You may remember brainstorming as a step in some assignments from grade school, but it’s also an effective strategy that leaders, creatives, and everyday people use to generate ideas and solve problems.
It’s hard to be creative all the time, but by brainstorming, you can come up with some pretty great solutions on the spot, especially when you’re working together with others.
In this post, we’ll show you some basic guidelines and effective techniques for brainstorming that will help you unleash your best ideas.
What Is Brainstorming?
Brainstorming is the practice of spontaneously generating ideas or solutions. It’s usually done as a group, but can also be a solo activity.
Anyone can benefit from brainstorming, from a writer outlining their next novel, to a manager who wants to boost their team’s engagement, to even a married couple in search of ways to increase their income.
In addition to generating new ideas, brainstorming is also an effective way to piece together related ideas to form a cohesive whole.
Although it sounds pretty simple, the process didn’t get its name until 1948, when advertising executive Alex Osborn published his book Your Creative Power.
The book featured a chapter on what Osborn called “brainstorming,” or, “using the brain to storm a creative problem—and doing so in commando fashion, with each stormer attacking the same objective.”
How to Brainstorm: Osborn’s 4 Rules
There’s no correct way to brainstorm, but Osborn did outline four “rules” for what he considered effective brainstorming.
1. Focus on quantity over quality.
When it comes to brainstorming, the more ideas the merrier. Don’t worry about the quality of your ideas for now; just say or write any idea that comes to mind.
Remember that your goal is to generate as many ideas as possible, because even if none of them are perfect, you’ll have a big list of creative ideas to combine, alter, or use as inspiration for your final plan.
2. Encourage big or unusual ideas.
Don’t filter your ideas, no matter how outlandish or impractical they may sound. Although your more unusual or eccentric ideas may not be immediately feasible, just generating those ideas gives your brain a workout.
But more than that, it can also spark innovative solutions that you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise (especially when you’re brainstorming in a group).
3. Withhold criticism.
Don’t start scrutinizing or criticizing any ideas until you’ve brainstormed a complete list of all the ideas you can think of.
Just as it’s unproductive for an author to self-edit while they write, you’ll find that your brainstorming sessions go further if you withhold criticism until you’re done with your list and ready to evaluate or adjust the ideas.
This goes whether you’re collaborating with a group or brainstorming on your own. Again, it’s about quantity, not quality at this stage.
Later, once you’ve amassed a large list, you can return to certain ideas, identify their pros and cons, and discuss how feasible or practical they actually are.
At that point, constructive criticism can actually lead to the generation of more helpful solutions, with the original idea as an essential starting point.
4. Bounce ideas off of each other.
Keeping with the last point, rather than criticizing the ideas of others and pointing out their every flaw, use their ideas as a launchpad for even more creative solutions.
You can combine the best aspects of different ideas to create new, even better ones. Even if you’re not brainstorming as a group, you should still consider sharing your ideas with others and asking them for their input.
Unlock Your Creativity
You don’t have to consider yourself a very creative person to come up with brilliant ideas and solutions on the spot.
Brainstorming can unlock ideas you wouldn’t have otherwise considered, but even if you don’t find the perfect solution, just practicing it can help to improve your creativity.
Combine these tips with effective brainstorming techniques, and you and your team are sure to come up with some great ideas.
Do you have any brainstorming tips that work for you? Share them with us in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- Using the 3×3 Writing Process to Become a Productive Writer
- 12 Ways You Can Source Content Ideas
- Ideas for Writing a Book: 17 Sources of Inspiration for Your Next Story
- 5 Great Timed Writing Exercises to Shake Up Your Creativity
As a blog writer for TCK Publishing, Kaelyn loves crafting fun and helpful content for writers, readers, and creative minds alike. She has a degree in International Affairs with a minor in Italian Studies, but her true passion has always been writing. Working remotely allows her to do even more of the things she loves, like traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family.
