How to come up with good ideas

January 30, 2026 - 6 min read

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Intro

How do good ideas–ones that are novel, transformative, radical concepts that propel our society forward–emerge? I think many people believe that ideas come in a flash, likely popularized by the lightbulb idea. Other common examples include Archimedes leaping from his bath, Newton struck by an apple, or an artist visited by a divine muse. While these moments do happen, describing it as a “lightbulb idea” is too much of a blanket statement. Good ideas aren’t always strokes of genius; they’re often combinations of existing concepts applied to new problems. But recognizing which ideas to combine and knowing where to apply them requires more than momentary inspiration.

Obsession creates a dense mental map

I truly believe the best way to become more creative is to learn more. But, learning for the sake of learning or learning with the goal of becoming smart is fruitless. I myself have tried this, and every time I try doing so, none of what I read retains in my brain. I’ll spend hours meticulously reading a chapter, trying to understand every single presented idea in the book, and yet in the end, a few days later I don’t remember anything from what I spent so much time on.

Genuine interest is the most powerful tool one can have with researching, and I suppose it’s why passion-driven learning is significantly more effective than forced learning. When someone becomes “genuinely interested,” they research about the topic not to become smarter but because the topic compels them. Then, when you become so genuinely interested, you start to develop a mind map of the concepts you learned unintentionally. You start retaining information because as you were reading, your brain provided you a priority signal. You pay attention longer, notice patterns, ask better questions, and begin connecting things to your existing knowledge. As you do all of these, you create connections in your mind, pushing this newly discovered information towards long-term memory.

Yet, how does this connect to coming up with good ideas? After all, it simply describes a way to learn more about a topic. This dense mental map becomes the material for creative combination. It enables you to make unexpected connections.

In reality, the most brilliant people in the world aren’t magically creative. Yes, there are many people who have come up with ideas that have revolutionized the world, but they did so only with the right background and knowledge. James Watt, the “father of mechanical engineering,” improved on the existing engine after working as an instrument maker and being extremely technical. His key improvement, adding a separate condenser, came out of working in that specific context. Steve Jobs’ obsession with optimizing typography came from taking a calligraphy course at Reed College which later influenced the typography of the first Macintosh.

Good ideas are not always genius. It doesn’t have to be the next billion dollar solution, but it should be useful, interesting, and new to that applied scenario. Emphasis on that last part, “new to that applied scenario.” Good ideas may have already existed, just never applied towards a specific problem. I can take a brilliant existing explanation and apply it to some other industry and some question. If it’s never been seen before, but still applicable and useful, then it was a good idea!

So, becoming obsessed is the first step to becoming creative. Accumulate knowledge, build a foundation.

Simmering

But knowledge alone doesn’t automatically become a good idea. Instead, it provides a foundation for ideas to develop. As mentioned earlier, ideas do not arrive fully complete. For ideas to grow, it’s best to step away and make space for something called “incubation.”

You have likely already done this and observed this. Perhaps you were out on a morning walk and the only thing you could smell was the morning dew, or you were on the train going to some far away place, alone in your thoughts, when all of a sudden you think of a significant development to an initial idea.

I think it is inevitable for all humans to hit a block with our creative process. It is the period where no matter how hard you think about something, you just can’t think of anything to solve that. The best thing to do is to step away.

To formulate real connections, your brain has to return to the same question again and again, until it starts noticing things that weren’t obvious at first. In psychology, it is “incubation,” an unconscious process where you step away from a problem and allow your subconscious mind to work on it. Stepping away isn’t procrastinating the problem, but rather allowing your mind to rearrange pieces in the background.

Last summer, I interned at dmodel, an AI research lab startup, where I had a conversation with Ahsan Khan, a previous member of the Institute of Advanced Study (IAS). It was quite the change of environment for him, given the slow, methodological nature of science versus the fast, chaotic one of a start up. I asked him what it was like during his time at IAS. He replied, something to the effect of, "It does feel quite different. In research, you could spend months on a problem without solving it. Then all of a sudden, think of a new angle and then finish the paper in a few weeks”

This is incubation in action. Khan’s months of struggle weren't wasted; his subconscious was processing the problem, making connections he couldn’t forcibly theorize. His breakthroughs emerged because he’d created space for unconscious processing, not from pushing harder.

This part of the creativity process is likely where the “Aha” moment originated. Yet, it undermines all the foundation and thinking that goes into having a eureka moment. Ideas need time to develop and cannot be brute forced, which is why brainstorm sessions are usually not that effective.^[1]

Writing

Ok. You’ve been obsessed with something for months. You’ve let it simmer. You’ve consistently thought about it over and over and now you finally have an idea you want to work with. From here, it’s less about creativity, but more about formalizing that idea into something. In order to solidify ideas, it’s best to write them down and to transcribe your thoughts into words.

Yet, it is a lot harder than you think. In your head, the idea feels a lot clearer until you try to explain it. When you start writing, you don’t actually know what you’re claiming, why it matters, or how you’d prove it.

Writing is a lot more precise than thinking. It requires real words in order to convey ideas. These fuzzy concepts have to be sentences that someone else can read, and this process demands a structure that your brain has yet to create. Thus, when you do this, it forces you to reconsider what you understand versus what you think you understand. When answering these questions, you develop that mindmap and build more logical connections.

Many people also feel that their idea is too incomplete to write about. They feel that their idea needs more time to develop. But, this is actually the perfect time to start writing. Writing helps you develop it more. The idea that is in your head will never be “complete,” so spending your time waiting is fruitless.

Takeaways

1. Obsess

Find something to obsess over. Become extremely knowledgeable in that field. When you do, you’ll begin to understand more and notice more.

2. Simmer

Once you have the basis of an idea, think about it actively. Once you can’t develop it anymore, put it aside. Keep it in the back of your head and do other things. Eventually, you’ll notice something new. A new angle perhaps.

3. Writing

Once you have most of your ideas, write them down. It helps solidify your ideas to make them more complete. It’s what differentiates good ideas from normal ideas.

So, if you want to come up with good ideas, waiting for the apple to hit. Instead, find something that compels you, note observations, let them simmer, and write about it. The lightbulb moment will come, but only after you've done the work to make it possible.

[1] Brainstorming isn’t useless however. If solo, it’s great for coming up with initial seeds. If done with a group, it’s great for sharing perspectives while also creating seeds of ideas. But they won’t form full ideas on demand.