10 Ideas a Day
I recall a time when I was tasked with monitoring a whole new unfamiliar tech stack. I felt like a novice chef thrown into a Michelin-starred kitchen. Unfamiliar dashboards simmered with strange metrics, alerts pinged like timers I couldn't interpret, and I had no recipe for what "normal" operations should look like.
As anxiety bubbled up, I recalled James Altucher's "idea machine" concept. If it worked for creativity, why not for troubleshooting? So, I grabbed my metaphorical whisk and started beating out ideas about what each metric might indicate.
Here's how to apply Altucher's method:
- Set a daily quota: Commit to generating 10 ideas every day, no matter how wild.
- Embrace quantity over quality: Bad ideas often lead to brilliant ones.
- Cross-pollinate: Combine unrelated concepts for unexpected results.
- Capture everything: Keep a notebook handy; inspiration strikes at odd times.
- Exercise your idea muscle: Like any skill, ideation improves with practice.
Remember, as Altucher says, creativity isn't about perfection; it's about persistence. Ready to shake things up and see what appears?