You always hear people say, “I get my best ideas when …” Well, when do you get your best ideas? (or where?) Ill be perfectly honest, I always think I have a great idea while I’m lying in bed thinking. I feel that’s it! I got! It’s perfect! Then I will hop in the shower and improve on the idea haha. So for me, it may sound cheché but its true. It seems for me, the more relaxed I am, the more thorough my thought process.

.. What about you??

@sgsrecording

This is gonna sound crazy, but it happens most (great ideas) while I am driving in my car to work in the morning

@sgsrecording, @mike-stelzner, @shantelturner-collins, @fernandocortes.  I get mine sometimes the first thought I have on waking.  Other times as I am driving, usually when the drive takes 20-30 min or longer.  It seems that they are ideas that help me solve a problem I have been mulling.

Thanks @randithompson @trudy @shantelturner-collins @mike-stelzner @fernandocortes for sharing! SME has also really inspired me. Although I don’t know if I should call it inspiration. It may just be the people that make this little community so great. Since asking for and taking some great advice from individuals on this site, (only been about a week or so) I have had a 775% increase in weekly activity on my brands page (according to facebook’s weekly page update i get every week) that we have not even started promoting yet because the websites not done. Having said thank, Thank you to the people who help make SME the place that it is! Cheers!

@mike-stelzner Well that’s good because that is precisely what is being accomplished lol 775% increase in weekly people reached doesn’t lie. If this site allowed me to use spacing or upload pictures or edit text from my iPad I’d post a picture of the report lol

@mike-stelzner My main “have to read it everyday” is SME. My close second is trying to read almost every thread and post on the clubs. Most of my ideas come late at night when I should be sleeping! LOL

when im driving listening to podcasts.

people hear me now!!

on your drive into and out of work STOP listening to music and load up on PODCASTS!

there are dozens of absolutely brilliant podcasts that are freely available for download and i highly highly highly recommend you try this for a week and see how many great ideas you get.

i regularly listen to blogcastfm (which @mike-stelzner has been on) and am part of their focus group.

the content i have found useful from this podcast is the stuff that you would normally pay hundreds to thousands for.

you MUST try this and let me know how it goes.  its business life changing.

other podcasts I listen to are (sorry, mainly australian but the concepts are global):

small business big marketing
freedom ocean
outsourcing live

and of course blogcastfm

@sgsrecording

My best ideas come to me while I’m mind mapping.  Doesn’t matter where I am. 

I use Freemind on my laptop and Mind Map Memo on my Android (it exports easily to Freemind).  Or scraps of paper if I’m without technology. (Both of the programs I mentioned are free, by the way)

Great question!  I’m enjoying everyone’s responses.

I get most of my ideas usually at night between about 10PM and 12 but I tend to get my BEST ideas when I’m talking with my wife – I’ve found her to be consistently much smarter than me.