Don't you just love that light bulb moment? You know what I mean: There you are, sitting at your desk for days on end trying to crack a problem or generate some great idea, without success, and then, when you are completely detached and least expect it, from a source unimaginable... Eureka! I am sure we have all experienced it at some point or another. Evan Williams, the founder of Blogger and Twitter, certainly has. I read a nice article earlier today about how he stumbled upon his successes and the following three insights: "First, that genuinely new ideas are, well, accidentally stumbled upon rather than sought out; second, that new ideas are by definition hard to explain to others, because words can express only what is already known; and third, that good ideas seem obvious in retrospect."
Check out the article, entitled 'The accidental innovator', which featured in the December 22nd 2007 issue of 'The Economist'. It is a nice read.
