If you simply follow and practice the steps in the pages that follow, you will soon be amazed at the ideas and solutions your fabulous brain will give you. Now we’ll study the 4 phases of brainstorming. They are ...

I. The No Bad Ideas Phase.
II. The Evaluation Phase.
III.. The Action Phase.
IV. The Results Phase.

I. The No Bad Ideas Phase.

In brainstorming there is only one rule and that rule is …“There Are No Bad Ideas!” That statement is so vital lets repeat it. And this time I want you to say it out loud with feeling. In brainstorming “There Are No Bad Ideas!”

Remember: Brainstorming is only the first step in the idea, solution, niche creation phase not the last. So there will be plenty of time to figure out whether an idea is logical, do-able or makes sense at a later time.

Brainstorming sessions should be loose and fun. Let your imagination go. The more looney ideas you can come up with the better your chances of coming up with good ones later.

Caution: If you find yourself taking the time to judge an idea. That is to think or try to figure out if an idea makes sense at this stage, you’re no longer brainstorming - you’re evaluating.

Doing this is like placing the brakes on your creativity. Evaluating at this stage will slow down and stop the creative process like nothing else will.

Judging ideas too fast at the beginning stage defeats the purpose of brainstorming. It’s like stomping on a plant before it has a chance to develop.

Treat your initial ideas like newborn plants - gently. See if your new ideas can develop by giving them a chance.  I’ll show you what to do with them later.

Your first goal is to come up with as many ideas (good or bad) as possible. It’s the creative atmosphere of brainstorming that helps attract ideas and solutions, seemingly out of nowhere.

Before we go any further lets discuss the 7 steps for effective brainstorming sessions.  Getting and maintaining the right atmosphere is half the battle.

7 Steps For Effective Brainstorming Sessions.

1. The brainstorming session can be done with one person or one hundred people. The rules are the same.

The only requirement is the participants should know or know about the problem, business, product, or subject of the brainstorming session.

2. Don’t use critical thinking. Critical or judgmental thinking slows down or kills the creative process at this stage.

Being a critic or allowing criticism to seep in at the start will steal your time, energy and focus off creative thinking.

Because as hard as you may try, you can only think one thought at a time. When you’re creating you can’t judge and when you judge you can’t create. Sad but true.


3. Keep the session light, loose and free spirited. Humor has been known to help oil the wheels of our creativity.

A large portion of our creativity is released through our humor.

A sense of playfulness in a brainstorming session helps to quiet our inner critic. It’s that part of us that will want to judge or evaluate the ideas before the right time.  Next Page