Brainstorming

Brainstorming is one of the major keys to getting to the life of our dreams. I love brainstorming. I love the creativity of it. I love the way it brings people together. I love how it brings out brilliant ideas no one would have even dreamed of.

The main thing to remember about brainstorming is that there is to be no criticism. (I love that part too.) Everyone just throws out ideas, and the more "out there" they are, the more fun the participants have. No one says things like, "That's stupid." or "That won't work." The only objective is to get as many ideas on paper as possible - everyone using their right brains. This part requires a secretary or recorder to put the ideas up on big sheets of paper. When everyone has completely run out of ideas, then comes the left brain part:

Each person then picks out the top 3 or top 5 or top 10 or whatever that they think have the best chance of working. Then the group compares the ideas each has chosen. The ideas that get the most "votes" are the ones that typically will be used. However, it's a good idea to look at the ones that weren't chosen to see if there's anything useful in them. For example, if you want to go to medical school but have no money, one idea would be to stand on a street corner with a sign asking for contributions. That's probably not something you're going to do. BUT you might take from that idea that you might be able to create your own scholarship but looking into funding sources you might not have thought of.

Finally, the good part of brainstorming at the end, is that the folks you've assembled for brainstorming might very well want to stick around and help you some more. They may know people who know people who know people who can help you. Yes, brainstorming is a great way to get started with creating the life of your dreams.