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What should you do if inspiration has disappeared, and content ideas are needed like air? We’re going to tell you what rules of brainstorming you should follow, and also what other ways to wake up your brain are.
Brainstorming: basic rules
It’s most likely that you’ve already heard about brainstorming – a method of generating even the most fantastic and unreal ideas by gathering many participants’ opinions. It allows you to be more effective, create content and come up with new development options.
It’s essential to know a few basic rules so that brainstorming will be successful:
1. Quantity is important. Don’t try to come up with the perfect idea, it’s not the point. Share every idea that comes to your mind. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake – sometimes the most unexpected ideas turn out to be the greatest.
2. Create a friendly atmosphere. Participants shouldn’t evaluate and criticize each other. Pay attention to this, because the feeling that no one will judge anyone is important for the creative flow. It’s better to collect all the ideas and select the best ones after the session.
3. Listen to others and combine your ideas. Avoid “no” or “but”, just “great, but you can still…”. Two heads are better than one!
4. Come up with ideas quickly. Speed is necessary when brainstorming, otherwise, your brain begins to get tired and distracted from the main thing.
5. Visualize. There is nothing better than visibility to enter the creative flow. It’ll be perfect to put sticky notes with your ideas on the board.
6. After a session, take a look at the results and select the most catching ones!
Everyday things are your enemy
Your brain doesn’t like when it’s forced to spend resources and change something. It turns autopilot mode on and stops being creative. Therefore, it’s important to bring changes to stimulate your brain activity. Switch everyday routes, try to write with your left hand, learn something new, cook an unusual dish. All these activities open dialogue between the right and left hemispheres of the brain, which helps to increase creativity.
Sport is your friend
Physical activity allows you to increase not only your efficiency but also your ability to think productively. This happens because sports can improve a person’s cognitive performance. Don’t ignore jogging in the morning or choose the type of activity that suits you best.
Six Thinking Hats
Edward de Bono, a psychologist and expert in the field of creative thinking, developed the Six Thinking Hats approach which allows you to look at a problem in several different ways. Imagine that there are 6 hats in front of you: white, red, yellow, blue, green, and black. Try out all 6 hats. So, while “wearing” the white one, think about the knowledge and insights that you’ve collected already – but also the information you’re missing, and where you can go to get it. The red hat represents feelings and instincts, in the black one you should become a pessimist and predict all the risks. With the yellow hat thinking, look at issues in the most positive light possible. In the blue hat mode assess the situation from the manager’s point of view, and in the green one explore a range of ideas and possible ways forward.
Combine all these methods and come up with new ideas quickly and efficiently, for example, to create a content plan. And Ninetales will help you: here you can find a lot of packs for all your creative ideas!
