The abstract idea seems to come from nowhere, or to bubble up from the depths of your imagination, and usually without reference to preliminary facts. But we shall see later how to expedite such ideas and produce them almost on an assembly line basis.

Such casually obtained ideas are all right when there is no time factor involved.

A Nobel prize winner in literature does not have to worry if he gets another idea in a hurry or not. When he gets it, it may be any idea on any subject, just so it's an idea.

But most business people need ideas to solve particular problems. They are restricted by the specific facts and conditions, and they also have a time limit in which to "come across" with something. This puts a very different approach to the problem than that of the more leisurely "creative" thinker.

As a matter of fact, it takes considerably more creativeness to be creative on schedule than to amble along at one's own serene pace. The tempo of modern business is such that it no longer wishes to wait even for time or tide. It seems to be getting even with the long eons in which time or tide refused to wait for man.
Continued from ....How to Get IDEAS by Estelle H. Ries
Idea People Win