Quantity first: generate the most ideas possible before evaluating any
The best way to have a good idea is to have many ideas — originality rises with volume, so generate recklessly before selecting.
Key takeaways
- What it is: The best way to have a good idea is to have many ideas — originality rises with volume, so generate recklessly before selecting.
- Why it works: Expert judgment, applied too early in a creative session, narrows the search to the most immediately plausible options — which are also the most familiar ones. Deferring judgment until a large quantity of ideas has been generated keeps the creative search in the less-familiar regions of the space, where more original ideas are statistically more likely to be found. This is Linus Pauling’s principle: you cannot predict which idea will be good, so generate many.
- Evidence: Backed by observational / correlational evidence.
- Avoid: Stopping at the first three or four ideas that seem good and treating the quantity phase as done — the original ideas are almost always deeper in the list, not at the front.
Why it works
Expert judgment, applied too early in a creative session, narrows the search to the most immediately plausible options — which are also the most familiar ones. Deferring judgment until a large quantity of ideas has been generated keeps the creative search in the less-familiar regions of the space, where more original ideas are statistically more likely to be found. This is Linus Pauling’s principle: you cannot predict which idea will be good, so generate many.
How to do it
- 1Set a quantity target before you start: 20 ideas, 30 headlines, 15 solutions.
- 2Write each idea as it arrives without pausing to evaluate it.
- 3When you feel stuck, lower the bar: half-ideas, fragment-ideas, and bad ideas all count.
- 4Evaluate only after the target quantity is reached.
What the evidence says
ObservationalGenerative fluency research consistently finds that later ideas are rated more original than earlier ones; deferring evaluation until higher quantities are reached increases the probability that the final selection includes more original work.
Honest caveat: Brainstorming group research shows complex results; the quantity-before-quality principle is best supported for individual generation. Group brainstorming without process intervention frequently underperforms nominal groups (individuals working alone).
- — Mednick (1962), associative basis of the creative process, Psychological Review
Common mistake
Stopping at the first three or four ideas that seem good and treating the quantity phase as done — the original ideas are almost always deeper in the list, not at the front.
IX Coach holds the quantity bar in creative or planning sessions, refusing to evaluate until you have generated a minimum number of options — preventing the common collapse to the first plausible plan.
Practice this with IX Coach →