Hack Your Subconscious for Better Ideas
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ก.พ. 2021
- I tried to improve my intuition and made a how-to guide for ADD.
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I've been working on a new project, a pimped-out oscilloscope, and it got me thinking about my thinking. I realized that my brain works best as I shift between four distinct phases: inspiration, downtime, exploration, and action. I rely almost entirely on intuition, and this four-step strategy gives my subconscious the support it needs to carry me through crazy projects. I call it the IDEA cycle, and it might help you too.
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If good ideas just appear to you out of nowhere, it's not dumb luck - it's your intuition. It might feel out of control, but you can feed it the building blocks of your next breakthrough, give it space to work, watch its blind spots, and kick it into moving faster.
If you're struggling to come up with new ideas, suffering from writer's block, or want to beat burnout and rekindle your creativity, one or more of these steps could unstick you.
This is a bit of a personal video, so if you take advantage of my vulnerability to emotionally attack me... I had it coming.
📖 “The Happiness Hypothesis” by Jonathan Haidt - amzn.to/3b8KE6X
Quick reference:
💡INSPIRATION - Passively gather raw material, the wider and deeper, the better. If you feel boxed in, your ideas seem uninspired, or you try to brute-force solutions, you could need more inspiration.
🏖 DOWNTIME - Disengage your conscious mind and let your subconscious run. Trust that you're still thinking during downtime - it's just outside your awareness. If your ideas are too loose, fragmented, and shallow, some downtime may help. Choose your downtime carefully - pick an activity that distracts you but doesn't need your full attention.
🕵️ EXPLORATION - Go looking for trouble and shore up the weaknesses that all minds share. Probabilities are the most critical, but timeframes and physical volumes are also hard to intuit. The more cognitive biases you can recognize, the stronger and more efficient your exploration. If you repeatedly run into unexpected challenges, have bad luck, or make poor estimates, explore your ideas more thoroughly.
🏁 ACTION - Jump into the fray to see what you've come up with. Don't wait for your subconscious to notify you - the only way to check is to try. If you've been waiting for that eureka moment, just get rolling - you'll probably have it right then and there.
This video is sponsored by Keysight Technologies. They also provided my spiffy new bench scope as well as the gratuitously expensive one I'm ripping apart.
Sparkly sound effect is from zapsplat.com.
Soundtrack (all Creative Commons):
"Serene" - Aritus
"Brother" - Gramatik
"Pina Colada II (Final)" - Aritus
"Get it Right" - Aritus and Fibre
"Cool Thieves" - Gramatik - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
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If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe - Abraham Lincoln
Downtime is also a good opportunity to organize your tools or workshop. When brilliance strikes, you'll execute better and faster.
Underrated principle here - nicely put too!
Diresta (a youtube crafter) has the saying:
"Its better to have a tool and not need it, than to need a tool and not have it"
Tools in themselves give inspiration something to bounce of and the last thing you need in the middle of a build is to have to stop for a day while you get hold of a tool that saves you 30 minutes of work ;-)
I find that inspiration usually hits during the dull tasks like tidying up, or doing the dishes
Personally, I'd spend at most an hour sharpening my axe, but probably a fair bit looking at the tree and the surroundings before I start. And I might go back to step one if I feel I should.
I like the process that is "How do I liquid cool an oscilloscope, ah these chips have heatsinks" rather than "What do I gain by liquid cooling an oscilloscope, what chips should be sped up?" Very organic making.
Sometimes you gotta put the cart before the horse. Sometimes you gotta put the horse on the cart. The horse needs a break from time to time.
@@ZackFreedman and sometimes you gotta get a M1 Abrams third-generation armored ground warfare heavy main battle tank to drive to 7/11
You may have just saved my life Zack. the takeaway here is that being an intuitive thinker - the first step is figure out that you are an intuitive thinker! When we were kids, we seemed to parents/teachers like we were impulsive, distracted, sometimes lazy. In reality, we are learning that our intuition is powered by data and experience, and acting when the iron is hot. The thing you just taught me is how to get that iron hot... the acting on it is natural when all the pieces lien up! This is amazing.
Hey, since you're moving, I'm sure a lot of people would love a video on setting up a new workspace. How to plan the layout, set up cables, lighting, and storage.
YES
Yeah I'd be down for even just a documenting vid, to follow his iterative process for setting up a space. I know for my it took my at least 3 separate sessions of moving stuff around till I fell into my current set up 👌
Today we learn about all of the Zacks inside of his human bag of cells.
