How to Never Run Out of Ideas: The Isaac Asimov Method

To put it succinctly, Isaac Asimov can be described as incredibly productive. If you were to match the sheer volume of books, letters, essays, and other written works that Asimov produced throughout his lifetime, you would have to write an entire book every two weeks for 25 years.

How did Asimov manage to generate such a multitude of brilliant ideas when most individuals can only come up with one or two in their entire lives? To address that inquiry, I highly recommend delving into his autobiography, titled “It’s Been a Good Life” (2002).

For a considerable period, Asimov dedicated eight hours each day, seven days a week, to writing. He tore apart pages, experienced moments of despair, and occasionally encountered setbacks. In his autobiography, Asimov generously shares the tactics and strategies he developed to ensure a continuous flow of ideas.

Let’s glean everything we can from his vast wealth of knowledge and expertise.

Never stop learning

Asimov was not just a science fiction writer. He held a Ph.D. in chemistry from Columbia University in NY/USA. He wrote about physics, ancient history, and even wrote a book about the Bible. How did he manage to be so productive in an era of low specialization?

In his own words:

“…in principle, I couldn’t write such versatile books based solely on the education I received in school. I needed to educate myself constantly. My library of books grew, and I had to constantly search through them, fearing that I might misunderstand some issue that, to an experienced person, would seem ridiculously simple…”

As obvious as it may seem, he meant that to generate good ideas, you need to absorb good ideas. And as Asimov grew up, he read everything he could, not limiting himself to just one subject.

“…all this varied reading, which arose from the absence of guiding hand, left its mark. My interest was in twenty different directions, and it continues to be that way. I wrote books about mythology, the Bible, Shakespeare, history, science, and so on…”

Tip: Read a variety of books, indulge your curiosity, invest in yourself continuously.

Don’t fight against roadblocks

Interestingly, Asimov also frequently found himself stuck in his ideas.

“Often, while working on a science fiction novel, I find myself stuck and unable to write a single word…”

Getting stuck on an idea is normal for everyone, from school exams to public contest essays. What separates professionals from amateurs is what happens after they get stuck. Asimov didn’t let that event hinder him. Over the years, he developed strategies to overcome the stagnation of ideas.

“I don’t sit there staring at blank pages. I don’t spend my days and nights banging my head against an empty skull. I simply leave the novel and tackle one of the twelve other projects waiting for me. I write an article for a magazine, an essay, a story, work on non-fiction. When I get tired of them, my consciousness has time to work and replenish itself. I return to the novel and find myself able to write with ease again…”

Tip: Step away from a stalled project for a while. Whether it’s a book, a project, or a code, engage in other projects and deliberately ignore something. Your subconscious will create a new space for ideas. It’s what we call the “coffee break” or “leave it for tomorrow.”

Beware of resistance

All creators—entrepreneurs, writers, artists—are familiar with the fear of formalizing ideas. As soon as something is presented to the world, it becomes an eternal target of rejection and criticism from millions of eyes.
Most of us fear the rejection of an idea, negative criticism, becoming a joke at some point because of an idea. How many pitches I, the one writing to you, lost in my life, unique opportunities in working with VPs or even conversations with CEOs of companies, because I held back that darn idea in my head. Sometimes, this fear is the creator’s greatest enemy. In another book, “The War of Art” (2005), Steven Pressfield refers to this fear as a “block,” and Asimov was also familiar with this so-called “block.” Or in the amusing book “Boldness Rules the World” (2023) by author Jacob Petry, where he mentions several cases where audacity and the absence of fear of rejection turned into success stories, like an episode with Steve Jobs when he was 20 years old, infiltrating internal HP presentations, staying until the end interrogating the speakers and engineers, and even requesting parts from Bill Hewlett himself, one of the founders of HP.

“…the average writer is always questioned while working. Is the proposal he just came up with significant? Is it as good as it seems? Couldn’t it sound better if written differently? The average writer is always revisiting the text, always destroying and changing, always searching for other ways to express themselves and never satisfied…”

The fear of rejection turns us into “perfectionists” or “annoying” individuals who try to explain everything in the most detailed way possible, but this is just a protective shell. We hide in this shell during moments of insecurity. The truth is that everyone has ideas, whether good or bad. As Raul Seixas once said, “…disobedience is a necessary virtue for creativity…” The difference between Asimov and us is that most of us reject those “crazy” ideas without giving them a chance.

Tip: If you don’t have ideas, you won’t have failures. Dare.

Lower your standards

Asimov was a staunch opponent of seeking perfection. According to him, trying to make everything perfect on the first attempt is a big mistake. Instead, pay attention to the basic details.

“…imagine yourself as an artist drawing; you need to be clear about composition, color blocks, balance, and everything else. Once you’ve done that, you can start worrying about the little things. Don’t try to draw the Mona Lisa on the first try; lower your standards and create a test product, a temporary sketch, a draft…”

At the same time, Asimov insists on self-confidence:

“…a writer cannot sit and question the quality of what they write; they must love their work. I love it. Believing in what you create doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to always do it in the best way possible. Believing in yourself goes beyond that, making mistakes, and finding the strength to rise again…”

Tip: Believe in what you create; the beginning may be a sketch, but the end can be a Mona Lisa.

Do more

Interestingly, Asimov recommends creating more as a cure for perfectionism.

“…by the time a particular book is published, the writer no longer has time to worry about how it will be received and how it will be sold. By that point, they have already sold several other books and are working on several others, which are the cause of their excitement. Thanks to this, a sense of peace and tranquility increases in their life…”

If you have a product, whether it’s a book or a project that will be launched, you don’t have time to dwell on all the flaws. The key is to move forward and strive for improvement. Therefore, less anxiety about failure.

The secret ingredient

And finally, still in the book “It’s Been a Good Life,” a friend of Asimov, a writer struggling with a lack of ideas, once asked him, “Where do you get your ideas from?” Asimov replied, “I think, think, think until the desire to kill myself arises. Did you think good ideas are easy to come by?” he concluded.

No one promised that having ideas is easy. If it were easy, it wouldn’t be worth it.

Isaac Asimov was born in Russia in 1920 and passed away in 1992 in New York. He is one of the masters of science fiction and has written great classics such as “I, Robot” (1950), where he introduced the Three Laws of Robotics, “Foundation” (1951), “The Gods Themselves” (1972), “The Bicentennial Man” (1976), and many other classics. Several of his works have been adapted into films and have inspired other classic works.

Source of inspiration: Habr.