Brad McNally

“If you forced me to give you a step-by-step method for creativity, I’d point you to the one defined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.23 You probably won’t like it, but that’s what happens when you force people to give you things. He defines it in five steps: 1.   Preparation: Study a subject, identify ideas, become immersed in the topic or subject that aroused your curiosity. 2.   Incubation: Ideas churn around below the threshold of consciousness. 3. Insight: Your subconscious mind makes connections. 4.   Evaluation: Decide which, if any, of the insights are worth pursuing. 5.   Elaboration: Develop the ideas into the final work.”
― Scott Berkun, The Dance of the Possible: the mostly honest completely irreverent guide to creativity