Brainstorming sessions can be on anything. Want to figure out what to write about for your blog? Brainstorm it! I'm going to give you a few rules to having an effective brainstorming session.
1. Define the problem in broad terms - Do not build in assumptions or artificial constraints into the question(s) you are asking. Make the question broad enough to allow the generation of many ideas. Instead of "How do I pick up an egg to move it to X?" ask - "How can an egg move to location X?". The former inserts the assumption of picking up - the latter allows for the ideas: allow it hatch and allow the chick to walk to the final position. The question will determine the creativity and uniqueness of the ideas produced during the brainstorming session.
2. There are no limitations on ideas - Throw the laws of physics out the window, open up your business to your personal life. This is not the stage for evaluation. Do not let the phrase - "Come On, Let's Be Serious" be said during a brainstorming session. Serious is for later. Crazy and idea generation is for now. Crazy ideas will spark tangents that may produce the ideal answer for you and your team, if you nip those ideas in the bud at the beginning you may never reach the ideal solution.
3. Use time instead of count for ideas. Set your self 20-30 minutes for a brainstorming session instead of 100 ideas. The interesting ideas only come when there's little pressure and you've gone through the ordinary ones. Time instead of a count will give you time to break through to those ideas without creating the stress of producing x number of ideas. The time will eventually run out, but you could be stuck for hours trying to get 100 or 500 ideas down. Come back to the problem in another session later if you need to generate more ideas.
4. Write everything down - everything needs to be recorded so it can be returned to and recorded during a later evaluation phase. As above, nothing should be evaluated at this stage. If you find yourself not recording ideas, it's because you're evaluating them. Stop evaluating and start writing! This also helps if you need to return or restart a brainstorming session. You'll know where you left off and can pick up threads started earlier. Find a tool where you can record all the ideas, fast. Speed is essential, once you're on a roll, you won't want to stop.
If you follow these 4 simple guidelines for brainstorming, you should have no problem coming up with a wealth of ideas for whatever problems you are facing in your business.
It was about eight or ten years ago, and I was recently divorced. My four children were growing up rapidly, and they had never even been on a plane, nor had they traveled very far from home. I felt kind of bad about it, since by the time I was a teenager I had been to a number of foreign countries. I knew it wouldn't be long before they would all go their separate ways. I wanted to do something really cool and memorable with them, like take a vacation somewhere that would be different than their usual camping trip to the coast. A vacation in Hawaii would work for me!
There was a problem though...I was flat broke, barely able to make my child support payments let alone take a vacation in Hawaii.
Now I had been reading some books such as "Think and Grow Rich", and "Creating Money". I'm not sure which specific book it was, but what I was getting from my reading was that if I wanted something all I had to do was absolutely believe that it would come about, and do everything I could to achieve that goal. The universe would take care of the rest.
I've read that theme many times. If you want it to happen, then you must believe it will happen. Erase all doubt from your mind.
So I decided to give it a go. The books had all kinds of ways to help you believe. Write it down over and over because repetition works. Make it the last thing you think about when you go to bed at night. Do affirmations. Meditate. If you tell yourself something often enough you begin to believe it whether it’s true or not. Practice visualization in as much detail as you can. And take what real steps you can to get to your final goal.
Well I did all those things and more. I called a travel agent and booked reservations for myself, my four children, and my ex-wife's new husband’s daughter who was my oldest daughter’s best friend. I made reservations for a week in Maui. I had to come up with a down payment shortly after that and the balance in a few months, just before the trip.
I just trusted that when the time came I would be able to make those payments, and went on about my business. I was religiously doing everything I had read about to help me believe.
I can't for the life of me remember where I got the money for the first payment. But it obviously came from somewhere. However, I do remember where the second payment came from.
It was about 2 days until the balance on my vacation was due. It was a large sum of money, I think about $5,000. I didn't even have an extra $50. I was out on my front lawn talking to my lawyer about something or other, (again I don't remember the subject), but he did know about my desire to take my kids to Hawaii.
As he was about to get in his car and leave he stopped, turned to me, reached in his pocket and pulled out a handful of bills. He handed them to me and said "Have a great vacation with your kids!", and before I could say anything he dropped into his seat and drove off.
He had handed me $8,000.00! It paid for the trip and gave me plenty of spending money while the kids and I were in Maui. I had only known the lawyer for a few months. He never did ask for repayment. It was so strange.
We had a fantastic time…5 teenagers and me in Maui.
Could the whole thing have been coincidence? Perhaps, but I don’t think so. I think that not only do we create our own reality, but in some way that isn’t clear yet, our minds are actually creating all reality. Maybe I’ll delve more deeply into that in another article.
Both Steven Lohrenz & William Lund are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Steven Lohrenz has sinced written about articles on various topics from Internet Marketing, Mortgage and Work Life Balance. "Visit my blog and learn the art & science of putting your internet business on complete autopilot." -Steven Lohrenz. Here is the URL: . Steven Lohrenz's top article generates over 18100 views. to your Favourites.
William Lund has sinced written about articles on various topics from Affiliate Programs, Gardening and Home Management. William Lund has been an inventor for over 35 years and has over a dozen patents. He has been a webmaster since 1998. Learn more about creating reality and other psychic phenomenon at:. William Lund's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.