In this highly connected, technologically-intensive world, there’s no question we can’t answer. We’re inundated with ideas. Marketing ideas, political ideas, strategic ideas, business ideas, ideas for spending our free time, and so on for every aspect of our lives. In the absence of inspiration, we can draw on endless sources of information to find ideas on how to address and manage any issue or challenge. I’d say we can consider ourselves fortunate. Yet it seems our daily and long-term problems, whether practical or existential, aren’t abating. We’re still here, perplexed, racking our brains to finally and truly find a good idea that can help us escape the uncertainty, the discomfort, and let’s face it, sometimes even the despair of realising that the problem at hand is bigger than us. Very often, the idea we have retrieved from our cell phone or other electronic device isn’t enough.

But where do we go to find good ideas, ideas that truly serve the purpose and can once and for all resolve our dilemmas and give a positive turn to our difficulties?

For me, the answer lies within ourselves, and it’s not just the coach in me who says so. I still strongly believe in the human capacity to think: analyse a problem, understand the context, explore the causes, and generate options which are potentially useful. Our brains have stored valuable information for years. Our experience has made us strong and knowledgeable, at least on the basics of the issue. What’s missing, perhaps, is our confidence that we are capable of coming up with a good idea, and the time and space to reflect in order to get to a solution.

We thus enter a vortex where thinking becomes difficult, and concentrating on a problem for long periods seems almost impossible. The calm and head space our brains need to generate a truly good and useful idea now seem a rare commodity. And so we turn to technology with great relief, because it provides us with valuable sources of information. We don’t even need to think too hard, because the answers are already there, ready, and waiting for us to use them immediately.

Let’s be clear: I’m not against artificial intelligence, although I must admit, the pace at which this medium is developing and gaining traction in our lives worries me a little. Those who know me well know how slow I am to embrace every new technological advance. I get there eventually, but always after the vast majority of my acquaintances. And usually, I don’t regret it—at least so far. But hey, what can I say…I take my time.

All technological advantages notwithstanding, I remain a huge fan of the human being, and of our creativity and ability to learn from our mistakes. Because if there’s a willingness to learn and improve, mistakes become a priceless gift and a precious source of personal and professional growth.

That’s why, when it comes to good ideas, I insist that it’s worth making that extra effort to get our brains working and feel that sense of frustration when the solution or idea doesn’t come to us immediately and we have to dig, and think some more, struggle, and search some more. Even when we enrich our thinking process with some of the input we receive from technology, we are still capable (or we should be) of choosing, filtering, adapting, matching and disregarding if the input is not useful. Let’s give ourselves the opportunity to fill up on reflection, process all the information we’ve gathered, and let our brain do the rest.

I would never underestimate the power of a good incubation phase, when our cognitive abilities process the data we’ve entered and then arrive at a conclusion that is the fruit of our thinking. The idea thus generated is already good in itself, in my opinion, because it belongs to us and is the result of our efforts and our reflections. And can you imagine the satisfaction of having arrived at it ourselves? Priceless.

This human potential we are all equipped with can then be stretched and enhanced if we decide to confront our ideas with other people’s thinking, thus opening the door to new ways of looking at the same issue. We expose ourselves to what I call the “possibilities of human differences”, a phenomenon that allows us to do much more than what we are capable of as single individuals. When we combine our differences with our desire to find a solution that really works for all people involved, we go beyond what’s obvious and are more likely to come up with a truly brilliant idea.

This isn’t anything revolutionary or original. Humans have understood for centuries that there is strength in numbers. Even intelligent businesses know this: together we are stronger and being inclusive and giving space to the expression of differences increases profits. But to do this requires hard work and a significant investment of ourselves. It means accepting that we don’t have all the answers right away and being ready to think, really think, and to discuss with others so we can benefit from the intelligence of each individual and the intelligence of the group working together. It means continuing to have faith in ourselves as human beings and wanting to create the right conditions and the right context so that our incredible intellectual and emotional capacities, when put together, can continue to generate good ideas.