Millions and millions of America's immigrants have been able to come to this land because of one man's ambition. Their lives have been forever changed because of this man's crazy, as some thought, idea to explore undiscovered land. America's history is based on the power of ideas. That is meant literally. That idea to explore unknown lands led to millions of people now having a place in which they can call home. Ideas are valued by creative thinkers.



Columbus, in the history books, is a great explorer. But in a way, he was also a great entrepreneur and a truly creative man. He also perfectly embodies the risk-reward dynamic of creative thinking. Just think of all that he was risking when he announced his plan and embarked on the journey to the new, free world.

To see the rewards, just look around you. That's exactly what he was able to capture.

The American dream and it's roots in Columbus' dream, a man who created his own opportunities, discovered a land of opportunity himself. That one idea courageously and ambitiously accomplished a whole new opportunity for him, his family, his country, and the rest of the world. It's changed the livelihood of millions and millions of people.

Columbus is a great example of just how much you could possibly gain from harnessing your creative abilities.

All ideas are valuable. The flashy, obvious, crazy, very profitable ideas, are not the only ideas I am talking about. Creative thinkers know how valuable all ideas really are.

Creativity is a game of odds. Write that down.

Go big or go home when generating ideas. What I mean by this is you have to come up with as many ideas as humanly possible when you are looking for new ideas. This is one of the rules of creativity.

At one point in my career, I was speaking to high schools all across North America, I would go in and work with their student leadership groups. We would generate ideas for things like fundraising, ways to generate school spirit, all kinds of different things.

I would work with them for generally between an hour and an hour and a half, and our goal was to come up with a top 10 list of wow ideas, for whatever challenge we were working on.

Quality comes from quantity. Make sure you write that down. During the sessions with the high school students our objective was to come up with as many ideas as possible, following the rule of go big or go home. We always kept in our minds that quality comes from quantity.

If you are trying to think of the next great idea, it won't come right away by itself. Remember, quality comes from quantity, so your objective is to generate as many ideas as possible.

When you follow the rules of go big or go home, not all the ideas you think of will be good. Within the hour and a half span that I was working with the student leadership groups we would come up with between 3,000 and 4,000 ideas. Obviously, not all of these ideas were good. Actually, 99% of the ideas were absolute garbage.

Creativity is a game of odds, as I mentioned before. You have to put the odds in your favor in order to generate more of the great ideas you are looking for. If the group had never come up with the thousands of crappy ideas, then the 1% of amazing ideas would never have happened.

That's why brainstorming sessions and being in a group of people who actively generate ideas together and can build on each other's ideas is so powerful because one person will share an idea, and that will make a connection in another; and that person will then share another three that came from them. Those three ideas spark five others in somebody else, and before you know it, you have this whole reaction going on.

I want you to picture a long line of Dominos going straight out in front of you. Wherever you are right now, it's going straight out in front of you, then it turns to the right, and then it curves back around, almost in a circle. But before it comes back it curves again the other way. It actually goes up a couple stairs. That whole line of Dominos, that whole reaction of Dominos can never happen unless the first Domino goes down. That first Domino, in the creative thinking process is something known as stimuli.

Working within a group of other creative thinkers when you fire out an idea it will work as stimuli for others. Stimuli can be anything around you, anything you can taste, feel, touch, listen to. Once you use each other's stimuli, the Dominos will start to fall and what I like to call an idea reaction, will occur.

As the ideas are flowing, the chances of you generating a successful idea to benefit your business will increase. With creativity being an odds game, the more ideas you generate, the better your chances will be at being successful.

Sometimes ideas don't turn out, risks don't pay off, that is why you should generate as many ideas as possible. The more ideas you think of the more you are increasing your odds at succeeding.

When you see the latest product you realize that it was that one idea that is now turning that business into a million-dollar enterprise. That's all it takes is one idea to come up with the next big product, next technological boom, or to even cure a previously incurable disease.

With one sudden epiphany a software engineer could invent the next major advance in computer technology.

One idea could change how people live.

Creative thinkers, they never underestimate the power of ideas, and they never underestimate the value of simple ideas.

Sometimes it's that seemingly simple idea that others completely dismiss as silly that will ignite a whole idea reaction in your brain. That seemingly silly idea, it's like a seed with the potential to blossom. It's growth depends on the skill and integrity of the person who plants it and cares for it. Ignoring that seed will just absolutely kill it.

Remember: You will never know what beautiful flower can grow from the seeds of an idea until it actually blossoms. No matter its complexity or size, all ideas must be valued.