Image by Getty Images via Daylife

You may find it difficult to believe that the idea for today’s post came from “The Intelligent Investor,” a Wall Street Journal column. It quotes a financial planner, Allan Roth, who suggests, “Humans can’t think randomly. Once people think of Exxon Mobil, they’re a lot more likely to think of Chevron or another oil stock. For a lot of investors, diversification is like doing a word-association game.”

That is often the same problem we have when attempting to generate a cluster of good ideas. Once you have one idea, it is often difficult to leave that same basic area and come up with different approaches.

Sure, it’s natural and helpful to come up with different versions, in an attempt to sharpen the thought. But putting all your eggs in one creative basket drastically restricts your idea generation. You should be looking for more than just a variation on a theme.

So to generate fresh, different approaches, take a walk, a nap a shower. Kick some ideas around with people you trust. Look at blogs, ads, commercials… relevant and not. Visit YouTube. Buy my book. Buy a Seth Godin book. Check out stumbleupon.com. And most important, have fun.

What do you think?

(You may also find it difficult to believe that the image of Jessica Biel appeared when I searched for "Random" images. But I assume we are not complaining.)