“You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.
I used to think she was lying.
One day, I just grabbed my notebook and wrote 10 ideas.
Eight months later, I'm continue to write. This time I average at 30-80 ideas a day.
That's approximately 7,200 ideas to 19,200 ideas a day since I started.
I haven't stopped, nor do I have plans to stop.
But the credit doesn't belong to Maya Angelou, she has only validated what James Altucher preached.
"Write 10 ideas a day until your head hurts.
Do this daily. I guarantee you, you will become an Idea Machine"
The 10 ideas a day is part of the mental muscle of James Altucher's Daily Practice.
To live holistically, you need to work on the physical, mental, spiritual and emotional parts in life.
The purpose of writing 10 ideas is to strengthen your idea muscle. Think of it as bodybuilding.
A highly muscular body is capable of lifting heavier weights.
A highly muscular idea muscle is capable of giving you ideas that could change your life.
10 life changes after using my Idea Muscle Daily
1. My head actually hurts with ideas. James wasn't kidding. 6 months into the practice, I thought nothing was going to happen. I persisted. On my 8th month, I can't sit still anymore. Ideas are sprouting like crazy!
2. I revived this blog. I abandoned this blog last year. I created another one but abandon it as well. I've abandoned a lot of blogs. One day, I had the idea to become a blogger, so I created a list of what 10 things I could do. One of the items that popped was to start posting again.
3. I created another blog, an Episode Recap Blog. I was taking a bath when the idea of creating an episode recap blog for popular TV series in my country. I immediately turned to my list and wrote the first 10 steps to make it a reality. It's now live. I don't get paid for it. It's a labor of love. But it DID teach me what it takes to conceptualize and execute your ideas. Now THAT is valuable.
4. I've learned to embrace the bad ideas. I was a serial perfectionist. I still am. But it's not worst as it used to be. Writing 10 ideas a day gave me the opportunity to accept that I can create "bad ideas". I was allergic to them by the way. Eventually, I realized that we don't progress in life because we're stuck. We're stuck in that sea which rejects bad ideas. I've finally learned to befriend them. A million thanks to that.
5. When I'm stuck, I turn to my list. Corollary to Number 4, I've finally gained the confidence to trust in my ideas. Good or bad. I need to start somewhere, and the list is perfect for that.
6. When I need solutions, I turn to my list. 10 ways to approach to this person. 10 things to say. 10 memes to create. I don't care if it sounds stupid, insane or bad. As long as I can generate and hit my quota, that's what counts.
7. When I don't know what to do, I turn to my list. 10 first steps. 10 things I've always been doing. 10 things I haven't done yet. I unintentionally killed my drawing habit when I started my Morning Pages routine. To rekindle it, I created a new routine: "10 illustrations ideas for ______". Writing is one thing. Drawing is another different thing. It's harder. Without the 10 ideas-a-day format, this wouldn't have been possible.
8. I cannot think properly unless I write my list. One of my morning rituals at work, aside from the Morning Pages, is to write "10 things I'm grateful for today". Before my evening ends, I create another list for that. Not only do I exercise my mental leg of the Daily Practice, but I also exercise the Spiritual one.
9. I've started to create and execute what I write in my list. By this time, I've created the confidence to produce like crazy. In one writing gig, the other party asked for suggestions on articles to write. I gave him 10 ideas. He liked one and asked me to write it. The only problem was I didn't write it. I didn't like the topic he chose. Number 3 is the perfect example. It started with an idea and I wrote the steps to make it a reality.
10. I now evangelize people to this practice. In case you don't know, I discovered James Altucher in Quora. For every other question I answer, I introduce the Daily Practice, especially the 10 ideas concept. Because it actually works. I want them to experience the good things that happened to me as well.
Has the practice converted me to a millionaire? Has the practice allowed me to quit my job?
Not yet. But I'm hopeful.
Being an Idea Machine is just the beginning.
Grab a sheet of paper and start your own 10 ideas a day!
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