‘I have an idea…’

How often have you heard it said about somebody, ‘that guy doesn’t have an idea in his head’? For a start, this statement is factually incorrect. He does have an idea in his head: we cannot have a vacuum in our head (ah Lads, please, I’m trying to deal with a serious topic here) and therefore, every head is full of ideas. There are good ideas and bad ideas, but for the purpose of this exercise let us stay with what might be good ideas.

An idea will come to mind whether we like it or not. Remember, the head cannot be a vacuum, so the only way to rid the bad idea is to replace it with a good idea. We should nurture the good ideas and remove the bad ones as if they were the weeds settling among the good plants. Practise the good ideas and give each one a chance to grow, if it is something that might benefit you or somebody else. Lamentably, many of the best ones are dumped with the weeds, because after allowing it to mature, we then decide that it mustn’t be as good as we think – or somebody else would have thought of it before now. Many great improvements to our lives have been lost due to that very reason.

If you have no idea what we are on about here, please allow me give an example of a thought which came into my head inside the last few days. I notice that the plastic cap on the litre carton of milk now remains attached to the carton – and also with small bottles of drinking water. I guess the reason – and a good one it is too – is that the planet is being strewn with these small plastic caps, which are difficult to collect for recycling.

My idea to solve this problem is to do away altogether with the screw-on cap, instead, have a small spout inverted into the top of the carton. When you break the seal the spout comes out, making it easy to pour from – or drink from in the case of the plastic bottle. Jugs would be mostly dispensed with… and while we’re at it, all those pesky little steel jugs could be recycled. I never came across one of them that didn’t dribble milk on the table!

One more: leave an open bin beside the bottle-bank, where people who can’t be bothered returning refundable cans and bottles can leave them for some enterprising kid to make a few bob by obtaining the deposit.

We wrote a column here many years ago in which I said that the old style farm labourer was the smartest man in Ireland. This resonated so much with one reader that he still brings it up from time to time, because it reminded him of his brother. The farm hand was full of ideas, was the greatest problem solver and had to know how to do everything.

Curiosity is a mental magnet for good ideas. An inquisitive mind sees things, wonders how it works and then perhaps comes up with the idea of improving on what they see. I would say that the pick of these good ideas are to do with making tasks easier. A mind open to ideas goes back as far as the wheel.

We are all familiar with people whom you know are going to ask you how something works, why something happens, or ‘what if we did it this way’?’.

That person is open to a new good idea. We should all be a bit more like that and practise curiosity.

Pay attention to what’s happening around you, listen to people talking and you will find ideas in everyday stuff. On the other hand, if you always do the same things, your brain gets bored. Change can spark fresh ideas.

When a good idea occurs to you, write it down and see how it looks when you read it to yourself. You can always come back and explore it later. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. I always say I learned as much from the ideas that didn’t work as from those that did. It’s all part of a creative journey.

Ideas become a habit and you don’t have to go looking for them; just be receptive to something new.

Often, it is a good idea to share your idea with somebody you can trust and you may come away with your idea being even better. Remember, every idea, big or small, can be a step towards improving our lot or helping those around us.

Being a simple sort of chap, (quiet please…) I try to cultivate simple ideas. This doesn’t mean a simple idea is simplistic, but it is easier to work on and more likely to be acted upon.

Why don’t you write into the editor with some of your good ideas? And just in case; if it’s to do with getting rid of YCBS… forget it!

Don’t Forget

The mind stretched by a new idea never returns to its original dimensions.