It's Zacks all the way down
The Zack is the powerhouse of the cell
My thought process usually goes something like this: "I want to do some cool stuff, but I can't afford the thing to do the stuff, maybe I can make the thing for cheaper than I can buy the thing so that I can make the cool stuff."
This often works out alright, but finding the downtime to make up the plan and execute it is always challenging, so my projects tend to take a LONG time to complete.
The most complicated ideas are the ones that come to me the quickest, but the realistic ones keep me up at night. I can't sleep when excited about a project.
I’ve literally never heard of, let alone met, someone who thinks and processes ideas the exact same way that I do. It’s unbelievable how much better this video made me feel about myself.
I punched a hole in my phone hitting the like button
0:24 You have to start and stop spraying next to the thing you're spraying and only hit it with light and quick strafes, so that you're coating it nicely layer by layer (-:
It triggered so bad haha That's gonna take forever to dry
Every time I see someone spray like that I wait for this comment. 😉 Slowly slowly comment by comment the world learns how to spray paint 😅
I actually like how this hammered paint looks with one thicc layer. It lets more of the base color through and makes the texture more pronounced.
@@ZackFreedman That is of course fine. Just know that every time you show spray painting done like this you will get this comment. 😜 Internet is ruthless to not following praxis. 😅
@ I've got some words for them in the next video
Hearing your 4-step breakdown made me realize where I get stuck in my own thought process. Have you read "Steal Like an Artist" by Austin Kleon? Your points on inspiration and downtime remind me a lot of his ideas!
I’ll add it to my reading list!
Yes! Damn good book.
I get ideas because of constraints: a Korg Kronos costs $4k and my parents won't let me have that, but I still realllly want to be able to control music in a similar way (joysticks and capacitive sensors), which developed into a more unique product.
same. I started working on a graphing utility because desmos graphing calculator is not good at graphing certain equations.
@@bluesillybeard What about GeoGebra?
@@digitalminister5687 GeoGebra goes apeshit when you inpup certain functions
dont ask your parents for very expensive stuff....
around 12 years ago i got a summer job just to buy a PlayStation 3 and a nintendo wii. I didn't beg to get it for Christmas like every other leach.
buy your own stuff and you'll have more pride in your accomplishments.
@@darkshadowsx5949 right, but im also not allowed to handle any money... even if i earned it, and i have earned quite a bit, i wasnt allowed to spend it
This reminds of of what my mentor taught me about writing: "It's one third reading, one third listening, and one third putting pen to paper," which is how I rationalize not putting fingers to the keyboard when I'm drafting something new.
My idea strategy hinges on visualising an end goal, once i have a goal in mind i reverse engineer it to see what steps i need to take in order to achieve it. At this stage you can start putting detail into the steps and then you carry it out, the stepping back one is when the detail doesn't work or it involves things i don't know how to do yet and that means going off to research or learn something new then go forward again to carry out the new detail. The problem i have and its a BIG problem is that i need to decide on a end goal first so it doesn't evolve as I'm doing it
This process is very similar to workflows described by many artists. When you lay it out like this, it makes a lot of sense why something so intuitively driven would also apply to creative engineering projects.
on "Welcome to Void Starlab" I LEGIT SHOUTED WOOHOO
you just strummed on the strings of my soul with the monologue on thinking
"Frankly terrifying amount of TH-cam" ....and it's literally 1/3rd of what shows up under my "Last 7 Days" ...
Mine says 32 hours and I'm actively watching, not just listening 😂
7h52m daily average 🙃.. up to 7h53m while I wrote that comment
@@stinkytoby woooow, good job haha
@ 74 hours :(
Stop watching, start making, bro
I've never been able to write down how my thoughts work
They just happen faster than I can think about them
I have to type my thoughts out, writing is too slow. I developed the ability to type as quickly as I speak after spending hours doing online chat.
Sketch them
@@nicholasn.2883 easily Worth a thousand words! :D
@@nicholasn.2883 wouldn't know what to, or how
Voice memo is gold 👌
Today I learned that you and I have a very similar thought process when it comes to projects! I've never heard it laid out before though, so thank you so much for taking the time to describe it!
Honestly. I just discovered you yesterday. Definitely my new favorite channel. You are like EEVblog times the 8-bit guy times the speed of light squared minus linus tech tips. Thank you.
