It’s important to regard a new idea with encouragement rather than discouraging it. After all, every great creation starts with an idea, but where does that special spark comes from? This is question that Rob Eastaway, author of Any Ideas: Tips and Techniques to Help You Think Creatively tries to address in the book by providing an miscellaneous collection of tips to develop your ideas for better outcomes in day to day.

How do we come up with ideas?

Eastaway, to answer the aforementioned question, suggests by avoid killing ideas at the early stage and to start recognising good ideas. He argues that every one of us have ideas streaming every time and it’s just a myth that some people have more ideas than others. He suggests to take a positive approach on it by not discontinuing the stream of ideas as they tend to boost anyone, whether they are stuck in their 9 to 5 jobs or having a career change.

When we feel a particular incident to be different from the current situation, an idea can occur at that time. This idea, Eastaway, proves, is an offspring from our frustration.

Process of generating ideas comes from making collaborating with others. Working on a project with different set of people having a completely different range of experiences can have broad or a narrow effect on the project depending on their experience. This can lead up to difficulties as the fixed type of mindset might settle in between rather than embracing this specific effort. He provides some techniques to work around this type of mindset in organisation/groups to identify an idea that might be beneficial and drive forward with it without wasting time and other resources.

In this book, he emphasis more on working on an idea together to solve problems rather than just an individual’s ability to do the same. He calls working in a team around an idea, indispensable.

This book does revolves around a fantastic, curiosity arousing concept. It takes a pragmatic approach by presenting exemplary situations which you might find yourself in. I really like the whole idea behind the book but the writing seem too dry for me.

Nevertheless, I would say go and read this one. It won’t take much of your time.

3 out of 5!

“A Man with A New Idea Is A Crank Until the Idea Succeeds” --Mark Twain

In his latest book, ANY IDEAS? Rob Eastaway provides an encouraging assortment of tips and techniques to improve your creativity.

One of Rob’s main suggestions is to “Nurture and protect silliness.” After all, many great ideas would have been thought ridiculous years ago. How about “Injecting a deadly toxin into your face to make you look younger (Botox)?” Sometimes you just have to “embrace more silliness.”

Over the years, we tend to all become “conforming individuals who look for right answers rather than interesting ones.”

It’s important to encourage, rather than discourage new ideas. If we’re not careful, unique ideas get “questioned, challenged, laughed at or just rejected out of hand.” So, be careful to create a nurturing atmosphere, where everyone feels free to contribute.

The author points out the difference between thinking creatively versus thinking laterally. Rob suggests that creative thinking is concocting novel ideas, whereas lateral thinking is “addressing a completely different question from the problem you’re presented with.”

Here’s another fun tip: Try framing the problem “in the extreme.” Ask yourself how you would solve it if money were no object, or if you needed to have it solved in one minute. What would you do then?

I’ve employed a similar principle as this “extreme” tactic. I ask myself, “Could I solve this problem if someone would actually DIE if I didn’t?” (I actually submitted this “deadly” idea to a magazine purporting to encourage creativity. The editor didn’t really like the idea, and remarked, “But no one will actually die.”)

All in all, I found ANY IDEAS? to be a fun, easy read. I found many of the ideas to be good ones, with practical use. Embracing silliness is a great concept. Perhaps my favorite section was on the idea of lateral thinking.

I started reading at the back of the book.


Advance Review Copy courtesy of the author.

I found this book very interesting and inspiring! I will read it multiple times and draw different ideas from it with each reading!

​I found this book so fascinating and interesting. I wish I could express properly how this book helps you think up ideas in a more dynamic fashion.

The main theme of this book is about how to avoid killing off ideas.

I love how he uses examples of finding solutions using a solutions based approach (what he calls the lateral thinking approach).

He gives pointers on how you can better develop ideas and processes you can include in your day to day activities to have better outcomes.

Favourite Quote: “Evaluation is important, but premature evaluation doesn’t just snuff out someone else’s creative spark: it can also also prevent you from seeing new possibilities. Learn to pause whenever you hear a new idea, and take time to think about it and look for its good points first.

Rating: 4.5/5

I enjoyed the format of this book and the little puzzles to have a go at here and there. It was pitched at a good level (not too much information). The writing style was easy, friendly and warm. It is a good book to dip into and try out things whenever you feel the need. A light easy read but full of useful and very varied information. Thank you