How do you come up with an idea out of thin air?

You don't. You're drawing from your repertoire.

Think of your repertoire as the accumulation of everything you've ever seen or experienced, distilled to its essence.

People with good ideas have a system of building their repertoire and using it to make unexpected connections – even if it's only happening in their head.

✦ For us, it's happening in mymind. ✦

Today, we have a little guide showing you how we build our personal repertoires – this is a longer one (appx. 4 minute read time) so put on some soothing music and settle in ◡̈

Rule #1. Your repertoire should be private

Yes, entirely private. If it's open to other people, you're immediately limiting yourself. You're trying to impress or meet expectations.

It's like decorating a hotel room: It may be pretty and comfortable, but it's curated for other people. It's not you.

When your repertoire is private, there's no pressure to perform for anyone. You don't have to worry about being on trend, intellectual, consistent or attractive.

It's a beautiful feeling. Once you embrace it, you'll find all kinds of weird things in your repertoire. Real, interesting references that push you outside the agreeable box. You're now free.

(Besides: Nobody should be able to trace your steps when it comes to your work. You're the magician. Keep your secrets to yourself.)

Rule #2. Don't force it

You can't build your own repertoire in a few hours, days or even weeks. You can't use someone else's Pinterest board, or dump a thousand images from some aesthetic website in there.

This only clutters your repertoire and makes it meaningless.

The point is that everything in there means something to you specifically. That's where the magic happens. And you can't skip the magic.

Only once you've given a reference your “stamp of approval” does it land in your collection. Millions of living room references exist online, but the 100 or so you have in your repertoire are the best, according to your taste.

So how do you decide what goes inside?

Rule #3. Collect ambivalently and passively. Not indifferently.

Usually, we collect inspiration only for specific projects. But this means we're already narrowing our funnel considerably.

When building your repertoire, you want your funnel open at all times. Passively build it up every day. Eventually, you can then narrow that down for a specific project.

Every time you see an image or reference online that makes you feel something – save it. Ambivalently means you may have strong but opposing feelings toward something. Save those things. It just has to make you stop for a brief moment.

That image may have no immediate purpose. It's not for a current project. The only meaning is that it may mean something to you in the future. And this is the secret.

mymind works the same way your real mind works: It's a sponge of references, ideas, visuals, stories and things you care about. Everything you don't care about (feel indifferent about) isn't soaked up and slowly fades into oblivion.

Rule #4. No rules

Don't save what you think should should be saving. Don't over-analyze what you save, or what it means about you. Just save it. The significance will be revealed later.

There's no need for organization here either – that only disrupts your natural flow. If a particular reference has no immediate purpose, there's no folder or category for it. And you don't want organizing to add friction to your saving process.

In mymind, you just search to find it later. No organization needed.

How to use your repertoire

✦ The random inspirational browse - The beauty of having your own personal repertoire is that you can browse through it whenever you feel uninspired and need a pick-me-up.

✦ Searching for specific references - Let's say you're working on a branding project and quickly need references for certain materials or packaging techniques. You just head to mymind, type in what you're looking for and immediately find it.

You never created a folder or collection titled “brand inspiration” or “black and white logos” which would be too broad anyway. In this case, you're looking for a certain material, or pattern, or technique, so that's what you search for. And there it is, because mymind sorted it for you.

✦ Serendipity - In Serendipity mode, mymind resurfaces one random thing from your mind at a time. This introduces some chaos or chance into your inspiration process, which is always good for new ideas.

✦ Same Vibe - The Same Vibe feature takes one image you've saved to your mind and collects others with the same look & feel. Here is where you might make connections or find the exact mood for a project you're working on. It was all there in your repertoire because you saved it – and mymind pieced it all together for you in an instant.

If you haven't already, start by installing the mymind browser extension and mobile app so you can save anything with a click. Then start passively but intentionally building your secret repertoire. Your future self will thank you for it.