You’ve tried all the recommendations, from waking up early to writing by hand.

Maybe your company has even hired a consultant to help employees generate new ideas, all in pursuit of that elusive eureka moment, the light bulb, the bolt of inspiration that leads to the next big thing.

But research continues to show that our hunt for the eureka moment may be in vain. The most recent example comes from Joel Chan and Christian Schunn of the University of Pittsburgh, who sought to understand how “thought A led to thought B that led to breakthrough C.”

They analyzed transcripts from the brainstorming sessions of a professional design team tasked with designing a hand-held printer for kids. The transcripts showed that new ideas don’t come out of thin air due to massive cognitive leaps.

Instead, creativity is a series of small steps.

Read the full article here | via fastcompany