Put two things together that have no business being together. That’s where half of all new ideas come from.

Most new ideas are old ideas in unfamiliar company. Two things that have never been near each other create a gap, and your brain fills that gap with something neither one contained. That is why deliberate collisions work so reliably: horror and cooking, ballet and skateboarding, a spreadsheet and a love letter. The stranger the pairing, the more work your mind has to do, and the work is the idea.

Write two lists of things you like from areas with nothing in common, and pair them at random. Take the most ridiculous combination and spend an hour on it seriously. You are looking for the third thing that appears.