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As I'm sure many of you already know, I live in Minnesota most of the time. And, as anyone who watches the weather on TV know... Minnesota gets REALLY COLD at times! Below zero (Fahrenheit/-17°C) is pretty common here in the winter, and it can get worse.

Luckily, we Minnesotans know how to make the best of it. We insulate our houses and our bodies, and have perfected the mad dash from our door to the car. And we come up with creative ways to do our favorite activities when the weather doesn't permit.

In the 1980s, in one of the most famous examples of Minnesotan inventiveness, two local hockey players invented Rollerblades so they could practice hockey in the summer. The skates quickly grew in popularity all over the US, and developed their own following. Soon, many Minnesotans (not just hockey players) were rollerblading all over the state during the warm season.

But then (ironically) inline skaters in Minnesota ran into a problem: how to keep practicing their favorite sport in the winter!

Finding a solution for the inline skaters, however, didn't require creating anything new. Actually, the answer was found by looking at an existing facility in a new way.

In the picture below, you can see the solution to all the MN inline skaters' problems:

At the beginning of the 1990s, someone noticed that the Metrodome - a heated indoor sports facility in downtown Minneapolis home to Vikings football (and previously Twins baseball and Gopher football) - was surrounded by two levels of very smooth concrete. And although the playing fields were frequently in use for team practices and exhibitions, the hallways of the 'Dome were empty on non-game-days.

And so the "Rollerdome" was born!

Every year, the Metrodome opens its doors several days a week from November to April to inline skaters. Over 50,000 Minnesotans visit every year - from beginners to speed skaters. There are lessons, a live DJ playing music, concessions, and even the world's only Inline Marathon held indoors.

The Rollerdome is a great example of how someone came up with an excellent solution to challenge of enjoying inline skating in a state with uncooperative weather simply by looking at what's already around them in a different way!

A lot of times, we think of innovation only as creating something new. But that's not always necessary. Sometimes though, the best solution comes from looking around to see what's out there, and figuring out how existing resources can be used to solve a problem.

Rollerdome Photo Credit: Darlene Prois

Disclaimer: I have a season pass to the Rollerdome, so I'm obviously in favor of it. But I've not been paid in any way to write this post. However, if anyone from the Rollerdome reads this and wants to discount my skating... I wouldn't be opposed! ;-)

When you have one big idea, it's really easy to fall in love with it. And that's where most people stop. They get one really good idea, and are so excited about it that they start plowing ahead imagining all the possibilities.

That's risky though, because what if that one idea turns out to be not so good after all?

What if you go forward with it, only to find that it is a total flop? Or what if you tell it to a friend - and the look on their face makes you wish you'd never spoken up? Or what if you try to develop it, and run into a brick wall?

It only takes one amazing idea to make all your dreams come true... but that doesn't mean you should have only one idea.

Instead, you should focus on getting lots of ideas. The more the better, in fact! That way, you exponentially increase the potential of hitting a home run.

About a year ago, I challenged readers to think of 100 ideas for their next creative challenge. It's a mean exercise that drains your brain totally dry, but it's completely possible. In fact, getting the first 50 ideas is usually the hardest - after 75, it's practically easy!

But I bet no one did it. Forcing yourself to think of 100 ideas sounds like torture, doesn't it?

Last week though, Seth Godin's group of Alternative MBA students challenged themselves to come up with 111 ideas each. And they did it! And to prove they did it, they posted the entire list of 999 ideas on their blog.

Here are 20 of their ideas:

Local fresh restaurant that opens off-peak hours to hold cooking classes to locals.
A party planner for kids birthday parties, but with educational and fun activities.
Retractable spikes for boots to walk on the ice on sidewalks
Chewing gum that is good for braces and dentures.
Make your own batch of whiskey - takes 12 years, you pick flavors and types of oak barrels at the distillery, pickup in 12 years
A half refrigerator/freezer/microwave in the trunk of a car. That way, wherever you go in the car, you can always have food handy. How great for road trips.
EZPass for humans on public transportation (key fob?)
Roomba type toy for dog to chase around house. Should move faster, be fairly indestructible and make appropriate noises.
Fish Burial Kit.
Executive Power nap business - Locations where executives can take a 20 minute energizer nap during the day
Pay at the pump carbon offsets
Unique Bachelor & Bachelorette Parties - we work with you to design a fun, unique bachelor or bachelorette party experience
A service where people are employed to talk specifically to antisocial or shy people at a party (they’ll feel better about themselves and will be more likely to open up next time with their new confidence.)
Restaurant where you cook alongside the chef , choose your ingredients and learn a new technique.
A personal education coach-they pick blogs, books, resources for you to learn based on your personal interests and career goals. They gather all the materials and for you and make recommendations on the best way for learning the material.
Build Your own Mardi Gras mask site.
Create your own ice cream flavors
Be a sports team mascot for day
Netflix for home exercise equipment. Swap out your ergometer for an elliptical and then swap that for a treadmill.
A perfect crayon box. com where customer is invited to create their own crayon box, picking his/her favorite colors.

As you can see, they're all over the map! Some are good and have a lot of potential... and some are just silly.

But the best part about having so many ideas is that it's hard to get too attached to any of them.

That's good, because it allows you to pick out the best ideas. And it also helps you push your creativity further - because letting yourself come up with "bad" or "silly" ideas is a good way to open up new possibilities. Then, a stupid idea might lead to a great one.

So, whenever you start falling in love with an idea, take a step back and start thinking of more ideas. You'll have much better results that way!