A message from Sandy. A major bottleneck in any planning or problem solving process is brainstorming or generating new ideas and options for specific actions and solutions.

The resulting outcome of your solution or plan is only as good as your best options and ideas you put into it. It is also important how fast you can come up with new ideas, as you will need many of them when time is running short and a decision needs to be made. Though brainstorming is most commonly thought of as a group activity, here are some ideas how you can brainstorm to generate ideas of your own:

With very few exceptions, everyone already has a natural ability to think creatively. Yet, that creative ability is fragile. It is easy to block it just by the way you use it, by your attitudes, and by the way you think. The best way to have good ideas is to have many of them all at once, and then select the best ones. Generating many ideas fast is what brainstorming is focused on.

While brainstorming, consider these suggestions:

First, take a few minutes to think about what it is you would ideally like to accomplish. How clear is the picture in your mind? Try to refresh and extend your view of the problem. In particular, think of 5 people you know that come from different backgrounds than yours, and imagine what each of those people would see in your problem, how might they approach it?

Now, take a sheet of paper and your watch, set a goal to write a certain number of options (like 10-20) or ideas in a short period of time. For example: write 20 ideas within 5 minutes. What is important about this activity is that you focus on quantity of ideas, not quality. When you are brainstorming, you just write whatever comes to mind. Let your imagination flow. Forget judging, analyzing, common sense, rules, or practicality.

A pressing, almost unrealistic, deadlines plays an important role in brainstorming sessions. It mobilizes your subconscious and conscious minds. It helps to paralyze your judgement, analysis, and other mental blocks, freeing your imagination. After your time is up, take a few more minutes to squeeze any last-minute ideas out of your mind. Often these last ideas may be the most valuable.

At the end of the brainstorming session, you will have a long list of ideas, options and thoughts. You will discard most of them later as you become judgemental while reviewing them. (hey—give yourself a chance!) Yet the ideas you select tend to be much better than something you may have thought of in a logical state of mind. The outcome may surprise you.