“He only had one idea, and that was wrong.”- Benjamin Disraeli

When I was in college there was an alleyway behind my house. I had to drive it to park my beater Subaru station wagon.

In the winter, the alley was rarely maintained. Snow would pack. People would drive in and out, following the same route.

Ruts developed.

By spring the ruts were deep, icy and rigid. I’d turn in from the street and could take my hands off the wheel. It was almost impossible to turn out of them and into my driveway.

I had to crank so hard on the steering wheel I was afraid that I would throw off the alignment. Actually, with that car, I was afraid I’d break an axle.

Brain Ruts

We get used to things. Patterns. Routines. Habits.

• Nearly every morning I get coffee. I nearly always prepare it the same way.
• Depending on the streetlights, I nearly always take the same one or two routes to work.
• When I travel, I pack my bags in a specific way.
• I usually write these articles every Tuesday morning.

Now, I like different. I enjoy new. I prefer to mix things up most of the time. But it’s just easier to have patterns to follow.

It reduces the effort. Takes less thinking. Allows me to focus on other things.

But patterns also make us dull. We stop noticing. We no longer ask, “Is this best serving me or my family or my purpose?” or even “Do I enjoy this?”

• I don’t notice my coffee most of the time.
• Who knows where my attention is on my drive to work?

On a very physical level, we create neural pathways in our brain which become, essentially, ruts.

We call these ruts habits.

They are hard to change.

Leaders Who Are Led by Ruts Are Not Leaders

Leaders need to be wary of ruts.

To be clear, we need to use systems, routines, and habits to simplify our lives and the decisions we need to make. It isn’t wise or practical to continually have to refigure out how to things.

President Obama famously keeps his wardrobe simple and interchangeable. That way he doesn’t have to waste mental energy deciding what to wear. Anything will work.

Any business or organization will fail to grow without the thoughtful development of systems and processes that can be repeated with minimal effort.

However, leadership doesn’t happen in the ruts.

Leadership, by definition, isn’t about being the first car in the parade down the rutted road.

It’s about deciding what to do with the road. Or the ruts. Or how people drive. Or the kinds of vehicles they drive. Or the snow. Or the ice. Or whatever.

Leadership requires imagining a different future. It requires seeing things differently.

Leadership requires ideas. Lots of ideas.

Leaders Need to Be Idea Machines

Some time ago, I discovered that clients who had the most difficult time generating ideas were also the clients who were least likely to improve their condition.

The clients who actively resisted generating new ideas didn’t improve their condition.

You can’t keep doing the same things and expect different results.

They might have been in the front of the parade. But they couldn’t lead themselves let alone anyone else.

Idea Generation

I briefly mentioned, in a previous article, “Six Principles for Nimble Leadership” the principle of practicing mental agility. Practicing idea generation.

I borrowed this concept from James Altucher. He might have borrowed it from some else. Doesn’t matter.

Here’s how it works: Every day write ten new ideas.

They don’t have to be good ideas. You don’t have to use them. You never have to look at them again.

But you probably will. Or at least some of them.

Every day, I write ten new ideas. I usually pick a theme. Themes might be:

• 10 things to do with the kids this weekend.
• 10 articles topics to write.
• 10 new people I’d like to meet.
• 10 ways to meet 3 of those people.

It’s pretty simple.

If developing your ability to lead is important to you – here are the top reasons why you should practice generating ideas:

1. It’ll make you a faster, “in-the-moment” thinker.
2. It’ll help you think new, creative and different thoughts.
3. You’ll learn to think laterally as opposed to linearly.
4. Whenever people feel stuck, you’ll be able to quickly come up with at least 10 ideas to help them get unstuck.
5. Whenever you are stuck, you can come up with 10 ideas to get yourself unstuck.

Some people get stressed about this. They feel like every idea is rare and precious. They want to embalm it so it will last forever.

Or they feel like an idea must be acted on. If it comes into your head, you must do it. That’s just a dangerous way to live.

No. These ideas are disposable. Interchangeable. Morphable.

The point is to get used to coming up with ideas. Not for the specific ideas you generate on any given morning.

But so that you’ll never get stuck, staring blankly, without an idea again.

Here’s what I do. Maybe you’ll want to do this too:

I write my ideas in a journal. By now I have lots of ideas squirreled away.

I’ve found that past ideas that I thought were just an exercise, can become extremely valuable. I reference past ideas frequently.

I can mix and match ideas. Like peanut butter and chocolate. Fine on their own. Always better together.

Actually, some ideas are useless on their own. But they come to life when combined with another idea.

Try it.

Try it for one week. 7 days. Write down 10 ideas every day. If your idea machine is rusty, it might take you a few minutes. Once you get things warmed up, it literally should only take a few minutes.

Changing your life (or your future, your options, your attitude) is often only a matter of changing your ideas. But you need to find the new ideas first.

Here’s how to get started:

• Find something to write in or on.
• Pick the same time each day.
• If you want, the first topic can be “10 Topics That I Want to Write 10 Ideas About.”

…and If you were drawn in by the “How to Become…Better Looking” part of the headline, here are some themes to get you started:

• 10 ways I can improve my wardrobe
• 10 things I can do to improve my fitness
• 10 ways I can get more sleep
• 10 reasons to shave my head (automatic style points for shaving your head…)

The next five ideas are yours. You will not regret taking the time to become an idea machine. I guarantee it.