Big Idea Development, Part 1: Raw Ingredients, But No Dish Yet

On my phone, I have a note titled Immutable Truths of (My) Creativity.

I don’t think there’s any ONE right way to create or create well. I do think I’ve discovered some touchstones, some ideas that I can rely upon or return to when I need them to find myself and proceed with clarity.

They may not be true for ALL. But they have proven true for ME — enough times that I want to return to them time and time again.

In that list you’ll find things like…

• It’s all trial and error.

• Practice is more important than inspiration. (This means: have a practice. Ship on a deadline. Don’t wait for permission from others.)

• It’s possible to play symphonies on spoons. (Tools don’t matter much.)

And for the purposes of TODAY’S post...

• Great ideas are built, not found.

Here is Part 1 of 2, wherein I take you inside my process of trying to BUILD a great idea.

(PS: I reference something called the Dialogue Outline at the beginning of this video, which I modified from the work of Drew Davis and Tamsen Webster — but I don’t actually take you inside of the doc. The template is here, but expect to see me actually use it in Part 2.)