Imagine yourself for a moment, sitting at your drafting table staring at a blank sheet of paper. You've just been hired to design the gardens and grounds of an estate on a scale of which you have never experienced.

Are you up to the challenge?

You answer, "Of course, Chris! This is the opportunity I've been waiting for as a landscape designer."

But are you really?

While you've been waiting for this opportunity, how have you prepared yourself?

How will you generate the creative ideas necessary for a project of this magnitude?

I suggest following the lead of other great innovators and cultivating the habit known as "Associating".

According to a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, "Associating, or the ability to successfully connect seemingly unrelated questions, problems, or ideas from different fields, is central to the innovator's DNA." The article describes this phenomenon as the "Medici effect", referring to the creative explosion in Florence that brought together people from a wide range of disciplines during the Renaissance including sculptors, scientists, poets, philosophers, painters, and architects.

|image2|The article goes on to say:

"The more diverse our experience and knowledge, the more connections the brain can make. Fresh inputs trigger new associations; for some, these lead to novel ideas. Steve Jobs is able to generate idea after idea because he has spent a lifetime exploring new and unrelated things--the art of calligraphy, meditation, and the fine details of a Mercedes-Benz."

Associating not only works for unique innovators like Steve Jobs, it can also benefit you and I. In fact, I believe this habit is one of the common traits that separates the great from the good designers in our field.

Of course, this begs the question: how do we cultivate this habit of associating?

I suggest exploring related subjects such as art, architecture and color theory as well as seemingly unrelated subjects such as music, literature and poetry.

Study innovative and influential people such as musicians, inventors, writers, political and business leaders.

Like Steve Jobs, open yourself to new experiences and skills like cooking or language learning.

The possibilities are endless.

Go back to the blank sheet of paper on your drafting table. Ask yourself this question again: have you truly prepared yourself for this challenge? If your answer is not a resounding "yes", then follow the lead of other innovators and begin to cultivate the habit of association.

If you are already practicing this habit, please share your experience with other readers below.

To your success,

Chris Heiler

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