Brainstorming can be compared to panning for gold. Just as a gold miner sifts through dirt and gravel to find valuable nuggets of gold, a brainstorming session involves sifting through a large quantity of ideas to find the most valuable and promising ones.
Just as a gold miner uses different tools and techniques to separate the gold from the dirt, a brainstorming session can involve a variety of techniques, such as free association, mind mapping, and group discussion, to help separate the best ideas from the rest.
And just as a gold miner needs patience and persistence to find the most valuable nuggets, a successful brainstorming session requires a willingness to generate many ideas, even if they don’t all seem useful at first, and to keep refining and building upon those ideas until the best ones emerge.
Setting aside time to for strategy meetings and brainstorm ideas is important for a number of reasons.
Generate Quantity of Ideas
For one, it helps generate a large quantity of ideas, which can then be narrowed down to the best and most promising ones. It also helps to stimulate creativity and innovation, as people bounce ideas off each other and build upon one another’s suggestions. This can lead to unique and original ideas that might not have been thought of in isolation.
Record Thoughts
Writing down your ideas is also important, because it allows you to capture your thoughts and revisit them later. Ideas can be fleeting, and if you don’t write them down, you might forget them. By recording your ideas, you can refer back to them later and build on them as you have time and new insights. Writing down your ideas also allows you to see patterns and connections that you might not have noticed otherwise, and it can help you clarify your thinking and refine your ideas over time.
Revisit Thoughts later
It’s important to be able to find your brainstorms later down the line. Idea: Use your phone – note pad and voice recorder. Email that to yourself with Brainstorming as subject line.
By combining brainstorming with the practice of writing down your ideas, you can create a powerful tool for generating new ideas and insights, refining your thinking, and ultimately achieving your goals.