Your first idea is probably not your best says Ira Glass

Radio’s Piers Bradford is in the US where he spotted this. It’s the handwritten notes from a meeting at which Ira Glass and his team settled on This American Life as the title of the now legendary radio series.

The title was nowhere in the list of initial suggestions. It came from a creative session with the team and was just scribbled among many other ideas.

The best ideas often are brought to the surface between people so the duration of that meeting was an excellent investment in time. This American Life is still trading off its famous title twenty years on.

Stand out sight of US trip so far – one for the radio anoraks (hand written in the middle of the page) pic.twitter.com/fkruj4Ja1G

— Piers Bradford (@piersbrad) March 11, 2015

A useful reminder to:

1. Start a creative session with some initial thoughts.

2. Go beyond them and explore new ideas.

3. Suspend judgement and write down everything that comes up in the session.

4. Pick the best idea later.