✨INGREDIENTS — WHAT YOU NEED TO SPOT GREAT IDEAS EARLY

Just like any recipe, you need ingredients.
This is less “flour and sugar”…
More “awareness and curiosity.”

Here’s your mise en place:

PRIMARY INGREDIENTS

1. 1 open mind (can be slightly dented — still works)

2. 2 cups curiosity

3. A large handful of humility

4. A tablespoon of willingness to change

5. A scattered mix of old ideas you’re ready to overhaul

6. A dash of skepticism (just enough to taste)

7. 1 pinch of boldness

8. Zero shame about learning late

OPTIONAL ENHANCERS

• optimism

• humor

• patience

• a notebook

• an internet connection

• people smarter than you

• people different from you

TOOLS

• eyes

• ears

• a brain that occasionally listens

• a heart that occasionally admits: “Okay, fine, I was wrong.”

• the ability to pause before saying “I already know that”

Now that the ingredients are set, let’s start cooking.

✨STEP 1 — PREHEAT YOUR PERSPECTIVE

Just as ovens must preheat to transform raw ingredients, your perspective must warm up before it can absorb new ideas.

To preheat:

1. Sit for a moment.

2. Acknowledge that you don’t know everything.

3. Accept that future-you is much wiser than current-you.

4. Embrace the truth: every new idea feels obvious once you understand it.

This preheating melts away the crusty layer of “I know” that blocks discovery.

Once that melts, curiosity can rise.

✨STEP 2 — CLEAR OFF THE OLD SHELF

Every recipe needs clean space.

Your mind’s shelf is full of outdated habits:

• the way you fold laundry

• the way you organize your phone

• the way you store leftovers

• the way you budget

• the way you talk to people

• the way you clean your home

• the way you plan your day

• the way you think about yourself

These routines feel permanent because you’ve done them so long.

But here’s the truth:

Most of your habits are leftovers from a version of you who didn’t know better.

To make room for new ideas:

• question your assumptions

• question your routines

• question your shortcuts

• question your habits

• question what you think is “the only way”

This is where brilliance enters.

✨STEP 3 — ADD A GENEROUS SPOONFUL OF CURIOSITY

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