Rocks for brains

The greatest fuel for my desire to make large amounts of money while enjoying the freedom of a tumbleweed is probably, hands down, ideas. I love coming up with them, imagining their potential, and feeling what’s possible because of them.

My early ideas started as inventions: 

Something to crack eggs open without getting slime on my hands, the counter, or the stovetop 

Something to put gel in my hair without having to get gunk all over my hands

A test tube rack equivalent for milk dilution bottles in microbiology labs

If these things would solve all my problems, they would solve everybody’s problems, and then all my problems would be solved. 

There wouldn’t be a wallet big enough to hold all my cash while I ran through the jungle like a cheetah, the fastest land mammal.

Until one day, I came across an idea to list 10 ideas on paper every day. (Idea credit: James Altucher)

It was summertime, and I was working full time. I would sit down in a lawn chair at the end of every day and write down 10 ideas. Just sit with the intention of consciously creating ideas.

I was surprised to discover there was a limit to the number of ideas I could come up with to make money. Then I realized my ideas were limited to ways I could make me money. Why would I even need any other ideas if this was the goal of my life? 

So I added my own spin to the exercise. I chose a theme every day like 10 places I would like to travel to, or 10 things I could do to help my friend, or 10 images that would be fun to draw. 

This opened the door to a new way of thinking. I bought pastels, sketched tribal letters and animals, and attempted to write a fantasy novel. 

The new dimension the idea exercise added to my life made me happy!

If you find yourself thinking in the same general patterns, I can’t recommend this exercise enough. Commit to the idea gym for 20 minutes a day for six months, and see what happens.