Did you ever get stuck on an idea or concept? Hit a wall? Run out of ideas? Most inventors experience tough challenges and obstacles when working on their inventions. Some run into these obstacles during the design phase while others run into barriers at the prototype phase. Still others encounter problems when they are seeking certifications and approvals. It can happen anywhere in the invention process.
It happens to all creative people whether they are artists, writers or inventors. All of these people have at least one thing in common - the drive to create something new.
In order for them to create something new they have to sift through the plethora of thoughts about the problem, challenge or obstacles that they are solving or overcoming. Don't mistake these seemingly unrelated thoughts for flotsam - use them to move your invention process forward.
A great way to use the invention idea thoughts that you capture is to organize them. This is usually very unnatural for a creative person. For the new inventor, "having a method to your madness" is essential to invention process progress. You can get there without establishing some type of method or system but it will be a lot harder.
You can capture your thoughts and record them in a matrix. List your thoughts in a column along the left hand side of your spreadsheet or table and also create the same list along the upper horizontal row. Add to both as you come up with new thoughts. Make notes of new thoughts or ideas where the various thoughts intersect. Most it may be gibberish, but at some point you might find that gem that starts you down a novel train of thought to the answer that you seek.
If you want to jump start your thoughts than use a mind map. This helps you to capture thoughts on the fly and then organize them later. It is great for both group and individual brainstorming. A great free software that does an outstanding mind mapping job is Freemind. It has enough bells and whistles to get the job done without straining your budget.
Sometimes looking at something a different way is the path to the solution. Most of us have heard "Think outside the box," at least once over the last few years. This saying, but for its popular contriteness, actually holds a kernel of a main characteristic for most successful inventors.
That characteristic is the ability to think different from the norm. What could be more different than the opposite of your ideas or thoughts? Take your thoughts and ideas on a potential solution and REVERSE them. Think about the total opposite. That should be a good kick in the head. It will definitely get your mind working and some other ideas to start flowing.
After all of this you may have stumpled upon a workable solution to your specific invention process problem. If not, there is still one other trick that many of the most sophisticated scientists and technologists use everyday. Look to nature.
Go for a walk outdoors and look at nature. Look at the land, water, plants, animals and sky. See what nature is doing. Ask yourself, "What would nature do?"
You may be surprised to learn that many inventions were inspired by nature. There are so many that it has become a science of its own. It is called biomimetics. The key thing that you need to know is that it is a proven technique.
Nature has a way of solving all of its problems - over time - and this thought pattern may lead you to the solution to your invention idea or invention process problem.
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