Recently found your channel and honestly love it love your analogies and how you word things only commenting now cause" I reach into my subconscious and grab the first solid object I find and smack it into the problem" is golden
I never thought about it but this is literally how my idea process works. I think i spend a little too much time on downtime but this is also partly due to budget constraints sand bagging my projects
I’ve discovered over time that yes there are great ideas in my subconscious but the key is not to rush from idea to implementation. I start by writing the idea down - sometimes pen and paper, sometimes electronic, usually one medium is better than the other for a particular idea - then I keep coming back to it every time I have a fresh thought until I think it is ready for me to take action. If I get stuck or I’m unsure/unhappy with something I try to stop (don’t always succeed) and come back once I know what’s to be done next. You’ve demonstrated an interesting way of breaking this down, going to see how this improves my overall execution.
Thank you for this awesome summary of how my mind works!!! I really need to work on the action though; so much inspiration, downtime, and exploring so far, just not many finished projects!
I love the way you put this. Been watching your channel for a couple weeks now. Keep it up :) Always look forward to your videos.
I was missing this page of my manual. This explains a lot. Thank you!
Thank you for that reference summary in the description it will help a lot !
This channel is fantastic! Keep up the great work!
An amazing video as always 😲👍 whenever I see a new void star labs video, it always inspires me to work on more projects 😃
Great video! I love thought processes and I’m glad other people also have “non-linear” project ideas.
This sums up my process very well, although I've never taken the time to nail down what it was. This helps me understand my habits a little better and prep.
This is very similar to how my brain is wired, particularly the death spiral part about telling yourself you're not creative. Happy to see there's other people who let their intuition do the driving and that it seems to work okay for them too.
I realized my thought process is quite similar, and this video has helped with my creative process, mainly in the inspiration and finding what to do, ive been doing the "think about thing, freetime to wind down, realization, think about thing" for quite some time.
I struggle with starting to building things, and just coming up with ideas when I can build or work on them. Usually I get an idea to make/improve something when I have an issue with something. I never write any of my ideas down so when I get the chance to start a project I never do because I can't think of anything.
Cool idea comes to me while i'm trying to sleep at 3am. then my anxiety kicks in and I get sad I don't know or cant make that thing.
Soo now I just have a wight board full of random ideas that just remind me i need to do more things.
same here lol just that white board is in my head
@@WilliamDaviesDev It does help to get your ideas out on paper or something. i found my brain was getting to crowded trying to keep all that stuff in it.
Ideas just come to me. Sometimes they're full blown ideas with multiple components already figured out, and sometimes they are very small snippets. I've found that downtime really helps me work harder and more efficiently when I do sit down to get something done. A while back you had a video about finishing more projects and I commented and said I was working on a board game and that I was struggling a bit at times but I'm happy to say it'll be getting its first playthrough either Sunday or Monday, depending on my friends schedules. I have a small handful of things to finish but its only a few short hours of work and we'll be ready. I was able to become to focused on finishing because I've come up with an idea for a card game that I've started jotting down notes for, but I refuse to fully commit to it before finishing the first game. I've found it very beneficial to always have a notebook on hand to jot down ideas. Whether you use them a current project or a future one is redundant, it helps get the juices flowing regardless. Ive also found that try to improve on something is a good way to actually make something new. My board game started as an addition to an existing game, and quickly became its own. It's truly remarkable how we each think differently.
Paused at 7:31, which I've noted in my "notes". I think a lot like you, evidently, to the point I'm nearly in tears both with gratitude and the newfound sympathy I'm experiencing right now. Figured myself pretty much not great, now feeling pretty much not shit, which we both know is an improvement, and I gotta say thank you. Following your work for a while now, I'm inspired and am cutting my first video now. Will reply in a week from an account with a proper video on it. I'll mention this awkwardly to confirm my identity at that time. Until then, be well, brave adventurer, and thank you for the stories.
Aww! I didn’t think anyone was like me until I got serious about TH-cam. We’re not alone.
I genuinely loved this video. I think this will really help me out!
Wow this is so similar to my process and I didn't even realize what it was till you explained it. Really helps me feel better about the "inconsistent" nature of my productive output.
For me I've been pushing myself to follow the problem solving steps more for making projects. The biggest problem for me has been making sure I don't forget projects. But I've also gotten into the habit of bullet journaling and it's really helped.
