Do you remember the metaphor of stirring up the sugar in the coffee? You have enormous reserves of creativity that you can stir up and stimulate by using a variety of techniques. The Mindstorming method is one of them.
According to brain expert Tony Buzan, your brain has about 100 billion cells, each of which is connected directly and indirectly via ganglia and dendrites to approximately 20,000 other cells. Mathematically this means that the number of ideas or thoughts that you can generate is 100 billion to the 20,000th power, the equivalent of the number one followed by eight pages of zeros, line by line. The number of thoughts that you can think is greater than the number of molecules in the known universe. You are a potential genius!
Mindstorming is one of the most powerful ways ever discovered to creatively solve problems and achieve goals. It is a way of using focused questions for concentrating the power of your mind on a single question. In my experience, more people have become wealthy and successful using this simple method than any other type of creative thinking technique ever developed. In our seminars we call it “the 20 Idea Method.”
The reason this method is so powerful is because it is so simple.
First, take a sheet of paper and write your most pressing problem or goal at the top of the page in the form of a question. For example, if your goal is to double your sales and profitability over the next two years, your question would be:
What can we do to double our sales and profitability in the next twenty-four months?
The more specific the question, the better. An even better question is to define your goal numerically or financially.
What can we do to increase our sales from $5 million per year to $10 million per year, over the next twenty-four months?
Generate 20 Answers
You then begin writing answers, in the first person, using a specific action verb in your answer.
For example, you could say, “We hire and train twenty-two new salespeople.” Or you could write, “We introduce three new products to our customers over the next twelve months.”
You discipline yourself to continue writing until you generate at least 20 answers. You can do this on your own with a pad of paper, or with a group using a whiteboard or flipchart. But you must discipline yourself to generate a minimum of 20 answers in this exercise.
Four Ways to Change
There are usually only four different ways that you can achieve any goal or solve any problem. First, you can do more of some things. Second, you can do less of other things. Third, you can start doing something completely new. And fourth, you can stop certain activities altogether.
As you generate your 20 answers, keep asking, “What should I do more of and less of? What should I start or stop doing?”
In this exercise, the first couple of answers will be fairly simple. You will easily conclude that you could do “more of or less of” certain activities.
The next five answers will be more difficult. You will be seeking things that you could start doing or stop doing.
The last ten answers will be the most difficult of all, and sometimes the 20th answer will be so difficult that you will feel like giving up. But you must force yourself to write at least 20 answers.
It is amazing how often we find that the 20th answer, the one that requires the hardest mental work to generate, is the breakthrough answer that transforms the business or changes a person’s life completely.
Aim for Quantity, Not Quality
Each time you generate and physically write down an answer, you loosen up and stimulate your creative abilities. Don’t worry about quality, just quantity. Write down the first idea you think of, and then write down the opposite of that idea. Then write down a synthesis of the two ideas. Write down even ridiculous answers. Just force yourself to generate at least 20 answers, and surprisingly enough, sometimes an answer will jump off the page at you. Many of my students have found that this method helped them resolve a problem that they had been wrestling with for six months or longer.
Take Action Immediately
Once you have generated 20 answers to your question, review them and select at least one idea that you are going to implement immediately. By implementing an idea immediately, you keep your creative juices flowing hour after hour. If you do this exercise first thing in the morning before you start off to work, you will find yourself thinking creatively all day long, just as if you had worked out physically in the morning. You will feel healthier and more alert all day.
One of the hardest things for anyone to do is something new or different. When you generate a great idea, you must immediately resolve to overcome the natural inertia that causes you to delay or procrastinate, the “comfort zone” that you can easily slip into, instead of taking action on the new idea.
You will have insights and ideas that will amaze you and the people around you.
ACTION EXERCISES
1. Take your biggest problem or goal today and write it down at the top of a page in the form of a question.
2. Discipline yourself to generate 20 ideas or answers to your question at one sitting, without getting up or moving around.