An idea, then, starts as an idea-seed, a notion, a vague conception or supposition, a thought or mental impression, from which the idea itself is then developed.

The idea-seed begins as something to which as yet there is no corresponding reality. At the outset it is fantasy, or a fiction or a figment of the imagination.

After it is developed, it will be a plan or purpose or action, an intention or a design. It will be an accurate image or concept of an object which is either tangible or intangible, either concrete or abstract.

Impulses are often valuable beginnings of ideas and they should not be ignored or neglected. Write them down and save them; and some time you'll find that they combine with other thoughts to make something interesting.

In that statement is a clue to a real idea. An idea is a new combination of old elements. Ideas are for certain purposes—to overcome difficulties, to improve things, to entertain or attract, to find good or different ways of doing things.

Successful ideas, contrary to belief, are hardly ever based on original thoughts.

They come to one as the result of some outside impulse nudging one's attention. Talking to someone, listening to a speaker, reading, hearing something on the radio, looking into a shop window, passing something on the street.

Continued from ....How to Get IDEAS by Estelle H. Ries
Idea People Win