Momentum through meetings
And breakthroughs through breaks
The last few weeks I’ve had several major brainstorming breakthroughs. That post about a month about about the next big thing? I think I’ve figured it out—two next big things, in fact, two big ideas for funding proposals. (Although the following post applies to new ideas for any purpose: book, article, etc.) And because I had reflected on the beginning of this process explicitly in that post, it works as a fixed point to look back on, which we don’t often have in these abstract, personal, hidden idea-creation processes. (Another reason why this ‘new’ genre of Substack newsletters offers scholars not only an excellent outreach medium but also way to further our own personal research and teaching development.)
Was the secret the cute little ‘Project Development Corner’ I made? (See photo.)
Not really. I probably spent about total 15 minutes over there skimming through fat books. Though I did spend a lot of time re-reading a primary text that I want to work more with—but reading on the bus, where I could read a bit, stare out the window, think on what I want out of this text, what it wants out of me.
Rather, the secret was three things:
Prioritizing certain questions. Out of that long list of questions for brainstorming a project idea, two stuck with me:
What do I REALLY want to do next? What would I do if I didn’t get any money?
Grant panels can smell if you’re just proposing something for the sake of proposing it and you’re not genuinely invested, or if it’s kind of a wild idea that you wouldn’t do if you didn’t get the money.
I have this text I’ve been working on a lot, that I really want to continue to work on. I realized that I just needed to commit to centering that text in a next project, and to uncover the larger project it’s a part of, zoom right out—not sideways to some other idea that I’m vaguely interested in, but zoom right out to the bigger picture, a bigger picture topic that’s right in the middle of my expertise, familiar territory.
And then ask: how I could shift our whole view of that bigger picture by working more on this text? Then asking: what unexpected discoveries MIGHT we make with this approach? And there you have your hypotheses, your exciting, slightly risky (but not actually that risky) leaps of knowledge that you could make. But everything you’re doing and asking is what you would be doing anyways—just a little more ambitious, a little larger scale, maybe tapping into other peoples’ expertise you don’t have.
Now, I’m inspired not only because I really want to do this project, but also because it’s not enormously intimidating—again, it’s in familiar territory, and thus more confident about writing up either context or big claims. And most of all, because I know that all the time I put into this application, I can use regardless: it will help guide my work going forward whether or not I get the money, maybe just a little scaled down and in different forms.
Meetings with great people. What else made a huge difference in developing these solid ideas over the last month was talking to other scholars, both on campus and abroad.
Find people you trust, bounce ideas off them, test hypotheses on them, play with plans together.
Normally I do this at conferences—and that really is preferred. You get so much more out of the in-person interaction, I think, and can take advantage of chance encounters. But it’s not always possible nor is the timing always right. So then you tap into that network you’ve developed at conferences, for virtual coffees.
I emailed a few different people that I knew might have views on my ideas, who are also people that I knew wouldn’t steal my ideas. Because the rotten truth is that people DO steal ideas, all the time! So hold your cards close. Find people with relevant background that maybe have moved on to other things—they’re not directly competing with you, perhaps—and who have shown over the years to be trustworthy.
After catching-up chit-chat and hearing what they were working on, I simply said, “I’m exploring new ideas for my next project. Can I bounce some of them off you?” (also my email opener). Then I sketched out various ideas (maybe holding back the best bits), trying out the different angles I was exploring, seeing what they think, asking follow-up questions, asking what else they knew, asking if they had heard of anybody else working on this kind of thing, etc.
It was incredibly energising to have these virtual coffees (or evening glass of wine, considering the time difference to the US or western Canada!) outside of the conference context. It made me realise that I miss my conference colleagues, these warm, brilliant people I have now known for a decade or almost two, that I only see once a summer at whatever conference we happen to cross paths at :-)
Finally, the last trick: Taking a break. But thinking through it.
The greatest ideas can arrive while making breakfast or on the bus. But only if you’re primed to think of them.
Of course I’ve been taking care of a billion other things the last month. But I tried to do a little something project-idea-related consistently: maintaining contact every other day with some primary or critical sources (even 3 minutes in the Project Development Corner counts), having these coffees, talking to my colleagues here. And then suddenly in between these things, during the breaks, the breakthroughs come. Then the most important thing is to write them down immediately and do not engage in any conversation or any task until you have preserved your awesome idea!