet-enhanced concentration, you would rightly conclude that this is why most of my own posts smell... funny.
 

nottaprettygal

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My best ones come when I'm lying in bed just a teensy bit intoxicated.
 

Totenkindly

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When thoughts really "kick in"

  1. Listening to other people discuss a topic / Reading a thread
  2. Driving, walking, or hiking
  3. Perched on the john (hats off... [or pants off?] to Rhu there...)
  4. Sitting through a ho-hum boring sermon at church
  5. Right after I drink coffee in the morning
  6. Usually at the most inappropriate time possible ["Keep going, honey... I just need to scribble something down!" -- scrabbles at end-table for pen and scrap paper, knocks lamp on floor]
 

Rajah

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[*] Usually at the most inappropriate time possible ["Keep going, honey... I just need to scribble something down!" -- scrabbles at end-table for pen and scrap paper, knocks lamp on floor]
[/LIST]
Like that ever happens.
 

Zergling

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Randomly during times when I've slowed down a bit and am not completely focused on something.
 

HilbertSpace

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In the shower (and yes, it happens).

It got to the point that whenever I got stuck on something I think about it enough to fix it in my mind, then climbed into the shower. Really difficult problems might take several showers (limited hot water and all of that - my next major purchase will be a tankless hot water system).

I even went so far as to buy a pack of those bathtub crayons so I can jot down ideas or make sketches while in the shower. It has worked out fairly well, although they get more runny than I would like.
 

Totenkindly

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In the shower (and yes, it happens). It got to the point that whenever I got stuck on something I think about it enough to fix it in my mind, then climbed into the shower. Really difficult problems might take several showers (limited hot water and all of that - my next major purchase will be a tankless hot water system).

I even went so far as to buy a pack of those bathtub crayons so I can jot down ideas or make sketches while in the shower. It has worked out fairly well, although they get more runny than I would like.

lol, I forgot to mention the shower!

Great anecdote... and (take this however you'd like) it doesn't really surprise me at all.
 

SolitaryWalker

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In what moments and how did you get your best ideas in life?

For me, I find that my best ideas came from moments of strong introspection. Being alone from time to time was important as it allowed me to envision possibilities more easily. Another way I got good ideas was simply through debating with people about things... to the point where I would feel an "a-ha" moment and things would get clear.

That sounds like manifest work of Ni. Mine come from solitary meditations where I keep on pondering things. At times I stop when I get the kind of an insight that I am currently satisfied with, yet I wouldnt leave it at that. I'd come back to it later on to see if I can think of something better. But my best ideas tend to come from my solitary meditations where I keep on arguing with myself. Though unlike an Ni, I can actually explain where my ideas came from and what their rivals were.
 

bluebell

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Apr 30, 2007
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In the shower (and yes, it happens).

It got to the point that whenever I got stuck on something I think about it enough to fix it in my mind, then climbed into the shower. Really difficult problems might take several showers (limited hot water and all of that - my next major purchase will be a tankless hot water system).

I even went so far as to buy a pack of those bathtub crayons so I can jot down ideas or make sketches while in the shower. It has worked out fairly well, although they get more runny than I would like.

Um, what do you write on? The bathroom tiles? Got any pics?

Yeah, I do a lot of thinking/processing in the shower. The limiting factor is the guilt over using so much water/electricity.

Also, 4-fucking-am is when my brain seems to like to wake and think. It feels very clear at the time but by the time I wake up it's all fuzzy. Bleah.

I think when I'm doing something else. Or if someone has done a big braindump, I'll kind of switch off from them and think. Which disables the power of speech usually. :blush:
 

MacGuffin

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I get mine at the oddest moments as well.

Usually while walking/driving when I am not distracted by other people or music.
 
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