Thanks for another fun video Zack!
When it comes to how my brain works, hmm... Thinking it over, I would probably liken how I approach projects to how a tree is formed. The roots comprise of all the ideas that inspire it, the trunk is the core idea/goal of the project, and the branches are ideas that spring up over the course of it. Some ideas end up going nowhere, whereas others will form into the large branches that give the project shape.
When the project is done, i can then take a step back from the "tree", look over it, see how it progressed over time, and if need be trim it down. The "branches" idea feeds into my natural tendency to want to try and understand the core concepts of things while showing my attempts to reinvent the wheel while knowing the wheel exists. I can't quite shake the need to making things purely from scratch, but I've been getting better at it.
I do have a tendency to get lost in the weeds as i explore too many options. I also believe I'm a regular victim of "Analysis Paralysis" as well. Being able to overcome these aspects is key to completing the project and keep the tree from becoming a shrub.
Maybe i should get into gardening...
finally, someone who thinks just like I do but spent the wit to define the process! Thank you for this clarity 🙏 being an "intuitive thinker" is like playing an instrument, which is our human existence, so it's important to stay tuned with the natural harmonics or our expressions will be dissonant from reality
interesting, I just discovered your channel during my inspiration phase. It's scary how well you described my thinking pattern. I'm going to try your technique
My greatest breakthroughs come through conversation. Usually when I have the basis of a good idea, its only when I can think it out verbally and triangulate with other educated people that I am able to connect the dots to the strongest ideas. Its almost like I'm using friends and fam to talk to my subconscious self and their responses are just allowing me to see my own answers to the challenges presented. Talking about shit helps
Man it's so weird to hear someone else talk about how I think 🤔
I loved the "jump off the elephant" analogy as I always try that, then eventually you burn out pushing harder and harder, more Pomodoro timers... Eventually I give up, walk outside, throw the ball for the dogs, play a video game then bam a game changing idea that renders the past 2 days of grinding useless.
It's awesome to know I'm not being silly finding "productivity" tips from others useless, just have to support this I.D.E.A. framework (book pending? Haha)
Great vid mate, appreciate the time taken to help others with their own projects ☺️✌️
I don’t know about you, but I burn out extremely fast. As soon as I start pushing myself, I know I have to wrap it up in two or three days or I’ll burn out.
Loved this very inspiring
Dude, you just put into words exactly how I live my life.
With some swapping of details, I think most of this is a nice breakdown for any creative work. I should check out that guy’s paper you referenced.
The intro about “thinking” really nailed it too, lol
This is my life, only now I understand it better. Thanks Zack!
always a blast watching your content!! you got me into 3d printing yee
Love the video! I often find other people are the key to coming up with something new. My friends often help me see new and exciting things I could do, or improvements I can make. BTW I need to get one of those PCB vices lol!
I get ideas exactly like you do. Often after a long pause, I come up with a perfect solution for a problem. Like that kind of thinking 😎
I have a fuzzy, low detail CAD program in my head and need to start making projects in order to see how it doesn't work and how I need to fix it.
"How do you keep em coming or cut off ideas when you need to focus?" - There is no stopping the flood of ideas, so it's a good thing I don't have to. I see no need to stop them in order to focus, I just get things done while my subconscious continues to do it's thing. We can share processing power. Sometimes I'll briefly pause from one project to take notes about a different one.
Great video Zach. This is really similar to how I think and I think this advice will do wonders for me!
I recently made the mistake of skipping downtime. I found myself getting so stressed when Action time overflowed. It sometimes would bleed into days without sleep. For anyone reading this comment: don't skip sleep and other forms of the downtime. You'll regret it later when your project goes over it's deadline because you aren't able be effective in your Action.
That's pretty close to what happens here, although the lines between the various stages tend to be a bit fuzzy with the stages overlapping quite a bit. A lot of inspiration comes through Downtime, and I can't remember the last time I was at a loss for a project to work on. It's surprising how often when I get stuck, just getting a good night sleep can get me refreshed to where I can find a solution to any problem that may come up. I'd call exploration more along the lines of planning here. If I don't properly plan ahead things tend to to grind to a halt to the point where something else more urgent takes over. Lots of times even when I'm in the process of putting stuff together I'll still be going through exploration of details that were not specifically planned, although usually what's left out of the plan I've got a good general idea of what I'm going to do.
