Boost Your Creativity With A No-Bad-Ideas Brainstorming Exercise
Being creative isn't always easy. There are days (or even weeks) when the ideas just don't seem to flow. If you're feeling stuck, a brainstorming exercise can jumpstart your creativity and help you come up with some great ideas.
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Being able to think outside the box is a learnable skill. It’s true. You just have to be willing to try new things. Many people think you're either a creative person or you are not. While I do agree that some people may be slightly more predisposed to thinking creatively than others, I believe creativity is a muscle that can be trained and developed.
You don't have to be a creative thinker to be able to think outside the box, you just need to do more stuff that stimulates creative thinking. Even the most creative people need help getting inspired. The list is endless: meditation, listening to music, watching a movie at the theater, spending time outside... the list is endless.
One of my favorites? Weekly, my friend Alba of bottegastories.com and I have coffee and informal brainstorming sessions to vent about hardship at work, new ideas, and thoughts on a project or launch.
Brainstorming is a creative process of gathering insights without the pressure of contributing ‘sensible’ ideas. It helps hasten the thought process by allowing the free flow of ideas from the participants regardless of how meaningful, wild, or weird the ideas might seem. It aims to find an out-of-the-box solution or idea through an unfiltered array of options.
Get at least one other person to join you for a 45-60 minute brainstorming session. But, if that doesn't permit, you can do a brainstorming session alone. No technology and no criticism whatsoever. Bring a topic or idea you want to brainstorm to the table, and just start riffing on it back and forth. Write down all your thoughts on actual paper, and don't critique a single idea.
If you are doing this with another person, it's important to do this in person and ensure you don't have negative energy or feedback throughout the process. You may have 100 horrible ideas, but I bet you'll have one or two good ones. Plus, you'll get better at this the more you do it.
How do you boost your creativity? Join the conversation here.