JES BERMAN CONSULTING

HOW TO BRAINSTORM USING THESE 10 TECHNIQUES

by Jesse Berman | March 8, 2019

Often, the hardest part of any project is just getting started. It may seem cliche to trot out old sayings like “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” or “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” but that doesn’t make it untrue. For everything we do, we have to start somewhere, and forcing ourselves to start, or to even think about how we could get started, can seem a daunting task. A blank page can be surprisingly intimidating, and the sheer number of things we have to plan out, not to mention actually do, can feel so overwhelming that we hesitate to even start.

The first step towards completing a project involves the process of brainstorming.

So, what is brainstorming and what does it involve? Brainstorming is the time to let your imagination run wild, your creativity flow free, all to come up with as many different wonderful ideas as you can. Later, of course, you will need to take a hard look at your new list of wonderful ideas and start weeding out the more impractical and crazier ones. For now, though, let crazy be as crazy is.

For some people, brainstorming can be as natural as breathing; just start coming up with ideas that might work for your project. For the rest of us, though, we might need a few pointers to get underway. Let’s get started.

Step 1: Define Your Objective and Goals

First things first: ask yourself what it is you are trying to do. Are you writing a paper? Writing a play? Painting a portrait? Creating a business proposal? Deciding on an instrument to learn?

Before anything else, you need to be clear about what your ultimate goal is. Take a few minutes to write down exactly what it is you want to have accomplished in the end.

Step 2: List Any And All Requirements

Some projects will be very freeform, allowing you to do whatever your passion inspires you to do. Others will have very strict requirements or guidelines for you to follow, while many others will be somewhere in-between. In the latter of these two cases, you will need to ensure that your final product will be in compliance with anything that’s expected of it. Make a list of any requirements the final project will have to satisfy in the end. After you have a number of ideas, check with the requirements list to see if they can be made to fit the requirements.

Step 3: Evaluate Your Past Experience With Similar Projects

Is your project something that’s completely new to you, or have you done something similar in the past? If you have prior experience with a project along the same lines, this is a good time to reflect on whether you should try a similar solution. Ask yourself: was the previous project I put together a good one? Are there ways it could be improved upon? Is it alright to retread old ground, or would it be better to try something different and new?

Step 4: Do You Have Everything You Need to Accomplish Your Goals?

Ambition is great, if it’s tempered by realism. Many of us dream big, but big dreams don’t make themselves come true. You will need to make it happen, and you will need to make it happen with what is practically available to you. Once you have gotten an idea of the sort of project you wish to do, make an inventory of everything you would need to fully accomplish it. If you have everything you need already, fantastic! If there are some things you that you cannot reasonably expect to acquire, think long and hard about how you can scale your vision down to a more manageable size.

Step 5: Look to See What Other People Are Doing

If you’re still having trouble thinking of what you could do, it’s time to start a little light research. Start googling what other people have done on similar projects. Keep one eye on what seems to be the norm or the mainstream, and another on the projects that try to push the envelope in new and exciting ways. Keep in mind, you should not be looking to simply copy someone else’s work. Look for sources of inspiration that give you ideas on what you could do for your own project.

Step 6: Step away from the computer. Get Out And About

In between search engine sessions, feel free to take a break, go for a walk, and get out of your usual environs. A change in surroundings can help you to start looking at things differently.

Step 7: Let Your Creative Ideas Flow – Journey With A Journal

If the brainstorming session starts to take more than a few hours, start keeping a journal with you so you can jot down notes and ideas as they come to you. Take it with you when you go out, and even keep it near you when you go to sleep. If you happen to, literally, dream up a great idea, you’ll want to jot it down before it slips away.

Step 8: Build a Mind Map

One of the more popular brainstorming techniques is to create a “mind map.” To begin, write down an initial idea on a notecard, and tape it to a wall. Then, build off of that initial idea by adding your next thought to another note card, pinning it to that wall, and attaching it to the first card (perhaps with a piece of string). Keep building your web of ideas until you feel you have something that can work.

Step 9: Organize your Ideas Into Categories

Start making a list divided into three separate columns. Title the first column “Easy Ideas,” the second “Tough Ideas,” and the third “Crazy Ideas.” Try to put at least 5 ideas in each column. Afterwards, take a long hard look at the list and reflect on it. How tough would the tough ideas really be? Could the easy ideas be scaled up to be more ambitious? Can the crazy ideas be tuned down to be more realistic? Weed out the ones you don’t want to do / don’t think you can realistically do, and try to narrow it down to perhaps 3 or 4 that could end in a quality project.

Step 10: Free Write

Finally, try writing a sentence about the project you have to do, and then just keep writing. Don’t stop. Don’t pause. Don’t hesitate. Just keep writing whatever comes into your head about the project, and try to keep going until your hand gets tired. Freewriting can help you to come up with creative ideas you never expected.

Final Thoughts

Starting something from scratch is always tricky. This is particularly true if you’ve never tried it before. But with a few new tricks up your sleeve, you can come up with some fresh and workable ideas to get your project moving.