Not sure I've ever seen anyone explain how my brain works as well as you just did. And this just came up from auto play off of one of your other videos. Damn thanks man!
Another spicy video. Thank you!
I received some advice a while ago that seems to have helped encourage my subconscious to create new ideas: whenever you have a new idea, no matter how realistic, strange, or random, write it down. Putting the idea onto paper (or into an app) shows your mind that you are actively using its new ideas. By using the ideas, your brain will be encouraged to continue creating new ones.
That sounds pretty much how I think my brain works too. Nice to hear it summed up and confirmed like this!
My brain comes up with ideas when the right inspiration hits me. Some ideas bounce off of me like a bouncy ball, others stick with me and make me want to bring it to life, others spark my interest and I may do research on them, but I don't usually hold onto them for too long.
this is 100000% applicable to other kinds of artists and creators, as well. Great info for skirting around art block and burn out.
This is an amazing video. I basically do the 4step plan you mentioned but untli now i have been doing it completely on autopilot. Without actually knowing that i can do that.
My process is pretty similar to yours. Usually I have an initial idea for a problem or something I want to do to improve on, make a mock up or quick assembly and see the good and bad on it. Then I see options I can get on top of my head or by googling or looking on TH-cam and compare it to what I initially did. If I find no solutions that satisfy me (either costs or too many compromises) I would do something else (maybe another project totally unrelated or game) and usually that's enough for me to get another angle and go back to numbering the pros and cons and complete the final version of the project. Usually my problems come in getting parts; in my city getting hold of decent electronics (I do a lot of stuff with audio and of course you don't want any noise or inbalances with bad pots and the cheap stuff usually has those problems), arduino modules and stuff like that isn't really easy and I have to order them and shipping is usually high and takes a month or two to get here
Wow!!! That's exactly how I work too but I was not really aware, until now.
I'm still in second year of electronic engineering so I don't really have expirience nor made a lot of poryects. But for studying at least i think your youtube channel and others like electroboom or alexlabs plays a really big role in my inspiration and motivation. In collage teachers and the general evironment doesn't really care about it, they just spill out theri subject and everything else depends on you and how you deal with lack of motivation and the daily existencial crisis. Thanks for making videos I really appreciate them!!!
Neither did I. I failed so many classes that I had to switch majors from electrical engineering to business. Doing engineering tasks and earning an engineering degree don't fully overlap.
I've been doing exactly this and didn't know it was a recorded process! I always saw it as just a personal form of self therapy routine
I dunno why but it just took me watching your videos for the better part of 2020 and the HOPE shirt you're wearing to realize that I met you at HOPE in 2018 ! Cheers. Good job with the channel so far ~
Nice! I'm looking forward to really seeing people IRL at a future HOPE.
I like this concept, I think I always make the best things when the stress is low :) Nice video
This helped me today, thank you.
Ideas just come to me like lightning from a clear sky, ideas for new projects work this way anyway. When programming, writing or creating the project in some way its more of a flow, making one piece unlocks the next piece and so on until its done and if i get stuck I move to another piece until I can solve the part that I couldn't "from the other end". My main blockage seems to be not identifying in time when I'm stuck where I just keep bashing my head into a wall and tearing things out to try to fix it but really just doing more damage than helping and I would be better of just leaving it and working on something else for a while.
Ideas definitely just come to me. My brain is an unstoppable idea water saw. Where things get sticky is in the "action" bit, it's taken me till (current year) to realize that my subconscious needs to be fed and watered and rested and set at ease before I can be productive, and that (for me) watching youtube or playing video games does NOT count as rest.
Holy crap, this is exactly how I think and I never knew! all this time I thought I could just buckle down and "work harder"
I'm definitely trying this I.D.E.A. Thing out! thanks a lot!
i saw the o-scope video before this one, and i had no idea exactly how much you hacked apart that scope. all that cutting, seeing you rip the plastic apart by the power switch. holy shit.
Hey Zack, I found that what you said made a lot of sense for me and my thought process as well, and it got me thinking about areas that I'm struggling like learning to code. How did you tackle this issue when you were learning?
i've got to have a problem to solve or an concept to investigate to make something, this isn't too much of a problem because like you i'm constantly browsing and finding interesting concepts and ideas as well as collecting hobbies, i struggle with giving myself downtime though and do suffer burnout quite badly
I come up with ideas, like this: I task my brain with ideas, when Im working or sleepy my brain spits out the answer, I write it down.
