March 24, 2026 • 4 mins
Bouncing ideas off someone makes coming up with ideas more fun
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to find an idea partner. If you need
to come up with a lot of ideas in your life,
(00:23):
consider finding someone who will help you develop your ideas
and who can help you do the same. As I
am writing this episode, I will soon be getting together
with my Best of Both World's podcast co host Sarah
Hart Hunger for what has become our annual retreat. We
go somewhere I mean usually in Florida, because Florida is
(00:44):
better in March than Pennsylvania, and we come up with
ideas for episodes for the next few months. Now, sometimes
a good guest will come to us, and we're happy
to make room for that. But sometimes we come up
with topics and then look for guests and we help
each other own idea ideas that each of us has
come up with on our own. For instance, we might
(01:04):
see that something is not a full episode on its own,
but combined with another topic we've been mulling, we could
get a really good hook. Now, you might not need
to come up with podcast ideas, but plenty of people
have to come up with ideas for something. Maybe it's
ideas for marketing things, or ways to recruit new employees
or perks that will make them stay. Maybe it's new
(01:27):
ways of displaying products, or which kinds of products you'd
like to sell. Larger organizations often have formal structures for
developing ideas, but people still need to come up with
these ideas. One of the most pleasant ways to do
that is to have someone in your life that you
can bounce ideas off. This is someone you find creative
(01:50):
and supportive. Ideally, this person thinks this way about you too.
You get together regularly to chat about your ideas and
to help you develop them. The person is your sounding board,
and you likewise serve as a sounding board for them. Now,
there might be practical limits on who this person should be.
(02:12):
You might be better off with a colleague than someone who
works at a rival company. Indeed, there might be policies
against too much idea sharing with competitors, but plenty of
us work in different situations. Even if another writer is
technically my competition, we would execute on ideas in different ways.
There's more to be gained by getting feedback than just designing.
(02:35):
At the whiteboard. As they say, ideas tend to get
better when smart people think about them and critique them
and add on them. You see problems you wouldn't have seen.
You see opportunities you wouldn't have seen either. So if
you don't have someone like this in your life, see
if you have someone who could become your idea partner.
(02:56):
It could be multiple people, but one person is often
easiest to manage. Schedule wise, you might come up with
other things you can do together, so it's not just
a straightforward, transactional sounding thing like here are my ideas,
what do you think? I know that some academic collaborators
have gone on long walks together. On those long walks,
(03:17):
they'd work out ideas and ways to test those ideas
through ingenious research. Design walks are good for ideas in general.
Walks with another thoughtful person could be even better. If
you have to come up with a lot of ideas,
then anything you can do to boost the quantity and
quality is probably good. An idea partner will help you
(03:42):
do that, and collaborating can be quite pleasant, certainly more
pleasant than just staring at a blank screen or notebook
and thinking now, what so why not give it a try.
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
(04:10):
listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
(04:33):
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to find an idea partner. If you need
to come up with a lot of ideas in your life,
(00:23):
consider finding someone who will help you develop your ideas
and who can help you do the same. As I
am writing this episode, I will soon be getting together
with my Best of Both World's podcast co host Sarah
Hart Hunger for what has become our annual retreat. We
go somewhere I mean usually in Florida, because Florida is
(00:44):
better in March than Pennsylvania, and we come up with
ideas for episodes for the next few months. Now, sometimes
a good guest will come to us, and we're happy
to make room for that. But sometimes we come up
with topics and then look for guests and we help
each other own idea ideas that each of us has
come up with on our own. For instance, we might
(01:04):
see that something is not a full episode on its own,
but combined with another topic we've been mulling, we could
get a really good hook. Now, you might not need
to come up with podcast ideas, but plenty of people
have to come up with ideas for something. Maybe it's
ideas for marketing things, or ways to recruit new employees
or perks that will make them stay. Maybe it's new
(01:27):
ways of displaying products, or which kinds of products you'd
like to sell. Larger organizations often have formal structures for
developing ideas, but people still need to come up with
these ideas. One of the most pleasant ways to do
that is to have someone in your life that you
can bounce ideas off. This is someone you find creative
(01:50):
and supportive. Ideally, this person thinks this way about you too.
You get together regularly to chat about your ideas and
to help you develop them. The person is your sounding board,
and you likewise serve as a sounding board for them. Now,
there might be practical limits on who this person should be.
(02:12):
You might be better off with a colleague than someone who
works at a rival company. Indeed, there might be policies
against too much idea sharing with competitors, but plenty of
us work in different situations. Even if another writer is
technically my competition, we would execute on ideas in different ways.
There's more to be gained by getting feedback than just designing.
(02:35):
At the whiteboard. As they say, ideas tend to get
better when smart people think about them and critique them
and add on them. You see problems you wouldn't have seen.
You see opportunities you wouldn't have seen either. So if
you don't have someone like this in your life, see
if you have someone who could become your idea partner.
(02:56):
It could be multiple people, but one person is often
easiest to manage. Schedule wise, you might come up with
other things you can do together, so it's not just
a straightforward, transactional sounding thing like here are my ideas,
what do you think? I know that some academic collaborators
have gone on long walks together. On those long walks,
(03:17):
they'd work out ideas and ways to test those ideas
through ingenious research. Design walks are good for ideas in general.
Walks with another thoughtful person could be even better. If
you have to come up with a lot of ideas,
then anything you can do to boost the quantity and
quality is probably good. An idea partner will help you
(03:42):
do that, and collaborating can be quite pleasant, certainly more
pleasant than just staring at a blank screen or notebook
and thinking now, what so why not give it a try.
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
(04:10):
listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
(04:33):
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Before Breakfast News
Host
Laura Vanderkam
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