“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”
— George Bernard Shaw
This quote has really got me thinking about the wonders of our light bulb moments.
They don’t discriminate. Anyone – old or young, male or female, rich or poor – can have an idea.
They are free. It doesn’t cost you anything to come up with an idea. You don’t really need the fancy gadgets, expensive locations or specific skills. While these things can be used in the pursuit of ideas, the ideas themselves are not dependant on them. They come flitting into your head without a prepaid plan or tax attached.
There are no quotas. There’s no little man in a little office somewhere metering out the number of ideas distributed in a day. You are free to come up with as many of them as you want. There is no penalty or official limit.
They can be shared. As George Bernard Shaw pointed out, once you have an idea, you can share it with anyone. It can travel through word of mouth, advertisements, art etc. And the more people who see the idea, the more copies of those ideas you’ll have. Ideas can be copied into the minds of as many people as you like without you having to restock the item.
They have the power to change things. Ideas can change almost anything, from the way you feed your dog to the way you live your life. Ideas can change the world.
Can you think of any additions to the list?
Image Credit: Microsoft Clip Art