If its bad I try to understand the system Im working with then the inspiration comes faster
I am definitely an intuitive thinker - I do all my best work when relying on my 'back-brain.'
I was describing how this worked for me to my daughter - this is way more articulate than my version and should help her out even more :)
Not sure how this video ended up in my feed but its probably the best advice I've gotten in a hot minute.
One of the best channels in the world !!!
I keep a pair of pocket notebooks with me at all times, one in each of the chest pockets of my jacket, along with a pen in the inside pocket (where my phone lives).
Throughout the work day, my tasks are generally linear--or else assumed linear by those around me, regardless of my own perception--and when an idea springs up, it immediately starts fleshing itself out in detail in my mind. When this happens, I halt everything that I'm doing and jot down a note with a unique numeric identifier (a date code, more or less) for it into the notebook.
The book in my left chest pocket is for project ideas, big and small, and the one in the right chest pocket is for what I call my "research threads"; just a collection of things I want to look up later to learn more about or skills I want or need to finish my projects.
Once I get home, I unwind for a bit, take care of my daily responsibilities like cooking or tidying up, then sit down without distraction and pick an idea out of my project booklet, or "Pull a research thread," to start exploring.
At least in this manner, I can offload my interrupting ideas onto a later version of me to deal with, when I actually have time to deal with them. I haven't tested this idea to its fullest extent yet, but the last time I mustered up the discipline to enact anything remotely similar to this, it felt amazing, so I'm going to try again. Will report back.
Very much this, and the projects come during downtime. I spend more time in the expiration than I should, because I like to eliminate variables. I pick best of 3 top ways to do it, and go with the way that makes most sense to me, such as having most of the materials/ability to do way 1. If it doesn't work out, I try way 2.
Suddenly, I now have many tools that came from a way to finish a project lol. But they're there if I need them for a future one.
I've used this for forever intuitively and never thought it was an actual method!
I usually get a little stuck in the exploration idea phase, I find it a little helpful to seek out both info and opinions from completely outside sources. Helps me
Awesome video!
For quite a while I've dabbled with the idea of "intuitive thinking", like you said, based on years of experience and failures (been there, done that)
I like the "I.D.E.A" concept, and without framing it so eloquently like you, I myself do this with all my projects.
One aspect of the downtime/exploration for my is making contingency plans, which allow me for faster remits when getting to the action part.
Do you have any hints on how not to demoralize oneself?
Thank you
Really enjoyed the insight into your organic process, Zach! I'm curious if you use any kind of capture tool to keep track of your percolating ideas, or if they're just floating loose up in the old noggin? I find I write loose ideas in furs and start into Notion, but it's hardly a rigid system. The rest of my idea process follows yours pretty much. Great content as always! 👍
I usually come up with the same idea repeatedly, so I don’t tend to write them down. I’ll put them in Evernote if I think this is the only time I’ll come up with them. I don’t really develop my ideas on paper - they usually come out fully formed.
I'm a 53 year old senior software developer who's been doing it since the 1980's.
This is how I think.
I've called it "Back Brain Thinking" for decades. Nice to know I'm not the lone freak I thought I was.
Intuitive ideas / answers that naturally bubble up tend to simpler to implement and easier to explain to others.
You're right though, Back Brain doesn't care about details though - you have to train the front brain to marshal and act.
Feeding it a regular diet of youtube videos and video games has worked so far for me :)
My brain works much the way yours does. I expose myself to a lot of random junk, build up some metaknowledge, let my brain gradient descent all the different things into compressed internal representations, then go like "whoa" once in a while when I come up with an idea of doing something like combining motion microscopy with actual microscopy to translate subpixel vibrations into sounds and hearing some cute tardigrade squeaks.
I never thought of it like that, but that is basically how I work. Except usually I get my ideas because I need them to solve some incredibly specific problem. Those are the most exciting projects, and ones I usually tend to almost finish (good enough is good enough). Often, however, I feel like I have some great ideas, but already know ahead of time that I would burn out on it before finishing it.
Maybe important note, I do software, not hardware, but apart from material costs there's hardly a difference.
Great video, gave me some insight to my own thought process around creativity. I've always thought of myself as having very little creativity, but of course, looking around me, and considering I'm about to host a class in basic web development, I can't avoid acknowledging that I AM in fact very creative. Just not in an artistic way, but rather in a functional way. I find a problem, I solve it. Function over appearance.
