Scott Belsky: How To Avoid The Idea Generation Trap

We’ve all experienced it. After the high of a new idea fades, we enter the dreaded period of execution where nothing remains but the arduous task of actually doing. At this crucial juncture, our natural tendency is often to dive back into idea generation—to re-attain that new idea high—rather than seeing the original idea through to the finish. Here, Belsky talks about methods for keeping great ideas alive—seeking constraints, finding beauty in organization, short-circuiting our rewards systems, and more.

Scott Belsky, Chief Product Officer & EVP, Adobe Creative Cloud

Scott Belsky believes that the greatest breakthroughs across all industries are a result of creative people and teams that are especially productive. As such, he has committed his professional life to help organize creative individuals, teams, and networks. Belsky co-founded Behance in 2006, and served as CEO until 2012.

Belsky has become an advocate for technology and community initiatives that empower the careers of creative professionals and help businesses leverage the creative potential of their people. He has worked with leading media and Fortune 500 companies, including GE and Facebook, and has traveled around the world to share his findings. In 2010, Scott was included in Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business” list.

Comments (14)

Stanley H. Griggs II

Great video Scott! I am one of the twitter winners of the idea survival tool kit and I am going to get used to the Making Ideas Happen way of doing things and see how things workout. I indeed am going though the scenario you described with the idea plateau with my ideas of breaking the Guinness World Record of most people in underpants. I send e-mails, got people on my team, etc., etc. but I hasn’t happened. I am missing something by breaking it into Milestones then Task I can find what’s missing. I managed to get 344 people onboard via facebook I know I can get more then finally execute this project/IDEA.

@ST215
BillyBush

This is a great vid that is dead-on accurate. I tend to be an “idea-whore” jumping around from whatever looks appealing and gives energy. I’ve learned a few lessons and now its a matter of focus for me. Good stuff…
Zane M. Kolnik

dude, you can’t embed your video on wordpress using an iFrame.
Theo

Highly creative but unable to produce, I thought I was disorganized. Turns out I was ADD. I’d say 99% of the time, creatives find it hard to produce because it’s physically tormenting to do so. I’d suggest everyone who finds difficulty with ‘making ideas happen’ get screened.
Adam Salem

dude>>>THEYRES NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING ADD>>>>IT JUST MEANS THAT WE”RE MULTI-DYNAMIC BEINGS…..THIS BIGGEST BULL IS THE ENTIRE FLATLAND WORLD OF….oh, if you’re not turning out results…then you MUST have a problem……….My answer to that parochial mindset is: NO….IM JUST A MULTI-DYNAMIC BEING
Adam Salem

focus on what EXACTLY???? MAYBE ALL WERE INTERSETED IN AS HUMAN BEINGS IS SEX???? maybe the mind can only focus on pleasing Our Highest Self…..check out Ken Wilber’s “Sex, Ecology, and Sprituality”
Adam Salem

….How to Avoid Being Human
Donaldjohns

How do you know when to quit a project if success isn’t very promising.
Giulio Sciorio

Thank you Scott for this powerful presentation and all the great support tools that help artists take their ideas and make then a reality.
Graham Atkins-Hughes

Lots of ideas never make it, find some of the answers to the why here
Tony

I don’t like the 1% 99% analogy.

It belittles creatives and implies their input is less valuable .

I find that the creative element is the one constant and the only thing that will sustain a project during implementation.

I think to use the plateau metaphor is incorrect. I have no less passion for my ideas during implementation than I do when I first conceive them. There is “resistance” to an idea and implementation can experience a fair amount of resistance.

If you are someone who has ideas and you want to see them develop, you must learn to deal with this resistance. But don’t let it devalue your idea or stop its development, unless it’s a bad idea of course:)
Личное развитие

Has found on the site “Personal progress” (http://manprogress.com) an interesting articles about generation of useful ideas (http://manprogress.com/en/meth…
Paul

“Oh, Shit!”

That’s the phrase I remember most from this segment.

Sincerely, Try again.
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