When brainstorming, it’s important to understand that it’s not always the best ideas that will make the final product. While a lot of things may be possible that never get done, it’s important to keep in mind that there are always ways to improve your ideas and the results of your brainstorming.
In the case of brainstorming, the best way to do this is to do it outside of your normal day-to-day routine. If you’re in your office, make a list of all the things you could do in a single day. If you’re on the go, take an entire day to brainstorm ideas, and then do them all in one day.
In case you have never had a “day out” before, just let me tell you that its a good way to get the creative juices flowing.
We know how to do a good job of brainstorming, but what we’re talking about is something a little more serious. We’re talking about a process that requires you to get to know your own thought process. I’ve seen a lot of people jump right on this and think they can just go and start writing an idea down and just start typing, but I can tell you from personal experience that that is not going to happen.
The reason I say this is because, as many people know, this is not a unique phenomenon. The creative process in general, and the writing process in particular, is notoriously difficult to master. To give you a quick example, when you first start writing a novel, you have no idea how to organize the different parts of the novel or how to structure your thoughts. There are no written rules. You have no idea where to start.
I’ve seen this happen all over the place. A lot of people who write don’t seem to have a clue how to organize their thoughts or the structure of their sentences. I know this because as I write my novel, I have to sort through the myriad of ideas that it has and make sure I put them in the proper order for my audience. And what happens when you can’t organize them? You stop writing. You lose the momentum that made the writing process interesting.
I’m not saying that you shouldnt write. I’m saying that it’s important to form a plan before you start writing, and that’s something that most people dont do. A lot of people write a long list of ideas and then start writing, but they dont follow a logical order. If youve got ideas, theyll come in a random, haphazard way, so you need to make sure that you stick to your list of ideas.
In the case of brainstorming, which means writing down lists of ideas, it is important to make a plan and stick to it. Otherwise, you could end up writing the same list of ideas over and over. If you don’t stick to your list, you could get stuck in a rut.
The first step in brainstorming is to realize that youre on the same page. If youve got the same ideas, then youve probably got a plan. And if you dont, youll end up just writing the same list of ideas over and over.
Another way to think about brainstorming is to think of your brain as a funnel. Any idea that gets in your brain will be funneled into a certain direction, but with brainstorming, youd start with a broad list of ideas and narrow down that list. If you stick to your list, youll still be able to get ideas from your list, but you will also be able to come up with new ideas.