I really like this simplified, logical method to mine the subconscious! I also like to have a bunch of stuff in and around my hands. Hands when allowed to follow their own devices (yes I did) can instruct the conscious mind I've found.
My though process is similar, but I have a hyper fixation deal. I'll do all my distraction up front. Hit inspiration, Then slam like a million hours of exploration, and wrap up with action. So DIEA.
Side note this means projects that never happen just DIE
I studied creative and innovation. What you've described is very similar to how academics model creative processes. The single brilliant moment of inspiration doesn't really exist. Instead, Innovation and ideas comes from repetition and iteration (action and exploration) plus time to synthesize the learnings (downtime). This is why outsiders to fields rarely come up with key innovations within a given field as they simply don't have the reps or knowledge in those areas to synthesize ideas.
Zach, unrelated to this video but, thank you so much. I've been working on making a calculator from basic chips for 3 years, off and on.
After your video about not starting things but finishing things this year, I finished the last of my PCB designs last night. 3 years of work finally finishing up. I needed that push!
Now I wait for them to show up.
Oh and I used a 555 timer! :P
And after finishing the video, I now know it's Zack, lol.
I have a very similar way of generating ideas to how you do it. In fact my method I use for every kind of problem solving that I do. It is really great on engineering tests because I take 5 minute breaks and it improves my performance extremely
Also I need to do things in a certain place. I can't do home stuff at school and I can't do school stuff at home. When I am at home, my brain is in the relax mode. When I am at school I am in action mode. It is more complicated than that, but the point is I have had extreme roadblocks when it comes to engineering school this year
I like the question of how ideas come.
In my case, with mechanical stuff, when looking at something that could be done better or a problem that needs to be solved, the finished design just pops into my head without thinking about it. Most likely because the subconscious already did all the work unnoticed, in seconds. Then it's just a matter of drawing it before I forget, and following the drawing to build it.
For electrical and software ideas however, it's more of an intellectual exercise as the end result provided by the subconscious doesn't include any of the fine details which make up the final product, so it takes planning before execution. I can only guess that the subconscious (mine anyway) is unable to process abstract constructs like code or schematics, and is better suited for processing physical ones.
The best analogy to the problem solving process I was able to come up with, is that there's a bunch of trees standing between me and the solution. Rather than going around all the trees (complexity), or cutting all the trees (using brute force), it's easier to just move sideways (change perspective) until finding the angle from which one can see the other side of the forest (the shortest/simplest path to the solution).
This look at the process of creativity reminded me of this book on the psychology of mathematical invention. Many of Zach’s tips were found in that research, like taking a mental break to let the subconscious work, or not being a negative Nancy and killing ideas before they have had a chance to fully form.
“The psychology of invention in the mathematical field”
Author: Jacques Hadamard
I come up with ideas by living life. I do something, wish it was different, then start thinking of an idea to fix that thing. For example: last year at Christmas I was decorating the tree with my family when I noticed that my daughter was disappearing to the back of the tree and hiding ornaments there for no one to see. I started wishing there was a way to rotate the tree to see all sides of it, and now I'm working on a rotating Christmas tree stand. (I keep hitting problems though-🤞hoping my next idea works.) I've done other things at similar times.
I think my brain works like yours. My subconscious is like a really slow but powerful information processing device. Things and stuff go in, randomly ideas come out.
My conscious mind is either on at 100mph or it's locked up waiting for something to happen.
When trying to write code I can spend hours trying to figure it out. That process is mostly just me explaining the problem to myself in different ways. After a bit my subconscious presents a complete solution and off I go.
What really screws this up is when there's a task I need to do, but don't want to do, or some unresolved problem beyond my control. That can consume my thinking capacity until I either force myself to do it, or some sort of internal system goes "whatever, it'll be fine".
Zack, your intro is about as convoluted as the logic employed by Vizzini. Love it!
Downtime is not always necessary for me. For example, I once decided I wanted to understand Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). So I picked up a book. When I hit a point where I was not making progress, I switched to a different book. I'll go back and forth between 2 or 3 sources like that until I'm done. Sometimes, I just have to walk away altogether though. For example, VHDL. All the books on the subject seem to be written the same way, so switching books didn't help. Still looking for a good resolution to that problem.
As far as I can see into my head my process is very similar.
One thing about inspiration, not everything has to be over the top. My inspiration is often just a way to figuratively file a rough spot in life down.