The good news is, brainstorming the right way means doing it as many times as you need to get results. So you’re going to get better!
How Can You Start Brainstorming Right Now?
We almost always think of brainstorming as a group activity. In his classic book on brainstorming, Applied Imagination, Alex Osborn actually said 12 people was an ideal number for a brainstorming session.
In the years since Osborn’s innovation, however, studies have shown that individual brainstorming can actually be much more creative. The reasoning is that in group settings, ideas tend to converge on the same few thoughts too quickly, limiting overall creativity.
If you’re working on a personal life question, you can launch your brainstorming by shaping your question and then using freewriting, word association, or drawing a mind map to start generating ideas.
Some personal brainstorms might include:
What can you do to be happier in your career
What do you want to do with you life
How to fight better with your partner
What is a new habit that will improve your life
How to make more money/get a raise
How to meet your life partner
How can you improve your marriage
What is the subject of your screenplay
If you have access to a group, like friends or coworkers or even social media outlets, tap them. An initial brainstorm with others may be enough to launch you on Action Steps that you can later refine on your own.
(Real) Brainstorming Can Solve Problems, Big And Small
The 5th Avenue ad men heyday. The Apollo moon missions. Silicon Valley.
Great moments in innovation often have a lot in common: small groups of highly skilled, motivated people who get together and brainstorm.
It’s pretty cool that anyone has access to the same process, isn’t it?
Done right, brainstorming is a skill that will boost your creativity and productivity both at work and in your personal life by giving you a tool to tackle difficult and vexing problems.
So – what’s your question?
