{"id":184224,"date":"2024-10-02T08:24:46","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T13:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=184224"},"modified":"2026-09-06T17:35:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T22:35:53","slug":"podcast-1027-the-imagination-muscle-where-good-ideas-come-from-and-how-to-have-more-of-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-1027-the-imagination-muscle-where-good-ideas-come-from-and-how-to-have-more-of-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast #1,027: The Imagination Muscle \u2014 Where Good Ideas Come From (And How to Have More of Them)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Imagination is the ability to form mental images and concepts that don&#8217;t exist or haven\u2019t happened yet, think outside of current realities, and form connections between existing ideas to create something new and original.<\/p>\n<p>If the number of movie sequels and the outsized popularity of music made decades ago is any measure, our current age is suffering from a deficit in imagination. And indeed, tests show that creativity, which takes the possibilities generated in the mind and produces something with them, has been in decline for many years now \u2014 a phenomenon that has repercussions for our personal edification, professional advancement, and societal flowering.<\/p>\n<p>But if our imagination has indeed atrophied, the good news is that it can be strengthened. So argues my guest, Albert Read, the former managing director of Cond\u00e9 Nast Britain and the author of <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/47X3meU\"><em>The Imagination Muscle: Where Good Ideas Come From (And How to Have More of Them)<\/em><\/a>. Today on the show, Albert shares his ideas on how our imagination can be built back up. We discuss how to get better at observation and how to use a commonplace book and the way you structure your reading to cross-pollinate your thinking and generate more fruitful ideas. We also discuss how to overcome the unthinking habit, resist stagnation as you age, and embrace imaginative risk.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagination is the ability to form mental images and concepts that don&#8217;t exist or haven\u2019t happened yet, think outside of current realities, and form connections between existing ideas to create something new and original. If the number of movie sequels and the outsized popularity of music made decades ago is any measure, our current age [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":194667,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[502,156,42388],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-character","category-podcast","category-self-improvement"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1027-538x280.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1027-768x432.png","aom":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1027-372x230.png","reactor-320":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1027-320x180.png","reactor-640":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1027-640x360.png"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Podcast #1,027: The Imagination Muscle \u2014 Where Good Ideas Come From (And How to Have More of Them) | The Art of Manliness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-1027-the-imagination-muscle-where-good-ideas-come-from-and-how-to-have-more-of-them\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Podcast #1,027: The Imagination Muscle \u2014 Where Good Ideas Come From (And How to Have More of Them) | The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Imagination is the ability to form mental images and concepts that don&#8217;t exist or haven\u2019t happened yet, think outside of current realities, and form connections between existing ideas to create something new and original. If the number of movie sequels and the outsized popularity of music made decades ago is any measure, our current age [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-1027-the-imagination-muscle-where-good-ideas-come-from-and-how-to-have-more-of-them\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-02T13:24:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-06T22:35:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1027.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brett &amp; Kate McKay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brett &amp; Kate McKay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-1027-the-imagination-muscle-where-good-ideas-come-from-and-how-to-have-more-of-them\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-1027-the-imagination-muscle-where-good-ideas-come-from-and-how-to-have-more-of-them\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brett &amp; 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