Brainstorming for One

To be effective at solo brainstorming you might keep books or pamphlets handy which mental stimulation for you. We all have certain books or people who stimulate us. We might call up a friend who is stimulating to us, have her out for a drink or lunch, talk with her about the problem, or other things. You won't solve the problem then, but time after time you'll have good ideas after leaving her.

Books and pamphlets, which stimulate new thoughts, run the gamut of everything published. They might be technical books in your field; it might be the Bible, Thoreau's "Walden", or poetry. It might be Iron Age, Ogden Nash, or even the lecture notes you took in Professor Doriot's class twenty years before.

Sometimes we need to see our problems simply, and this can be done by going back to basic textbooks or even books written for children about our subject. You may be a graduate engineer with fifteen years' experience building bridges, but just because of that fact you may have lost the simple essentials in your professional awareness of all the details of your profession.
A lunch hour in an art museum, especially one devoted to modern works, can make you see color and shape in new and wonderful ways. The same way, an audio recording can make you hear differently.

One of the most basic rules of creative thinking is observation. We all have to see, in some way, to give impressions to our subconscious. Whenever possible we should brainstorm by seeing our problem in a new and simple way, not as a professional sees it, but as a visitor might if he came from Mars.

There are practically no limits to the subjects that can be brainstormed, and this is especially true of the solo brainstorm.

You can brainstorm important decisions in your life and career, such as:

   What to give your wife for her birthday.
   What to cook your husband for anniversary dinner.
   How to sell more of your product
   What you want in the new home you're building.
   How to sell your old home.
   Where to find money to start your own company.
   How to ask the boss for a raise.
   How to answer a difficult letter.
   How to raise money for the new church.
   Where to go on your vacation.
   How to file articles from the medical journals.
   What college to attend.
   How to propose to your gal friend.
   Where to find a new job.

After you have brainstormed your problem, have a cold-water session. Wait a day or so, then quickly run down the list, crossing off ideas that are no good and underlining the ones to put to work.