I used to lock myself in my office and try to channel ideas from scratch.

I ended up frustrated because I didn’t know how other copywriters were coming up with fresh ideas.

Then one day, I heard a copywriter talking about pulling to topics together.

BAM! It hit me like a ton of bricks!

Here is what I saw after hearing the technique

• Lethal Weapon + Nuns = Sister Act
• Arrested Development + Dawsons Creek = Schitt’s Creek
• Wristwatch + iPhone = Apple Watch
• Yoga + Goats = Goatyoga
• Facebook + Snapchat + Youtube = TikTok

As you can see, the world loves to give me ideas!

A great rescue to help me pump out material when I write ads.

By the way, most are not smash hits. And that’s okay!

The key is I don’t get in a hurry. I gently grab the wheel of my awareness and drive around, looking for ideas throughout my day.

My focus is to see movies, engage in conversations, watch stocks and sports snippets, eat fun food, explore hobbies…

… ANYTHING I can think of and capture the scene.

After a few tries, I find one topic and idea to keep smashing.

And you can do this too!

My biggest piece of advice is to have a good capture system, like a David Allen wallet, an Evernote app, voice record. Get good at capturing the scene.

That way, you are full of meaty ideas and ready to write.

There you have it!

This is the framework of how I birth out a new idea.