“What’s the most resilient parasite? An idea.” Words of wisdom from the 2010 film, Inception- and of course, there is nothing stronger or harder to get rid of than an idea when it comes. The line doesn’t do justice, however, to the more difficult process of actually getting an idea in the first place. At Purplemango, coming up with ideas is obviously the most important part of daily life. But practice doesn’t necessarily make perfect; even the best and brightest of minds can be struck with a creative block, and the Purplemango team is no exception. We’d all like to avoid these situations, but the question is – how?
The Purplemango team has spent a lot of time thinking about it, and we’ve decided that there is no conclusive answer to the problem. We do, however, have a point that needs to be made. People spend too much of their time trying to search for ideas, rather than letting ideas come to them. Perhaps in attempting to think of any idea, we over-think. Sometimes the best ideas come to us when we least expect it. Everyone knows the famous story of Isaac Newton, whose theories on gravity were inspired by something as simple as a falling apple. Maybe the lesson to take from Newton’s story is that inspiration is always out there: we just need to take the time to sit back and let the ideas fall into our lap – literally, in Newton’s case.
Of course, that’s not to say that we should be lazy in our pursuit of inspiration; it just means that we should relax, if we can, and take our time with ideas. At Purplemango, there are other ways to get inspired. You can discuss ideas with the group, or go downstairs to sit in the sunshine with Phoebe; the point is that it’s okay, here at the office, to wait for the perfect idea to come to you. Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of time, and a lot of Purplemango love.